Writing Studio News & Notes – Faculty Edition
Fall 2024 Kickoff
Welcome to a new academic year! The Writing Studio opened for the Fall 2024 semester on Wednesday, August 21, and we look forward to working with you and with your students.
The Writing Studio supports writers, instructors of writing, and all the ways writing is an essential medium for learning, discovery, serving our communities, and achieving our goals within the Vanderbilt community.
We are proud to have held nearly 4,500 writing consultations last year and served over 1,300 individual writers from across the university, including 15% of all undergraduates. We’re ready to do it again in 2024-2025, but we need your partnership to make this happen: “From my Professor” is perennially students’ most frequent response when we ask students how they learned about the Writing Studio.
Of course, we’re here to support you, as well. Read on for more about how we can support your students and your writing pedagogy!
Bring the Writing Studio to Your Classroom
Writing Studio staff and consultants worked with faculty and students from all over campus during the past academic year, visiting more than 80 classes. We’d love to be invited to your classroom this fall!
Brief Introductions to the Writing Studio
Our ten-minute introductory presentations offer all the essential details about the Writing Studio and help reassure students that friendly faces are here to help them.
Complete our In-Class Introduction to the Writing Studio form to request a visit.
In-Class Writing Workshops
Writing consultants are available to lead workshops on specific elements of the academic writing process. Our standard workshops cover a variety of essential topics:
We can also work with you to develop a workshop tailored to your course’s specific needs. Past custom topics have included case studies, literature reviews, film analyses, podcasts, op-eds, and more.
Complete our In-Class Writing Workshop Request form to start the process of booking an in-class workshop.
Visit the Writing Studio’s Faculty page for additional information and resources available for instructors.
Writing Pedagogy Consultations
The Writing Studio’s Director, Associate and Assistant Directors, and Academic Support Coordinators are available to discuss writing pedagogy: syllabus construction and development, writing assignment design, resources for student writing support, and more.
To schedule an appointment, please contact our Administrative Specialist by emailing writing.studio@vanderbilt.edu.
Teaching Writing Workshop Series – Details Coming Soon!
The Writing Studio aims to support the teaching of writing across the disciplines at Vanderbilt and to encourage interdisciplinary conversations about writing pedagogy. Over the course of the academic year, the Writing Studio leads a series of workshops focused on different aspects of teaching writing.
Workshops provide participants with current research, strategies for best practices, and a forum for discussing how these approaches might be adapted to teaching writing in their disciplines. The Teaching Writing Workshop Series is open to all writing instructors.
Fall 2024 in-person workshops will be facilitated by Dr. Megan Minarich, Associate Director, Vanderbilt Writing Studio & Tutoring Services.
Details on Fall 2024 workshops will be forthcoming, so stay tuned!
Questions? Please email megan.l.minarich@vanderbilt.edu.
Introducing Nauff Zakaria: Academic Support Coordinator
Nauff Zakaria joined our full-time administrative staff at the Writing Studio and Tutoring Services in July 2024.
She is a PhD candidate in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel in the Graduate Department of Religion; she will defend her dissertation early this fall. Her research focuses on the linguistic and grammatical structures of the Hebrew Bible within the context of ancient Near Eastern literature and its impact on the narratives involving women. Prior to matriculation at Vanderbilt, Nauff earned her MA in Hebrew Bible from the University of Chicago and worked as a high school English teacher in San Antonio, TX.
While at Vanderbilt, she has worked at Vanderbilt’s Center for Teaching and the English Language Center. In these spaces, Nauff has conducted consultations with undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and faculty; developed workshops related to pedagogy as well as writing; and coached graduate student Teaching Assistants. Nauff has a deep passion for education, literacy, and working with underrepresented groups in academia.
In addition to offering up to 20 consultation hours each week, Nauff will also serve as point on our graduate student-focused initiatives, such as our Dissertation Writers’ Retreats.
Please join us in warmly welcoming Nauff Zakaria to our team!
To meet the rest of our professional staff visit our Contact Us / Professional Staff page.
Meet our AY 2024-2025 Writing Consultants!
Our student consulting staff this year boasts 30 writing consultants, from sophomores to doctoral candidates. Our writing consultants have successfully completed their annual intensive training week from August 12-16, and they are excited to talk with your students!
Learn more about our student staff on our Meet the Writing Studio Consultants page.
Share and Subscribe!
We have begun distributing our monthly newsletter to faculty teaching first-year writing seminars and W courses and asking departments to forward it on to their faculty, but you can also sign up to receive it directly.
Want to stay updated yourself? Ensure our emails continue coming your way by taking a moment to subscribe to our new Writing Studio Faculty News and Notes listserv.
Know someone who should be receiving this newsletter? Please help us out by forwarding it on to them!
Questions?
Contact us at writing.studio@vanderbilt.edu.
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