Mission
About Us
We support writers and the teaching of writing.
Our Mission
The Writing Institute supports and enhances the culture of writing at the University of Pittsburgh, supports sustained intellectual engagement with writing across campus, offers research-based professional development opportunities related to writing, drives and showcases innovative and effective writing pedagogy, and ensures a responsible and effective vision and implementation for the Writing requirement.
Team
Who We Are
We are teachers first.
The Writing Institute team is made up of teacher-scholars whose expertise spans composition and rhetoric, writing in the disciplines, disability studies, digital writing, science writing, creative writing, curriculum design, and more. We are experienced teachers in first-year composition, writing-intensive courses, graduate seminars, and specialized programs, and that firsthand experience in the classroom shapes what we do.
Our team is united by a shared conviction that writing is a consequential ability that deserves serious, sustained attention and that all writers, regardless of background, discipline, or ability, benefit from thoughtful instruction and genuine support. Our approaches reflect that conviction: we design courses that connect writing to students' identities and aspirations, develop programs that open new pathways for writers across the university, and work alongside faculty to strengthen writing instruction in every corner of the Dietrich School.
Our Approach
How We Work
The Writing Institute approaches its work in four distinct but interconnected ways.
Direct support for writers.
We work directly with writers through Writing Center consultations, faculty writing retreats and accountability groups, graduate student Project Workshops and Writing Days, postdoctoral workshops and WAGs, and individual consultations for writers with disabilities. Someone comes with a writing need and leaves with direct help.
Developing capacity in others.
Some of our work is slower and more deliberate by design. It is the kind of capacity-building that takes a full semester or several conversations with a teacher or a department to take root.This work includes administering the W course requirement, consulting on course and assignment design, supporting Seminar in Composition teachers, leading the Writing in the Disciplines Faculty Seminar and Curriculum Design Studio, and maintaining ongoing conversations with departments about their writing-intensive courses. The goal is to strengthen the teaching happening across the Dietrich School.
Building and running programs.
Some of our most visible and durable work involves creating and sustaining programs that open new pathways for writers and students: the First-Year Engineering Composition Program, the Public Communication of Science and Technology certificate, the Disability Studies certificate, and the Seminar in Composition Faculty Fellows Program.
Community and public engagement.
Writing matters beyond the university. Through our grant writing workshops at Pitt's Community Engagement Center in the Hill District and the Creating a Culture of Access speaker series, we work to make writing support and disability scholarship resources for broader communities.
Advisory Board
Who Supports Us
The Writing Institute draws on the expertise and insight of our Advisory Board.
The Writing Institute benefits from the guidance of a dedicated Advisory Board whose members bring expertise from across the University of Pittsburgh. Representing schools and disciplines as varied as engineering, economics, social work, mathematics, urban studies, and the health sciences, board members reflect our belief that writing is a university-wide endeavor. Their counsel informs our programs and priorities, and their connections across campus strengthen our ability to serve Pitt's diverse communities of writers and teachers. We are grateful for their engagement and partnership.
Meet our Advisory Board.
Our History
Where We Came From
The Writing Institute was built on decades of work.
The Writing Institute was founded in 2020, but its roots run much deeper. It grew out of programs with a long history at Pitt — among them the Writing Center that has served students since the 1970s, a commitment to writing across the curriculum stretching back to 1981, and a first-year composition program that has been nationally recognized. These threads, long part of Pitt's intellectual fabric, came together under one roof through the vision of Dean Kathleen Blee and with support from the Dietrich Foundation. The result is an institute that carries decades of expertise and relationships — and that continues to grow in new directions.
Read about our history.
Connect
Stay Connected: Join a Mailing List
Would you like to be on one of our mailing lists to hear about news and events?
Ask to be added to our list for faculty events.
Ask to be added to our list for graduate student events.
Join our mailing list to hear about events for writers with disabilities.
Join the Creating a Culture of Access mailing list to hear about events in this lecture series.
Sign up for our postdoc mailing list for news and updates.
Pedagogy Consultations
The Writing Institute welcomes faculty teaching (or planning to teach) writing-intensive undergraduate or graduate courses to meet for a one-on-one pedagogy consultation (over Zoom) with a member of our team. Read about what you can explore in Pedagogy Consultations.
Specific blocks of time are dedicated to consultations in the Fall during finals week and during Summer in July and August. Please view our Calendar to schedule a session. If you would like a consultation outside of these dedicated blocks, contact us directly at moriah.kirdy@pitt.edu and/or jennifer.keating@pitt.edu.
Questions? Comments? Contact moriah.kirdy@pitt.edu and jennifer.keating@pitt.edu.