Dissertation Bootcamp participants (Session 1, Summer 2008)
writing in the Hume Writing Center

Hume Writing Center Reaches Out to Graduate Students
For the first time in its seven-year history, the Hume Writing Center (HWC) has colloborated with the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education (VPGE) to support the writing of Stanford graduate students by offering three new pilot programs: Dissertation Bootcamps, writing workshops, and graduate tutoring.  

Established in 2001 through a generous endowment from George and Leslie Hume, the HWC has long received its primary funding from the Office of the Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education to focus on serving undergraduate students through one-on-one writing consultations and classroom workshops.  With additional support from the School of Humanities and Sciences, the HWC offered limited tutoring for graduate students during the last three years.  When VPGE was created in 2007 to support over 8000 students in Stanford’s seven graduate schools, its mission coincided with HWC’s growing interest in expanding writing consultation and service to graduate students.  In spring of 2008, the HWC and VPGE agreed to initiate three pilot programs over the summer. 

The Dissertation Bootcamp was developed to help students through the difficult writing stages of the dissertation process.  The program provides writers with a setting conducive to focused writing time.  The 10-day Bootcamp begins with an initial day of workshops.  For the remaining 9 days, participants spend four hours on their dissertations.  Bootcamp participants in the two summer sessions in June and August provided overwhelmingly positive feedback on their Bootcamp experience, with almost all participants reporting that the program helped them achieve their goal of finishing their dissertation.

The seven Graduate Workshops spread through the summer months attracted 84 students.  The workshops included, “Establishing an Effective Dissertation Writing Group,” “Writing and Publishing the Journal Article,” “Writing the Dissertation, Writing Fellowship Proposals,” and “How to Get the Most Out of Academic and Professional Conferences.”  Finally, Summer Graduate Tutoring was offered between July 8 and September 11.  The majority of the one-hour appointment sessions were filled with graduate students from six schools, including the Graduate Schools of Business, Medicine, and Earth Science.  

Evaluation forms and steady attendance demonstrated that all three pilot programs were popular and well-received by graduate students.  Moreover, graduate feedback reveals an immense demand for writing help.  The HWC and VPGE will continue discussing the prospects for developing these pilot programs.