Spring 2022 Courses

The Writing Center manages a range of professional development courses designed to help students at the Graduate Center in their careers and professional activities. These courses do not carry credit, are ungraded, and do not appear on the student’s transcript. Students register for these courses as they do their academic classes: log into CUNYFirst; go to Student Center and select “Search,” which takes you to the “Search for Classes” page. Select the institution (Graduate Center), the term, and enter the course number (listed below).

Note: Because these courses are zero-credit, Level 3 students are eligible to enroll.

Writing the Dissertation (PDEV 79407)

Writing the Dissertation is a course that supports you through the writing process as you work toward completing the dissertation. Designed to help you with everything from writing schedules to chapter drafts, the course aims to demystify what makes a great dissertation happen. You will be writing and sharing your work in the form of outlines, chapter abstracts, and of course completed chapter drafts; you will also prepare timetables for a sane schedule of work and write an “elevator speech” summary of your project for interviews and your CV. You will get a chance to critique completed dissertations in your disciplines and will also have time to review the common practices of academic discourse and rhetoric. We will also discuss how all students, especially historically underrepresented graduate students, can use mentoring, writing groups, and other strategies to achieve their academic writing goals.

Professor: Elizabeth Dill
Time: Thursdays, 6:30-8:30 PM (online)

Effective Academic Writing for Native English Speakers (PDEV 79403)

This course grounds students in the fundamental elements that inform all argument-based academic writing in order to help them better understand and navigate the sometimes bewildering array of genres in which they are expected to write, from seminar papers and conference presentations to grant applications and dissertation proposals to theses, dissertations, job letters, abstracts, and journal articles. At once a seminar and a workshop, this course combines opportunities for peer review with instruction in the genres of academic writing, revision techniques, advanced outlining, the art of the paragraph, methods for overcoming writer’s block, and other skills. The syllabus will be developed in coordination with students’ stated interests and needs.

Professor: David Hershinow
Time: Mondays, 11:45 AM-1:45 PM (online)

Effective Academic Writing for Non-Native English Speakers (PDEV 79403)

This course is a workshop that aims to help non-native English-speaking students take control of their writing process as they move forward in their graduate studies. We look at the conventions that shape academic writing, keeping in mind that these conventions vary from discipline to discipline and from genre to genre. We focus on the writing process by looking at various steps we can take in order to create “effective academic writing,” with emphasis on discussing writing in progress. Students work on improving writing projects connected to their coursework. We deal with grammar and other writing convention issues as needed.

First Section
Professor: Sharon Utakis
Time: Tuesdays, 11:45 AM-1:45 PM (online)

Second Section
Professor: Maria Jerskey
Time: Thursdays, 2:00-4:00 PM (in-person)

Advanced Spoken English: Teaching and Presentation Skills (PDEV 79400)

This course, for both novice and experienced teachers, focuses on teaching and presenting in university classrooms. Students will improve their spoken English through increased interactional awareness and focused feedback on pronunciation and delivery. This course will prepare students to make informed choices about leading and facilitating classroom interaction, including consideration of the role of technology in teaching and presenting.

Professor: Christine Jacknick
Time: Tuesdays, 4:15-6:15 PM (hybrid)

Teaching Strategies (PDEV 79401)

This course provides Graduate Center students from all disciplines with community and structure to help them prepare for and reflect on their development as teachers. This work proceeds from an understanding of the social contexts of teaching, as well as the positionalities of graduate student instructors and adjuncts. Short theoretical readings will help facilitate participants’ exploration and development of their own teaching philosophies and materials. The curriculum and structure will be responsive to the needs of the group and the realities of our current moment.  In Spring 2022, the course will address the challenges of the ongoing public health and social crises and the transition back to face-to-face or hybrid teaching for many CUNY instructors in the upcoming semesters.

Foundational topics explored in the course will include classroom community, student-centered and active learning approaches, accessibility, course design and policies, lesson planning, assignment design, assessment, educational technology, cultivating student writing, affective responses in classroom settings, and culturally responsive pedagogy. For questions about the course, please reach out to Laurie Hurson, lhurson@gc.cuny.edu.

Professor: Laurie Hurson
Time: Fridays, 9:30 AM-11:30 AM