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Writing Retreats Encourage Faculty to Focus in a Collaborative Environment

Image of Faculty Writing Retreat

A common sentiment among faculty is that finding time to write is a challenge. At Villanova, faculty are encouraged to bring their writing to the forefront through on-campus writing retreats that provide dedicated time and support for scholarship and other academic projects.

Led by Emily Carson, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in Faculty Writing Assistance, these multi-day retreats provide faculty a collaborative environment in which they can concentrate on a writing project, reflect upon their work and share challenges and tips with colleagues.

Villanova’s program is unique in that it lasts two full days and is free to faculty, thanks to the Office of the Provost and the Writing Center. The retreats take place four times a year—during fall break, winter break, spring break and after graduation—with all faculty, including adjuncts and post-doctoral fellows, invited to participate.

“The benefits of a two-day retreat are significant. The additional time allows us to offer individual consultation and feedback to faculty. This personalized attention can help push their work forward,” explained Carson. “Also, by the second day, our faculty are more communicative with each other.”

Faculty participating in the retreats work on a wide range of projects from scholarship and book chapters to grant proposals and fellowship applications.

“As a non-native speaker, a fresh PhD graduate and a new faculty member, my biggest writing challenge is grant proposals,” explained Xun Jiao, PhD, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering. “By participating in this retreat, I was able to dedicate time specifically to writing and to learning different ways to approach my work.”

New faculty members, who are particularly susceptible to the pressures of publishing, are also an important focus of the program. Carson promotes the writing retreats at new faculty orientation each summer and offers new faculty priority registration for the fall retreat.

It’s an approach that not only supports a professor’s academic endeavors, it helps new Villanovans connect with their colleagues across the University.

“Being a new professor can be intimidating and overwhelming, so it was nice to spend time with other professors from different departments and at different levels of experience, all coming together to dedicate themselves entirely to writing,” said Lisa Marco-Bujosa, PhD, Assistant Professor of STEM Education in the Department of Education & Counseling. “This made writing feel less isolating and overwhelming.”

Whether it’s having a dedicated time and space, discovering the benefits of writing as a social endeavor or honing skills for a new type of writing, it’s clear that Villanova faculty recognize the value in participating.

“In two years running the retreats, faculty have shared that they find this to be a rejuvenating experience,” said Carson. “We help them become efficient and work through projects faster, and we learn more about the challenges they are facing.”