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.
Bruffee published the first peer tutoring handbook, A Short Course in Writing, in 1972.
[1] While a writing program administrator at Brooklyn College, Bruffee played a leading role in the development of writing center studies, and collaborated with both educators and administrators across several CUNY institutes to establish peer tutoring as a standard academic support service within NYC public higher education.
[2] 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.
[3] In 2007, Bruffee gave the keynote address at the 25th National Conference on Peer Tutoring and Writing.