The Campus-wide Graduate Writing Initiative at UMKC

Brush Creek Room, 1:30pm

Presenter(s):

Jennifer Friend, PhD, Associate Dean, SGS

Bollinger, Salvo-Eaton

Description:

Written communication is a significant part of the graduate student experience and optimizes future career success. This presentation provides an update on the Graduate Writing Initiative (GWI) at UMKC to expand graduate student written communication skills. Graduate student (N = 537) and faculty (N = 142) survey results indicated that additional resources were needed for students to build strong writing skills. A Graduate Writing Advisory Committee (GWAC) was formed with diverse student and faculty representatives. GWAC members facilitated monthly writing workshops open to all graduate students and created online writing resources that included a Blackboard organization site, a webpage, and video tutorials. A partnership was also formed with the Emeritus College to provide one-on-one mentoring, and the Graduate Writing Specialist piloted peer writing groups. The results of these GWI activities will be shared, followed by an open discussion among attendees related to lessons learned and future plans for the GWI.