Writing Fellows Program

The Writing Center’s Fellowship in Writing Tutoring and Pedagogy is an experiential learning program that offers meaningful opportunities for collaboration, mentorship, and professional development for students in any major or program and their faculty partners. By embedding trained writing consultants in writing intensive courses, we aim to build a more positive, effective and supportive experience of academic writing for all students.

Program Overview

We will begin accepting applications for the 2024 Writing Fellows Program in March. Please contact the Writing Center for more information.

The TU Writing Center's fellowship program trains students to become highly skilled writing tutors through a 5-week intensive training program that takes place during the summer and comes with a stipend of $2000. This peer leadership experience is designed to provide academic mentoring and professional development for students in any major or program who are interested in improving their own writing and supporting their peers to do the same. The students selected as Writing Fellows commit to working as embedded tutors in writing-intensive courses during the subsequent fall semester. Students who wish to remain employed at the TU Writing Center after completing a fellowship are welcome to do so until graduation.

Faculty who would like to work with a Writing Fellow can apply to join our Cohort on Writing Pedagogy. Selected faculty will earn a $1000 stipend to participate in our Summer Writing Pedagogy Retreat, where they will learn about best practices for teaching writing in their disciplines. During the following fall and/or spring term, faculty will serve as partners and mentors to the undergraduate Writing Fellow embedded in their course, and they will meet at midterm with the faculty cohort for support and troubleshooting.

Learn more and apply

Apply for a Student Position Apply for the Faculty Cohort

What Can Writing Fellows Do?

Writing Fellows get paid to attend their fellowed class and may observe or participate in whatever way the Writing Fellow and Faculty Partner think most benefits their students. Writing Fellows can participate in class discussions, ask important questions about assignments and model other behaviors associated with academic success.

The Writing Fellow’s primary function is to consult with students, one-on-one or in groups, on drafts of their writing projects. All students in a fellowed class are expected to meet with their Writing Fellow at least three times per semester. However, the program is not a remediation method; rather, the goal is to engage all students more intentionally in writing as a process. To this end, Writing Fellows provide feedback from the perspective of an interested reader, assisting student writers in producing their best work. Most Writing Fellows work about 10-12 hours per week.

Writing Fellows also put their training and expertise to work in class by facilitating peer response workshops or providing direct instruction on topics related to writing. Writing Fellows can also share their own drafts of similar assignments, provide useful strategies for revising specific essay elements, and/or lead activities designed to help students practice new writing moves.

Writing Fellows are well-positioned to let their faculty partners know what students do and do not understand and where they are struggling with their writing. Because Writing Fellows are also students, they can provide useful feedback on course documents and help their faculty partners better address student questions.

In October 2023, four undergraduate tutors presented at the International Writing Centers Association Conference in downtown Baltimore. Lauren Asbury (Anthropology, '24), Kahlea Branch (English, '24), Gianna Espinoza (English, '25), and Natalie Flanders (Education, '24) all presented original work based on their experience working as embedded Writing Fellows at TU's Writing Center.

Become a Writing Fellow

Students selected in our competitive application process will participate in a 5-week training program during the summer and earn a stipend of $2000. During the program, fellows work with top students from across the university, collaborate with TU faculty in an intensive pedagogy workshop and conduct research in the discipline of Writing Studies.

Application criteria for students:

  • Sophomore standing (minimum), having completed either at TU or through transfer credits the first year composition course and the Towson seminar (Exemptions may be offered to students who have experience working as a Writing Center tutor at TU or another institution.)
  • A GPA of 3.5 or higher
  • Strong desire to support their peers in navigating academic success
  • All majors and minors are welcome to apply

What makes a good Writing Fellow (am I a good fit?)

  • The best Writing Fellows have a high level of intellectual curiosity and love to participate in class. They spend a lot of their time talking with their peers about writing and research.
  • Writing Fellows have strong verbal communication and good “people skills.” We aren’t necessarily looking for “perfect” writers (we don’t think they exist!), but we want students who believe in the writing process and have an existing process that they rely on.
  • The Writing Fellows program provides excellent hands-on training for students who wish to go to graduate school in any discipline. The program will make students more aware of the distinctions between academic disciplines and how those distinctions translate into writing practices and expectations.
  • Students who plan to go into a teaching or helping profession will benefit from the training and mentoring we provide.

2024 Application Timeline for Students

  • Applications due April 22, 2024
  • Students contacted for interviews by May 1, 2024
  • Interviews take place May 6-14, 2024
  • Final decisions by May 20, 2024
  • Fellowship runs July 15-August 16, 2024

How to apply:

Complete our application form. In this form, we ask for some personal information, including your current GPA. You'll be prompted to upload two different writing samples and answer three short essay questions about writing. There are no "right" or "wrong" answers here, but the best responses will be specific and refer to moments in the writing samples as examples.

Become a Faculty Partner (embed a Writing Fellow in your class)

Training for faculty partners takes place at the Summer Writing Pedagogy Retreat sponsored by the TU Writing Center. Faculty selected to participate will earn a $1000 stipend to participate in the week-long professional development seminar that covers connections between thinking and writing, writing threshold concepts, writing assignment design based on disciplinary thresholds and the PACT framework, methods for providing feedback on writing, methods for grading student work and collaborative techniques for integrating Writing Fellows into a class.

Having a Writing Fellow embedded in your course comes with several tangible benefits. First and foremost, students who enroll in fellowed courses benefit from access to a highly skilled writing tutor. Writing Fellows also provide positive peer mentoring to students in writing intensive courses and a role model for engagement with faculty and the larger university community.

Faculty partners would gain strategies for improving writing instruction and a supportive community dedicated to freshening pedagogy. Student Writing Fellows benefit faculty by serving as intermediaries between faculty and students, reporting patterns of concern among students and providing insights on student misunderstandings about assignment prompts and rubrics. Participating in the program will also bring faculty into contact with people from different disciplines and allow them to forge connections across campus.

Program Expectations

Faculty chosen to participate would be asked to meet the following expectations:

  • Attend the four-day Summer Writing Pedagogy Retreat and complete all assigned reading and homework
  • Develop a learner-centered syllabus for the fellowed course
  • Revise at least one writing assignment and rubric to encourage revision, reward risk, and foster transferable skills
  • Provide mentoring and guidance for embedded Writing Fellow in the fall and/or spring semester 
  • Attend pre-semester and mid-term faculty cohort meetings during active terms

Application Criteria for Faculty

  • Teach a writing-intensive course in any discipline. Courses are considered “writing-intensive” if they include 2 or more major writing assignments that incorporate revision. Priority will be given to faculty who teach TSEM and Core 9 classes. 
  • Provide a syllabus and sample writing assignment for the course you would like to fellow. (Drafts of these documents are acceptable.)
  • In your responses to questions, try to demonstrate your interest in 1) having a Writing Fellow in the course, 2) deepening your knowledge of teaching with writing, and/or 3) coaching and supporting students in writing as a process. 

2024 Application Timeline for Faculty

  • Call for applications March 11, 2024
  • Applications due April 22, 2024
  • Deliberations May 6-10, 2024
  • Decisions announced May 11, 2024
  • Summer Writing Pedagogy Retreat July 22-25, 2024

How to apply:

Complete our application form, which asks you to upload copies of your current syllabus and at least one major writing assignment for the course that you like to fellow. Please contact Mairin Barney at with any questions.