Writing Studio News and Notes — Faculty Edition — April 2025

We can see summer from here, but we know that the spring semester isn’t in the books quite yet! Fortunately, in this month’s newsletter, we have an eye on both the end of the semester and the summer to come.

• Spring 2025: Your students are still writing, and our writing consultants are still here for them and offering spring semester writing consultations through Wednesday, April 30.
• Maymester and Summer 2025: Yes, the Writing Studio is open for you and your students this summer!
  • Summer writing consultations will be available beginning May 7 through August 8 both online and in-person.
  • We’re on hand to support Maymester and Summer Session classes through brief introductions and in-class workshops, and we will gladly schedule writing pedagogy consultations.

In This Newsletter

• Help us spread the word about the Morgan Award for First-Year Writers (submission deadline: Friday, May 9)
• Summer Dissertation Writers’ Retreat: June 2–6 (Registration deadline: Wednesday, May 14)
• We are still accepting Graduate Writing Consultant applications for 2025–2026.
• Summer Support: An overview of resources to support pedagogy and student writing in summer courses.
• Resource Spotlight: A closer look at Scaffold, the Writing Studio’s showcase of exemplary first-year writing.

The Morgan Award for First-Year Writers

Help us celebrate your students’ excellent work! Please encourage current first-year students to submit their writing for the Henrietta Hickman Morgan Memorial Award for First-Year Writers, an annual competition coordinated by the Writing Studio.

• Any writing current first-year students (Class of 2028) completed during the 2024–2025 academic year is welcome.
• No nominations are required, but we know that hearing about the competition from their instructors will get students excited about submitting their best work. 
• Deadline for Student Submissions: Friday, May 9, via InfoReady

Students should visit the Writing Studio’s Morgan Award page for eligibility criteria, prize information, and submission instructions. Questions? Contact Megan Minarich, Associate Director of the Writing Studio and Tutoring Services: megan.l.minarich@vanderbilt.edu.

Dissertation Writers’ Retreat (June 2–6)

From June 2–6, the Writing Studio will host its annual Summer Dissertation Writers’ Retreat at the Writing Studio. Retreat participants will have ample time for focused writing with time to set goals, attend optional daily workshops, and hold one-on-one writing consultations, all while building a community of support with fellow graduate students.

Graduate students and postdocs working on master’s theses and other significant writing projects are welcome to participate. Registration is already open, and spots are filling up fast!

Registration Deadline: Wednesday, May 14

For additional information and to register, students should visit the Writing Studio’s Dissertation Writers’ Retreat page.

Grad Opportunities (Please Share!)

Graduate Writing Consultant Openings for 2025–2026

The Writing Studio is continuing to recruit graduate and professional students to join our staff of Graduate Writing Consultants for the 2025–2026 academic year. Please share with any students you believe may be interested!

Graduate Writing Consultants start at $15.50 per hour, set their own commitment of 5–15 hours per week, and benefit from paid training and ongoing professional development. Successful applicants will start in August 2025.

Given the centrality of writing to the life of the university, this role is a wonderful chance for graduate and professional students to hone their writing skills while also growing as educators, scholars, and researchers.

Full position and application details are available on the Writing Studio’s Graduate Writing Consultant Positions page.

More from the Writing Studio

Instructor Resources for Summer 2025

Whether online or in-person, the Writing Studio is here to help support you and your students during Maymester and Summer Sessions:

• Request a Brief Introduction from a Writing Studio representative
• Request an In-Class Writing Workshop
• Email us to schedule a Writing Pedagogy Consultation

Visit the Writing Studio’s Faculty page for additional information and resources available for instructors.

Resource Spotlight

Scaffold: A Showcase of Vanderbilt First-Year Writing — Volume 7 (Spring 2025) Now Available

Looking for inspiration regarding student writing, writing samples to build class activities around, or examples of what student learning around writing sounds like in their own words?

You should get to know the Writing Studio’s multimedia publication, Scaffold: A Showcase of Vanderbilt First-Year Writing.

This digital collection is an extension of our annual Undergraduate Writing Symposium, with Volume 7 containing pieces from our first-year UWS presenters back in March. Each piece is published alongside a short recorded reflection from its first-year author.

While many of you have nominated your students’ work and graciously acted as outside reviewers for the many pieces that came in, we wanted to put Scaffold on your radar as a freely available online resource for you and your students.

We can’t wait to read (and publish!) what your students produce next year!

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?

Please reach out to us at writing.studio@vanderbilt.edu.