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College Professor & Writing Center Director: 20+ Years Experience
Erick S.

5.0 (2 ratings)

4 hours tutoring

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Hourly Rate: $65
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Response time: 40 minutes

About Erick

Bio

Nice to meet you!  I'm Dr. S.  I’m a tenured college professor with over twenty years of experience teaching writing and literature, and I serve as the Director of the Writing Center at Trinity Christian College. Before entering higher education, I taught high school English for six years, and college English for the past twenty. As Director of the Writing Center, I’ve trained tutors to become the very finest at their craft—helping them work with students holistically, helping them grow...

Nice to meet you!  I'm Dr. S.  I’m a tenured college professor with over twenty years of experience teaching writing and literature, and I serve as the Director of the Writing Center at Trinity Christian College. Before entering higher education, I taught high school English for six years, and college English for the past twenty. As Director of the Writing Center, I’ve trained tutors to become the very finest at their craft—helping them work with students holistically, helping them grow intellectually, creatively, and personally. I’m also a successful writer with an extensive portfolio across academic and creative genres, and I bring that same love of language to my teaching. I can help students find their voice just as I found mine.

Across these years, I’ve helped literally thousands of students—from high schoolers polishing their first essays to college seniors preparing graduate school applications. They’ve learned to find the words and confidence to express complex ideas clearly. My approach combines structure and mentorship: I teach students how to plan, draft, and revise strategically rather than just fix sentences, showing how strong writing works—how arguments build, paragraphs flow, and sentences earn their rhythm and force. My students often leave not just with stronger papers but with new confidence in their own thinking and voice.

Whether your student needs help with AP English essays, college application statements, or college-level writing assignments, I can meet them where they are and help them take the next step forward. Writing well isn’t just a skill for school—it’s a lifelong foundation. I’d love to help your student discover how rewarding it can be to write clearly, think deeply, and communicate with confidence.

See here for glimpse of my life as a professor:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DFLNF6oO8rs/

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Education

University of Virginia
English
Rutgers University--New Brunswick
PhD
George Mason University
Graduate Coursework

Additional Languages

Spanish

Policies

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Approved Subjects

Bible Studies

Bible Studies

I taught for 16 years as a tenured English professor at a Christian liberal arts college, where biblical literacy, Christian thought, and theological reflection were central to the curriculum and campus culture. My academic background gives me strong expertise in close reading, interpretation, historical context, genre, narrative, symbolism, and the relationship between Scripture, literature, and culture. I can help students understand biblical texts with clarity, depth, and intellectual seriousness while also remaining attentive to faith, tradition, and personal formation. My approach is especially helpful for students who want to read the Bible more thoughtfully, write about it more effectively, or prepare for class discussions, essays, or Bible studies.
Creative Writing

Creative Writing

I’ve spent more than twenty years teaching writing at both the high school and college level, helping students cultivate imagination, clarity, and authentic voice. As a published essayist and college professor, my creative work focuses on personal and reflective nonfiction—the art of transforming lived experience into compelling story. In my tutoring, I help writers discover their unique style, strengthen narrative flow, and write with emotional depth and purpose. Whether a student is crafting a short story, a reflective essay, or a piece of creative nonfiction, I guide them toward writing that feels alive and true.
Debate

Debate

I have over 20 years of experience teaching students how to build clear, persuasive, evidence-based arguments in both writing and speech. As a tenured college English professor, I regularly taught rhetoric, critical thinking, textual analysis, audience awareness, and the structure of effective claims, reasons, and evidence. I was also a member of one of America’s oldest debating societies, the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society at the University of Virginia, which further shaped my skills in formal debate and public discourse. I can help students prepare for debates by developing strong arguments, anticipating counterarguments, organizing speeches, improving delivery, and responding thoughtfully under pressure. My approach is especially useful for students who need help with debate class, persuasive speeches, argumentative essays, or public-facing presentations.
English

