The campus provost and executive vice chancellor invites applications for a formal year-long writing mentoring program for pre-tenure faculty. The impact of COVID has resulted in considerable barriers to advancing research for many faculty members because of challenges related to personal circumstances, challenges associated with the nature of the research projects, or both. The Writing Fellows Program will give pre-tenure faculty members one course release and a budget of $1,500 to advance a writing project (e.g., funds can be used to work with an editor, hire a writing coach, or participate in a multi-day writing retreat at the end of the academic year). The program is a cohort-based model of structured writing support. Professor Amy Mihyang Ginther will be involved throughout the year as a mentor to the participants.
The Writing Fellows Program will create three cohorts in the 2024-25 academic year, each made up of four faculty members. After an initial orientation meeting at the start of fall quarter, each writing fellow will attend bi-weekly cohort meetings. The focus of these meetings will be informed by the writing-related needs of the cohort with the guidance of the mentor.
Eligibility
- Before applying, candidates should notify the Chair of their intention to apply and discuss the implications of receiving a course release for 2024-25.
- Any pre-tenure faculty member is eligible to apply, however, priority will be given to those whose research and writing progress have been significantly impacted by COVID, and to those closer to coming up for tenure, should we receive too many applications to accommodate.
- Candidates who will be evaluated for tenure in the 2024-25 academic year are not eligible for this program.
- This program is not appropriate for those who are not at a writing/production stage of their research.
- The program is open to faculty at any stage of writing, broadly construed, including books, articles, films, and other research and creative projects that can benefit from a group feedback structure.
- Preference will be given to single-authored projects. Projects authored by two people will be considered but multi-authored projects, which benefit far less from collective writing outside the core author group, will not.
Selection Criteria
- Impact of COVID on ability to advance the research project over the past year and a half.
- Excellence of the proposed research project.
- Clear statement of how peer-mentoring support for a specific writing project will be beneficial for achieving tenure goals.
- Willingness to commit to the year-long peer-group process.
- Proximity to tenure (though being early career should not inhibit you from applying, as we do not know how high demand will be).
Please note: CV and recommendations are not required
Applications are not being accepted at this time.
If you have any questions, please email Associate Vice Provost for Academic Success Jody Greene at acpas@ucsc.edu