A wastebasket doesn't have to be the writer's best friend. The Teaching Resource Center is holding a seminar, "The Writing Life of Scholars," for University faculty and graduate students this Friday. This seminar will feature William Germano, the dean of humanities at Cooper Union college in New York.
This writing workshop reflects on some basic questions of scholarly writing. For instance, how does a novice scholar define writing? Why should professors be scholarly writers, anyway? The talk also focuses on the benefits of publishing, including professional advancement and engaging a broader audience.
"The heart of scholarly publishing and communication, as well as the heart of the academic life, is making the vital connection between ideas and lives," Germano said.
A distinguished speaker, Germano complements the worthy focus of the writing seminar. He received his doctorate in English at Indiana University. He later became editor-in-chief of the Columbia University Press, where he supervised a variety of editorial productions by distinguished authors. From there, Germano moved on to Routledge, a British company that prints humanities publications. He served there as vice president and publishing director for 19 years before moving to Cooper Union.
Germano has special insight to bestow upon the seminar because he not only has experience as a university and commercial publisher but has also written two books of his own. His work From Dissertation to Book and Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious About Serious Books, focuses on the professor as communicator. Getting It Published is an insider's guide to academic publishing. Those who recently earned a doctorate, graduate students and experienced authors all will appreciate Germano's promise to make their books "part of that [scholarly] conversation."
The TRC, which organized Germano's upcoming visit, is offering this seminar as part of a program called Professors as Writers. Its primary goal is to assist University faculty in dealing with complexities inherent to professional writing and publishing. PAW is clearly useful for beginning faculty and graduate students who are unsure of how to turn their dissertation into a book. PAW also, however, has special resources to assist mid-career professors as they begin new books or research projects. Other upcoming workshops that PAW plans to host this semester include "Writing Successful Grants" and "Finding Funding." Both will be delivered by Robert Porter, the program development manager in the research division at Virginia Tech.
Professors and graduate students interested in any of these workshops must pre-register. More information on Germano's "The Writing Life of Scholars," taking place Friday from 2:30 to 4:30 in the Lower West Oval Room of the Rotunda, is available online.
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