Now accepting applications for Spring 2027. Deadline: January 15, 2027.
Curriculum Design Studio gives departments what curriculum work usually lacks: dedicated time, expert support, and a cohort of colleagues from across the Dietrich School. Over four sessions in the spring term, teams of two or more DSAS faculty work with a Writing Institute specialist and peers from other departments to review, redesign, or develop their writing-intensive courses. The program is hands-on and generative — your department leaves with curriculum you've actually built. Participants earn a stipend of $1,200 upon completion. Faculty must be under contract with the University of Pittsburgh to receive payment.
The Program
The program is designed for departments that want to strengthen their writing-intensive courses, whatever that means for your program. Some departments come with a specific problem to solve — a W course that isn't working as well as it should, implementation challenges, or a need to bring courses into compliance with the three-credit requirement for W courses in the major. Others arrive with a broader ambition: to better align their W courses with major learning outcomes, to ensure that writing instruction genuinely prepares students for professional life after Pitt, or to develop a new writing-intensive course for students outside the major. Whatever brings your department to the table, Curriculum Design Studio can help.
Who Should Apply
Teams must include at least two people from your DSAS department. The right participants are those who have a hand in designing, coordinating, or overseeing W courses — typically a Director of Undergraduate Studies, a department chair, or faculty in similar roles. You are the best judge of who in your department needs to be in the room for curriculum decisions to actually move forward.
How It Works
Teams meet four times over the spring term with Writing in the Disciplines specialist Jennifer Keating and peers from other departments. Sessions are structured around the work your department is actually trying to do — reviewing existing curricula, developing or revising learning outcomes, aligning W course assignments with programmatic goals, and addressing implementation challenges. Between sessions, participants carry out work they've identified as next steps: auditing a course, drafting outcomes, or reviewing assignments. Participants come to each session having done something and leave with something to do next. We will organize Zoom or in-person options, depending on the cohort's needs.
How to Apply
To apply, email a brief proposal to writinginstitute@pitt.edu by January 15. Include the names and roles of all proposed participants, the course or courses that will be the focus of the design work, and a description of what your department hopes to gain from the program (no more than 300 words).
If the proposal does not come directly from your department chair, we will follow up with them to confirm departmental support before finalizing your participation.
The program accepts a limited number of departments each cycle. We encourage you to apply early.
After the Program
The Writing Institute can continue supporting your department's curriculum work long after the program ends. We offer one-on-one and small-group consultations for faculty adapting or delivering newly designed courses, and we can develop tailored workshops for departments moving from curriculum design to implementation. Faculty can also enroll in the Writing in the Disciplines Seminar to design or revise an individual course. If you want to talk through what would be most useful for your department, contact us.
Not ready to participate now? We plan to offer the program each Spring Term.
What Participants Say
David Fraser, Neuroscience (2023–25)
The Curriculum Design Studio has been a tremendous help in the process of redesigning our writing practicum course. Some of the benefits are quite practical, such as carving out a dedicated time to work on the project, syncing us with the Writing Center resources, or working on the design for "bite-sized" peer review assignments. Other elements of the program are broader and more conceptual, like hearing how other departments have solved similar problems and working to understand the role our course plays in fulfilling departmental level curricular objectives. Dr. Keating has been a master facilitator, thoughtful collaborator, and wonderful colleague throughout the journey!
Kimberly Carter-Fenk, Chemistry (2024–25)
My work in the Curriculum Design Studio has challenged me to think more broadly about the disciplinary writing skills that students should be able to demonstrate upon graduation and how to scaffold learning outcomes throughout the undergraduate Chemistry curriculum. I initially struggled to identify cohesive learning goals and outcomes; through feedback, I reorganized programmatic learning goals and outcomes to better facilitate scaffolding writing instruction throughout the major. Additionally, I identified low-stakes assignments and exercises that students could complete throughout their one-semester long capstone writing experience to lessen the extent of stress and uncertainty in their research paper preparation.
Rika Asai, Music (2024–25)
I appreciate the structure of the program, which has given us time and tools to focus on the role of writing in our department's undergraduate curriculum. We have been able to use [Jennifer Keating's] expertise to better understand how to audit our curriculum, which we quickly realized was a first step we had not considered when we applied to the program! Although we broadly "know" writing is central to our vision of a curriculum that places music within a comprehensive humanistic approach, it has been helpful to have ideas for concrete steps forward as we improve the efficacy of our existing courses and revise/develop new ones.
Mark Paterson, Sociology (2022–24)
Although our department had been wanting to re-evaluate our undergraduate curriculum for several years, it wasn't until a group of us including the DUGS, the adviser, and the chair committed our time to the program that this process properly started for us. The ideas we encountered, including from colleagues in other departments, started turning our wheels powerfully but slowly. Almost two years later, the momentum is still there and we are continuing to implement some major changes to our undergraduate curriculum as a direct result. This was great timing for us, sure, but any department who takes writing assignments seriously — which should be all of them — would benefit in both short-term and long-term ways.