Faculty Information

Faculty and instructors at UMB can include this syllabus blurb in their syllabi to let students know about the UMB Writing Center.

Located in room 307 on the 3rd floor of the SMC Campus Center, the UMB Writing Center offers UMB student writers support for understanding, planning, drafting, revising, and editing advanced disciplinary writing in the sciences, social sciences, and health-related academic and professional programs. To take advantage of our consultation program, first read the About and Consultation pages on our website. Next, register in our WCOnline scheduler and make an appointment online to work one-to-one over your writing with a UMB Writing Center Fellow. By doing so, you are choosing to advance your writing practice with a professionally trained peer writing mentor. An appointment lasts 45 minutes online or in person in the UMB Writing Center. For an in-person or a synchronous online appointment, be ready to actively participate in the consultation. If you want support that does not require your presence in real-time, choose our asynchronous e-Tutoring option for written feedback on your work. UMB Writing Center Fellows do not complete or edit your work; instead, they discuss strategic approaches to professional and graduate-level writing practices, including responding to the assignment, using standardized disciplinary language, consulting professional manuals of style (e.g., AMA, APA, etc.), understanding and applying faculty feedback, and navigating organizational expectations for specific kinds of writing in your field of study. Make up to two (2) appointments per week and, ideally, schedule with a Fellow at least a week or more before any writing deadline. For details about consultation formats (e.g., virtual or in-person) and about what to expect in a consultation, visit the Consultations page on our website. Consider taking advantage of our interprofessional group programs as well, including our virtual Writing Accountability Group (WAG) for dedicated writing time on your projects with a small group of fellow writers; our weekly in-person Writing Lounge; programming focused on doctoral students in supporting dissertation writing; and select workshops for guided experience with key practices in graduate and professional writing. For information about these programs, visit our website. 

Interested in talking through your approach to teaching writing or integrating writing more intentionally into your course design?

James Wright, the Writing Center's Associate Director, and Isabell May, the Writing Center's Director, are available for individual consultations with faculty, instructors, postdocs, and doctoral students at any stage of their teaching. Whether you're developing a new writing assignment, thinking about assessment strategies, or responding to evolving student needs (including the impact of generative AI), we’re here as thought partners. These conversations are collaborative and supportive, grounded in the belief that teaching writing is an ongoing practice that benefits from shared reflection and fresh ideas.

A selection of customizable faculty workshops on teaching (with) writing, writing assignment design, and writing assessment will be available mid-October.

Friday, October 24, 12-1:30 pm

Disciplinary writing often feels like a “black box” to students: full of unspoken expectations and unfamiliar genre conventions. This workshop explores how faculty can use sample texts to help students demystify the writing practices in their field. By analyzing published or instructor-provided examples, students can begin to “crack the code” of what makes writing effective in a given genre or professional context.

We’ll share adaptable strategies for selecting and analyzing sample texts in ways that illuminate rhetorical patterns, audience expectations, and structural features specific to your discipline. Participants will work with a sample text using a guided framework and reflect on how these methods can support their own students’ writing development, whether the goal is stronger course assignments, capstone projects, or early publication efforts.

You can register for the virtual workshop via the Elm calendar entry.

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If you require an accommodation for this event, please contact Isabell C. May, PhD, at imay@umaryland.edu or 410-706-4450 with your request, so that we can assist you further.  Please submit your requests at least seven (7) business days prior to the event, to give us ample time to review your accommodation requests, and we will make a good-faith effort to provide those accommodations.