Faculty Writing Support

Central to the mission of the University Writing Program is the belief that writers make the best teachers of writing. That doesn’t mean you have to be a published novelist or poet, just an engaged writer, one who is actively practicing their craft, shaping and revising text through feedback from readers. Faculty who are involved in writing know the stresses and strains of coming up with and organizing their ideas and with shaping those ideas for others to understand. They also know the joys and frustrations of writing for publication whether that’s an editorial in the local newspaper, a grant application, or a longer book-length project.

In addition to support faculty as teachers of writing, the UWP also devotes considerable time and energy to supporting faculty as writers. To that end, we provide a number of resource to faculty in order to help them to be the most effective writers they can be. Through regular writing groups, annual writing retreats, and one-to-one conversations about your writing, the UWP staff is here to help you be a successful, publishing scholar. Check out the different projects below to see how we can help you with your writing goals!

Writing Accountability Groups (WAGs)

The UWP sponsors a number of writing groups where faculty meet together to write. These groups can take on a number of different personalities: some groups function primarily as “accountability partners” who show up at the same time each week to write in the presence of other scholars; some groups actively read and respond to each member’s writing as part of their process, offering support both during writing group and after. There are many ways to make a writing group work for you!

Find a Faculty Writing Group that meets your needs or start your own group by getting in touch with the UWP!  If you want to participate in a writing group, the UWP can connect you with other writers who are already part of a group, or who have contacted us about starting a new group. If you have a group already, the UWP may be able to help you find an ideal writing space on campus. We can also provide suggestions for goal setting, accountability and thinking partners, and peer review.

Read more about the process and effectiveness of WAGs on writing in our highlight here.

Are you interested in being a part of a writing group? Fill out our interest form here.

Critical Friends: Grant Writing Support

Critical Friends is a peer review protocol that facilitates the development of specific ideas and strategies to assure writing is clear and persuasive.
These workshops are held (quarterly? Semesterly?) and faculty are invited to participate as grant writers and readers.

If you are planning on submitting a grant in the near future, consider participating as a reader/responder in one of our upcoming sessions.

Email Dr. Kerri Flinchbaugh (flinchbaughk@ecu.edu) for additional information.

Writing Retreats

Sometimes, faculty writers need to get away from the distractions of email, campus meetings, family, or even just the temptation to clean house. If you need some time to focus in on a project, then one of the UWP Faculty/Staff Writing Retreats might be just the thing! The UWP supports ECU faculty and staff as writers with low-cost writing retreats. Our retreats provide much-needed time and space away from the distractions of the office to work on individual and/or group writing projects.

Currently, the UWP sponsors a spring writing retreat each year during the first part of spring break, but we’re also happy to design writing retreats for faculty and staff groups at other times of the year.

If you’re interested in participating in our ongoing spring retreat, we send a notice each January to various campus list-servs to solicit applications. If you would like to be added to our list of faculty to contact, or if you would like to speak with us about designing or coordinating a writing retreat for a group of faculty or staff, please fill out the form below to let us know of your interest and how we might help you.

Read more about our writing retreats and how to apply for your spot here.

Writing Consultations

We seek to better support scholarly writers at every point in the writing process with our Professional Writing Consultant. Faculty can schedule appointments to meet with Dr. Kerri Flinchbaugh, the former Medical Writing Specialist for Brody School of Medicine and current Assistant Director of the University Writing Program. She is available fall to consult with writers on projects like peer reviewed articles, grant proposal, conference presentations, and other scholarly writing projects.

A typical consultation begins with the writer contextualizing their writing project along with their specific areas of concern. After collaboratively constructing an agenda, the writer and consultant work together through the revision process, whatever that may look like at the time. By the end of the consultation, writers should have a revision plan for the text by talking through any range of drafting concerns, be they organizational, grammatical, or formatting.

As a PhD candidate in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication with a background in education, Kerri has a wealth of writing experiences and resources to pull from and share with writers. While working as Brody’s Medical Writing Specialist, Kerri helped over 40 faculty place manuscripts in key journals of their field. While she is not an editor, Kerri is committed to cultivating learning experiences that offer support at all stages of the writing process while supporting the development of writing strategies that can also be applied to future writing projects. With face-to-face meetings, Kerri is able to individualize writing instruction to meet writers where they are.

To schedule an appointment, faculty may email Kerri at flinchbaughk@ecu.edu.

Editing Consultations

The University Writing Program is proud to present our curent Faculty Editing Consultant, Leslye Pearson, working with ECU faculty on research-based publications and grant initiatives. Different from a writing consultation that focuses on the formative parts of the writing process, Leslye specializes in fine-tuning your writing with you before it is submitted for publishing.

A consultation begins with an initial consultation meeting (typically 15-30 minutes) in order to learn about the current project and the parameters set by the agency/publication. From there, you will share your finished draft with Leslye by email, and she will provide a timeline for feedback based on the length of the project at that time.

Due to high demand and limited resources, this service focuses exclusively on short-form scholarly manuscripts (e.g., articles, book chapters, proceedings, grant applications, etc. that are under 50 manuscript pages). Faculty and staff who have book-length projects that need editing should contact Dr. Will Banks, Director of the University Writing Program, to explore other opportunities. Likewise, this service is not for pedagogical materials and textbooks at this time; faculty who need assistance with editing their course materials should pursue other for-pay editing services in our area, and Dr. Banks keeps a list of local editors that you can request.

Read more about the process of an editing consultation and how to book your first appointment here.