he Graduate School Writing Center provides graduate students with workshops, one-on-one coaching, and other programs and resources to improve oral and written communication skills. Gifts to the Writing Center Fund provide enhanced services to help students develop skills that are vital for their continued academic and professional success. Even small contributions can have a large impact.
Much of the programming offered by the Graduate School Writing Center operates on a peer model, giving students a community of writers for support and mentoring. With the funds to hire an additional graduate assistant or Communication Fellows, the Writing Center could enhance services in the following two ways:
This fall, we began a program to explicitly support students writing at the dissertation stage. The Dissertation Success Support program kicked-off with over thirty students. The program includes weekly meetings, facilitated by a postdoctoral associate, to discuss challenges and create a sense of accountability, as well as opportunities for students to develop their writing skills. We would like to continue and expand the program in future semesters. Total cost: $25,000.
In the 2019-2020 academic year, we expanded our oral communication support to include more one-on-one consultations and a weekly “Small Talk” conversation group for both international and native-born graduate students. More funds to hire and train additional graduate students to be Communication Fellows would allow us to increase our oral communication support and programming each week. People often name speaking in public as their greatest fear—increased oral communication support can help GradTerps overcome that fear. Total cost: $10,000.