Updated hiring information for 2010-11 will be available here as of December 1, 2009.
Full-time Princeton administrators and professional staff are invited to apply to teach a Writing Seminar in the Princeton Writing Program in 2009-10. The Ph.D. or extensive college teaching experience is required. In recognition of the effort of preparing for and teaching a writing seminar, participating administrators and staff receive a salary override of $8,000. They are expected to fulfill all of their regular obligations while teaching in the Program. Attendance is required at all-day faculty workshops May 26-28 and September 8-9, 2009. All Program faculty must also attend a half-day retreat on September 10, 2009, and two meetings during the term in which they're teaching.
To apply for 2009-10, please submit an application to Dr. Amanda Irwin Wilkins, Interim Director of the Princeton Writing Program, at awilkins@princeton.edu, by March 16, 2009. The application should include the following documents:
Please discuss your interest with your supervisor and secure his or her approval for the necessary release time before submitting an application.
The Writing Seminars in Brief
General information about the Princeton Writing Program is available at http://www.princeton.edu/writing. An overview of the Writing Seminars is available at http://www.princeton.edu/~writing/pwp.pdf. Below is a brief description of the Writing Seminars.
Each Writing Seminar focuses on a special topic of intellectual interest, ranging from global warming and animal intelligence to ancient seafaring and the American Dream. But the primary goal is for students to learn the fundamentals of academic inquiry and argument—how to frame compelling questions and problems, develop and organize ideas, make and substantiate claims, purposefully integrate a wide variety of sources, and revise for greater cogency and clarity. Students also learn to navigate the University library and receive instruction in essential library research skills.
Writing Seminar faculty design their own writing seminars according to shared curricular guidelines, as follows:
(1) Unlike most other courses, which are organized primarily around readings, Writing Seminars are organized primarily around writing, totaling about 30 finished pages. The major assignments include (i) a short paper (usually 5-6pp.), (ii) a slightly longer paper (usually 6-8pp.), (iii) a research paper (usually 10-12pp.), and (iv) a short, flexible final assignment due the day before Dean’s Date (the last day of Reading Period) and therefore known as the Dean’s Date Assignment. Students prepare for the first three assignments through brief pre-draft assignments as well as a draft, which faculty comment on in writing and discuss with student writers in 45-minute individual conferences. For the Dean’s Date Assignment, the writing process and faculty feedback vary, depending on the nature of the assignment.
(2) Readings are limited to 500-750 pages per term. This ballpark figure doesn’t include student writing, which is a primary focus of discussion in every Writing Seminar. Readings typically include books and articles, as well as excerpts of longer works collected in source packets.
(3) Writing Seminars meet for two 80-minute periods per week. In class, students discuss readings (often in terms of writing), receive instruction on key writing skills, and examine their own writing in draft workshops and small groups.
The Writing Program has had representation from a wide range of administrative and professional offices, including the Council of the Humanities (Carol Rigolot), the Department of Athletics (Patricia Kennedy), the Office of Development (Rand Mirante), Firestone Library (Wayne Bivens-Tatum, Mary George, David Hollander, Audrey Betsy Welber), the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning (Patricia Armstrong, Kate Stanton), the Dean of the College Office (Hank Dobin, Claire Fowler, Frank Ordiway), the Office of the Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science (Peter Bogucki), the Plasma Physics Lab's Science Education Program (Andrew Zwicker), the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials (Joe Michels), the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts (Mary Harper), and the residential Colleges (Oliver Avens, Kathy Crown, John Hodgson, Anne Caswell Klein, Steve Lestition).
The continuing participation of administrators and professional staff will help ensure a vibrant culture of writing at Princeton. Come join us!