Faculty Writing
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Central to the mission of the University Writing Program is the belief that writers make the best teacher 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 Groups
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.
Are you interested in being a part of a writing group? Fill out our interest form here.
Faculty/Staff 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.
Health Sciences Faculty Writing Consultant
Laupus Library introduced a new program that seeks to better support scholarly writers on ECU’s Health Sciences campus with a Health Sciences Professional Writing Consultant. Faculty from Nursing, Allied Health Sciences, Brody School of Medicine, and the School of Dental Medicine can schedule appointments to meet with Kerri Bright Flinchbaugh, the former Medical Writing Specialist for Brody School of Medicine and current Assistant Director of the University Writing Program. She is available fall 2019 Thursdays, 11am-3pm and Fridays, 9am-1pm 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, Health Sciences faculty may email Kerri at flinchbaughk@ecu.edu .