Graduate Writers' Studio

Mission Statement

Lehigh University’s Graduate Writers' Studio fosters relationships across the campus community. We accept the basic premise that writing conventions vary across disciplines and according to writer, audience, and purpose. We work to build understanding of this premise across campus while co-constructing writing support best-practices with faculty, staff, and students.

The Graduate Writers' Studio believes peer writing facilitators practice a skill that can be learned and continually revised, shifting to meet the unique needs of the moment. We constantly work to understand the individual and disciplinary writing needs of all graduate student writers, while espousing the belief that there is no one perfect practice that helps all writers in all situations. Thus, the Graduate Writers' Studio invites all graduate-level writers-in-progress to participate in individualized writing consultation sessions and collaborative learning activities. We believe writing support initiatives are dynamic interpersonal interactions between dedicated individuals wherein both become leader and learner. 

The Graduate Writers' Studio promises the graduate student writers of Lehigh University access to thoughtful programming and activities that will promote their growth as academic writers. Such programming will include consultant training, individual consultations, an annual Three Minute Thesis Competition (3MT), and the facilitation of writing retreats, writing groups, and writing workshops for graduate students and faculty members.

Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity Statement

At the Graduate Writers' Studio, we are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible environment that allows for all members of our community to feel respected, acknowledged, and appreciated as their writing needs are being met. 

We are cognizant of the role language plays in how our ideas are valued both in academic and non-academic settings. We also acknowledge how language has been used to exclude and subjugate members of marginalized communities. We are conscious of how the prioritization of some forms of language over others perpetuates the hierarchical status quo that prevents us from achieving a truly egalitarian society.

In an effort to address these linguistically-supported inequalities, we stand in support of our writers using all world Englishes and cultural writing styles. Our staff members continuously engage in professional development opportunities to ensure that we serve Lehigh University's graduate writers in a respectful and prefessional manner. We habitually engage ourselves and one another in conversations aimed at increasing our awareness of how markers of social indentity influence how we all experience and are experienced by the world. Our vision for the Writers' Studio is to create a safe haven in which all members of our community feel like they belong, and are seen and heard as valued members of our university. 

In order to achieve this vision, we proactively engage with topics of diversity and inclusion. We are antiracists. We are pro-multilingualism and supportive of students of every nationality. We are LuAllies. We promote accessiblity for people with disabilities and different learning styles. We support mental health concerns, and we embrace all forms of neurodiversity. As such, we do not tolerate any circumstance that excludes or hurts our community members on the basis of race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or mental health.

Written by Sine Zungu and Joey Andrews, Graduate Writing Consultants Fall 2020

Accepted by all Graduate Writers' Studio Staff