Helen M Raica-Klotz

Lecturer of English

Department of English

Arts & Behavioral Sciences

Academic and Student Affairs


SVSU Main Campus

Science West 354

989-964-6062

klotz@svsu.edu

Biography

Helen Raica-Klotz is the Director of the Saginaw Valley State (SVSU) Writing Center and the Saginaw / Bay Community Writing Centers.  She has her Masters in English from Central Michigan University and a graduate certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) from SVSU.  She has worked in the Writing Center for ten years, serving first as the Assistant Director and now the Director, with over 30 conference presentations and publications to her credit, including articles in The Peer Review, The Writing Lab Newsletter, and Praxis.  She is an Advisory Board member of the East Central Writing Centers Association, and past President of the Michigan Writing Centers Association. Ms. Raica-Klotz also serves as the current Saginaw Bay Writing Project Director, which provides classes and workshops for area K-12 teachers to enhance their ability to teach writing in their classrooms.

An instructor of composition in the SVSU English department for over 15 years, Ms. Raica-Klotz has served as the English department’s First-Year Writing Coordinator and the Chair of the University Writing Committee.

Education

Master of Arts
Central Michigan University

Bachelor of Arts
Central Michigan University

Community Engagement

Ms. Raica-Klotz has authored grants and coordinated programs to support writing in the Great Lakes Bay region.  In addition to the community writing centers, which provide free individual tutoring and writing workshops for all members of the Saginaw and Bay communities, she has directed writing programs in the Saginaw Correctional Facility and the Saginaw Youth Action Council’s teen homeless shelter.  She led a series of writing workshops for Saginaw High School students, focused on ACT essay and college writing preparation. Specifically, in 2008 and 2007, Ms. Raica-Klotz coordinated art and writing workshops for Saginaw High School and SVSU students, resulting in murals featuring the students’ writing and artwork, funded through Michigan Campus Compact.   She served as the “writer-in-residence” at the Midland Alternative High School for women, funded through the Michigan Association of Community Arts Agencies in 2003, and led a series of book discussions at Flint Public Libraries entitled “Story as Redemption,” funded through the Michigan Humanities Council in 1998.