The Writing Center manages a range of professional development courses designed to help students at the Graduate Center in their careers and professional activities. While topics vary, each class shares the common purpose of providing a low-stakes, low-workload space in which students can gain relevant practical experience alongside knowledgeable faculty and a community of peers.

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.

Effective Academic Writing (PDEV 79403) 

Most people find that writing and submitting good work in graduate school is harder than they expected it to be. There are new genres to learn (the abstract, the book review, the seminar paper, the literature review, etc.) and new conventions for how to talk and present information. Moreover, producing papers that display ambitious, graduate-level thinking and analysis often requires a more complex writing and revision process than students have ever done before. In order to be an effective academic writer, students often need to learn process-oriented skills and strategies that may not be taught in a program’s discipline-specific coursework. This introductory course delivers explicit how-to instruction on the production of advanced academic writing.

This course has two sections that are largely similar but have one key difference. Professor Maria Jerskey (Section 2) has certified training in TESOL. Multilingual students who worry about their use of grammar and idiomatic English can get additional support on these issues from Prof. Jerskey.

Section 1 Professor: Alexandra Milsom;

Time: Tuesdays, 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM (online)

Section 2 Professor: Maria Jerskey

Time: Thursdays, 2:00 – 4:00 PM (online)

Writing the Dissertation (PDEV 79407) 

This course 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 gain a new set of tools and strategies for navigating the revision process and maintaining a productive writing habit. Attending to academic writing in a transdisciplinary context, students in this course will come to understand the fundamentals of writing and knowledge-building that are held in common across the disciplines, thereby seeing their own work in a new light. Finally, students in this course will form a uniquely cross-disciplinary community of support and solidarity as they set weekly goals and cheer each other onward. 

Section 1 Professor: Dave Hershinow 

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

Section 2 Professor: Elizabeth Dill 

Time: Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00 PM (in-person) 

Writing the Article (PDEV 79409) 

This course is designed to help you understand and navigate the process of publishing academic journal articles. Whether you are grappling with how to turn a seminar or conference paper into an article, working through a “revise and resubmit,” or just wanting to get a better sense of how academic journal publishing works, this course will offer practical guidance and support. We will talk about the concrete steps in the article publishing process, from how to find the best journals for your work, to the nuts and bolts of submitting your manuscript, to how to deal with readers’ reports and requests for revisions. We will also discuss how to get from ideas, papers, or drafts to finished, polished journal articles, and you will have the opportunity to workshop writing in progress. The syllabus will be developed in consultation with students, so that it is tailored to the particular questions and projects participants bring to the group. 

Professor: Libby Garland 

Time: Wednesdays, 11:15-1:45 PM (online) 

Teaching Strategies (PDEV 79401) 

This course provides Graduate Center students from all disciplines with community and structure to help them prepare for and reflect upon their development as teachers. Our work will proceed 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 guide participants’ exploration and development of their teaching philosophies and materials. The course curriculum and structure will be responsive to the group’s needs, and the moments when we teach. In Spring 2026, the course will address the challenges created by political and social contexts, and also the increasing presence of AI within the university. 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 Dr. Laurie Hurson ([email protected]). 

Professor: Laurie Hurson 

Time: Fridays, 9:30 AM-11:30 AM (online)