In the landscape of writing instruction in higher education, there has been a longstanding critique of the efficacy of Generalized Writing Skills Instruction (GWSI) for preparing students to write in the genres of their majors, disciplines and workplaces (Petraglia, et al 1995). The Writing Studies movement, with its grounding in the overlapping theoretical frameworks of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) and Rhetorical Genre Theory has argued that genres arise and serve as tools in specific communities for specific purposes and that mastering genres is a function of participation in those communities, calling into question the classroom genres students learn to write in First Year writing programs. Among the curricular reforms that Writing Studies scholars have proposed to replace GWSI is a "genre awareness" approach in which students write in multiple genres, not to master specific genres for future use, but to develop metacognitive capacities and productive dispositions for engaging with novel rhetorical situations (Devitt, 2014; Bawarshi & Reiff, 2010, Wardle 2007). This qualitative study examines student experience in a multi-genre curriculum through the vantage point of the writing center conference. Through analysis of transcripts of writing center conferences focused upon assisting student writers with assignments in their multi-genre curriculum, I explored the following questions: 1) How are students experiencing the assignments of the multi-genre curriculum? 2) How do writing center tutors assist students in taking up unfamiliar genres? And finally, 3) What can writing center activity tell us about the development of genre awareness? Through the vantage point of the writing center, the findings of this study contribute a dynamic student-centered perspective which can inform larger conversations about writing instruction in higher education with implications for curriculum as well as classroom and writing center practices. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]