Faculty Writing Circles (FWC)

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What are Faculty Writing Circles?

Faculty Writing Circles are organized for the purpose of stimulating and supporting faculty academic writing.

A circle consists of approximately 3-6 faculty who form an interdisciplinary supportive community.

Circles meet weekly and help faculty cultivate a habit of regular writing. Through the key strategy of daily writing, the circles provide an encouraging community of accountability for the (sometimes exhausting) task of scholarly writing.

Who Can Join Writing Circles?

Faculty (all levels/ranks) are eligible to join Writing Circles, as are staff who feel they would benefit from this time to handle grant-writing, research, or similar responsibilities of their positions.

Although students are not eligible for Writing Circles at this time, they are invited to attend the periodic Writing Retreats scheduled by FWC.

What Counts as "Writing"?

We take a broad view of what activities constitute "writing" in the scholarly context.

Reading other literature, thinking, planning, organizing, analyzing data, and editing or revising, and other activities might all be part of your writing process, in addition to actually composing words on the page.

All of these aspects of scholarly writing, which keep your research agenda moving forward, are appropriate activities during Faculty Writing Circles.

Circle Leaders

Each circle has a Leader to help them stay organized.

A Circle Leader plans the circle's meeting location (either scheduling physical spaces or setting up virtual spaces) and generally keeps the circle "on track" when they meet.

Generally Circle Leaders are chosen from those who have participated in a circle before, but no specific training or skills are required, and no other time commitment is required beyond the circle's regular weekly meeting.