Explore Our Programs
The Writing Institute supports and enhances the culture of writing at the University of Pittsburgh through sustained intellectual engagement with writing across campus, research-based professional development, innovative writing pedagogy, and responsible administration of the University's writing requirement.
Supporting Teachers of Writing
The Writing Institute helps teachers identify best practices for writing instruction, recognizing that faculty in the disciplines are experts in their fields but may not have had formal preparation in writing pedagogy. The goal is to foster engaging, innovative, and effective writing courses that work for all students.
Administering the Writing Requirement: providing guidelines and consultations for new W course proposals, approving new W courses, maintaining ongoing conversations with departments about the teaching of writing, and working with departments to assess their W courses.
Developing Capacity in Departments: one-on-one faculty consultations on assignments and courses; ongoing conversations with departments about their W courses; the Writing in the Disciplines Faculty Seminar; and the Curriculum Design Studio (an intensive term-long program for administrators and teachers from a single department).
Supporting Composition Teachers: one-on-one support and workshops for SC teachers; the SC Faculty Fellows Program, which supports teachers from departments outside English; and ongoing resources via workshops, speakers, and a Canvas Community Vault. Each year, composition teachers lead approximately 200 first-year composition courses.
Supporting Writers with Disabilities: one-on-one consultations for students and faculty; workshops to help teachers design more accessible courses; the Creating a Culture of Access speaker series; a Disability Studies library; and web resources.
Supporting Individual Writers
The Writing Institute recognizes that writing takes time and practice to develop, can be difficult and isolating, and presents particular challenges for writers who have experienced difficult prior instruction or who have disabilities or other conditions that affect their writing.
The Writing Center: consultants support writers who have questions, need encouragement, feel anxious about writing, or simply want a reader. While the Center primarily serves undergraduates and graduate students, faculty and staff are welcome as well. The Writing Center also offers ongoing workshops for creative writers and a range of outreach activities.
Programming for Faculty Writers: the Faculty Writing Program, a Mid-Career Faculty WAG, and the First Book Writers Group offer support and accountability.
Programming for Graduate Student Writers: writing-focused workshops and camps, Writing Days, Project Workshops, and a workshop specifically for international graduate students.
Programming for Postdoctoral Scholars: workshops and writing accountability groups (WAGs).
Supporting Innovative Undergraduate Programs
The Writing Institute frames writing as a vital, consequential ability and supports several distinctive undergraduate programs.
The First-Year Engineering Composition Program: integrates composition instruction into both terms of the first-year engineering curriculum at the Swanson School of Engineering. Writing projects focus on sustainability, professionalism, and ethics in engineering. Approximately 800 students complete Seminar in Composition: Engineering each fall, followed by a W course in the spring. The program culminates in a conference where students present team-produced projects.
The Public Communication of Science and Technology Certificate: an 18-credit undergraduate certificate drawing on writing-intensive courses in the sciences and the English Department. The program prepares students to write ethically, communicate the significance of research, and argue for scientific work in ways that serve the public.
The Disability Studies Certificate: an 18-credit interdisciplinary certificate housed in the College of General Studies and open to all Pitt undergraduates. Courses span a wide range of departments (including Composition, Film, Literature, Sociology, Music, Gender/Sexuality/Women's Studies, Political Science, French, Rehabilitation Science, Theatre, and American Sign Language). The certificate will soon be completable entirely online.
Supporting Writing in the Community
The Writing Institute offers grant writing workshops for community members who work or volunteer for nonprofits, delivered through Pitt's Community Engagement Center in the Hill District. Now entering their sixth year, these workshops have proven highly popular and maintain a substantial waiting list.