English

I scored in the 97th percentile on the verbal GRE — the graduate-school equivalent of the ACT, required for PhD admissions — and I bring over 20 years of experience teaching English at the college level, including literature, composition, close reading, and analytical writing. As a tenured English professor and Professor Emeritus, I taught students how to analyze complex texts, build strong arguments, write clear and compelling essays, and master grammar and style. As founder and director of a cross-curricular college Writing Center, I spent 16 years coaching students one-on-one at every skill level — from those struggling to get ideas onto the page to advanced students polishing high-level work. I'm especially effective with high school students preparing for AP English, college coursework, and college applications. My approach is patient, structured, and encouraging, and I focus on building both skills and confidence.
Essay Writing

Essay Writing

I’ve taught essay writing for more than twenty years at both the high school and college level, helping students develop clarity, structure, and confidence in their writing. As a tenured English professor and Director of the Writing Center, I’ve guided hundreds of students through every stage of the writing process—from brainstorming and outlining to revision and polish. My approach emphasizes organization, flow, and voice, so students learn to write with both precision and personality. Whether for academic coursework or college applications, I help students craft essays that truly stand out.
Fiction Writing

Fiction Writing

I have over 20 years of experience teaching writing, literature, storytelling, and close reading at the high school and college levels. As a tenured English professor, I helped students understand how fiction works through character, plot, setting, dialogue, point of view, theme, imagery, and narrative structure. I can help students develop original stories, revise drafts, strengthen scenes, improve style, and read published fiction as models for their own writing. My approach is especially useful for students working on short stories, creative writing assignments, college essays with narrative elements, or longer fiction projects.
Grammar

Grammar

I've taught grammar, usage, and style for over twenty years at the high school and college levels, helping students understand not just the rules but how sentences actually work. As Director of the Writing Center at Trinity Christian College, I've trained tutors to guide writers through the grammar questions that matter most—subject-verb agreement, pronoun clarity, punctuation, and sentence variety. My approach connects grammar to meaning: when a sentence is off, we figure out why, and students learn to hear their own writing more clearly. Whether a student needs targeted help for an assignment or wants to build lasting confidence in their writing mechanics, I can meet them where they are.
Public Speaking

Public Speaking

I have over 20 years of experience teaching students how to communicate clearly, confidently, and persuasively in academic and professional settings. As a college English professor, I regularly coached students on presentations, class discussions, argument structure, audience awareness, delivery, and overcoming anxiety when speaking in front of others. I also have extensive experience presenting lectures, leading workshops, facilitating discussions, and mentoring students one-on-one. My approach helps students build both the content of a strong speech and the confidence to deliver it effectively.
Reading

Reading

I have over 20 years of experience teaching reading at every level, from middle school students building comprehension skills to college students analyzing complex texts. As a tenured college English professor and director of a cross-curricular Writing Center, I taught students how to read closely, identify main ideas, follow arguments, expand vocabulary, and retain what they read. I work especially well with students who are bright but overwhelmed — those who avoid reading, struggle to stay focused, or have trouble connecting what they read to what they need to write. I help students build comprehension, confidence, and practical strategies they can use across all their classes, including annotation, summarizing, questioning the text, and managing longer reading assignments. My approach is patient, structured, and encouraging.
Spanish

Spanish

I was raised bilingual in a Spanish-speaking household, so I bring native fluency and cultural fluency together in every lesson. Professionally, I taught middle school Spanish, where I learned to make grammar, vocabulary, and conversation accessible and engaging for beginners — pacing lessons, building confidence, and getting students actually speaking rather than just memorizing. My later career as a college English professor sharpened my ability to explain how languages work: verb systems, sentence structure, and the patterns that help English speakers make sense of Spanish quickly. I tailor each session to the student's level, from first words to fluent conversation.
Thesis Writing

Thesis Writing

I've guided students through thesis-driven writing for over twenty years at the high school and college levels, from research papers to senior capstones and graduate-level work. As Director of the Writing Center at Trinity Christian College, I've helped writers at every stage of the thesis process—shaping a research question, building an argument that holds across chapters, integrating sources without losing their own voice, and revising for clarity at the sentence level. My own doctoral training at Rutgers means I know what makes academic argument work, and I can meet students wherever they are in the process. Whether you're outlining a first thesis or polishing a final draft, we'll focus on the moves that make the writing land.
Literature
Proofreading
SAT Reading
Vocabulary
Writing
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Hourly Rate: $65
Response time: 40 minutes
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