Kenneth Bruffee
Kenneth Bruffee (September 1, 1934–January 20, 2019) was an American writing center administrator and professor emeritus in the department of English at Brooklyn College. Background. Bruffee published the first peer tutoring handbook, "A Short Course in Writing", in 1972. Bruffee established the field of writing center studies and established peer tutoring's place in university administration at Brooklyn College in conjunction with administrators at other New York colleges. The rise of writing centers was necessitated by a growing population of students who were unprepared for college writing. In 1979, Bruffee and colleagues founded the Brooklyn College Institute  for Training Peer Tutors, which trained peer tutors and encouraged the development of writing centers and writing labs. In 2007, Bruffee gave the keynote address at the 25th National Conference on Peer Tutoring and Writing. In 2008, the "Writing Center Journal" issued a special issue on "Kenneth Bruffee and the Brooklyn Plan". Bruffee graduated from Wesleyan University and earned a Ph.D. in English from Northwestern University. He has taught at the University of New Mexico, Northwestern University, the University of Virginia, Columbia University, Cooper Union, and the University of Pennsylvania."