phd creative writing cornell

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English language and literature, field description.

The Ph.D. Program. The doctoral program in English Language and Literature enrolls about 10 new students each year in the Ph.D. program. Our small size allows us to offer a generous financial support package, details of which are outlined on our department website. At the same time, we have a large and diverse graduate faculty with competence in a wide range of literary, theoretical, and cultural fields. Students choose a Special Committee of three faculty members, from whom they receive a great deal of individual attention. Working with this committee, students design their own courses of study within the very broad framework laid down by the department. The program is extremely flexible in regard to such matters as course selection, the design of examinations, and the election of minor subjects of concentration outside the department. English Ph.D. students pursuing interdisciplinary research may include on their Special Committees faculty members from related fields such as Comparative Literature, Romance Studies, German Studies, History, Classics, Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Linguistics, Performing and Media Arts, Government, and Philosophy.

The Ph.D. candidate is normally expected to complete six or seven one-semester courses for credit in the first year of residence and a total of six or seven more in the second and third years. The program of any doctoral candidate's formal and informal study, whatever his or her particular interests, should be comprehensive enough to ensure familiarity with the authors and works that have been the most influential in determining the course of literatures in English; the theory and criticism of literature; the relations between literature and other disciplines; and concerns and tools of literary and cultural history such as textual criticism, study of genre, source, and influence, as well as wider issues of cultural production and historical and social contexts that bear on literature.

M.F.A./Ph.D. Joint Degree Program. Admission to our Joint MFA/PhD degree program remains on hold. We encourage you to consider applying to either the MFA or PhD program instead, if you would like to be considered for admission. Thank you for your understanding.

The M.F.A. Program. The Creative Writing program in the department of English Language and Literature offers an M.F.A. degree only, with concentrations in either poetry or fiction. Each year the department enrolls only eight students, four in each concentration. Our small size allows us to offer a generous financial support package, details of which are outlined on our department website. At the same time, we have a large and diverse graduate faculty with competence in a wide range of literary, theoretical, and cultural fields. Students choose a Special Committee of two faculty members who provide a great deal of individual attention and encourage students to design their own courses of study within the very broad framework laid down by the department.

Students participate in a graduate writing workshop each semester and take 6 additional one-semester courses for credit, at least four of them in literatures in English, Comparative Literature, literature in the modern or classical languages, or cultural studies (typically two per semester during the first year and one per semester during the second year). First year students receive practical training by working as Editorial Assistants for Epoch, a periodical or prose and poetry published by the Creative Writing staff of the department. The most significant requirement of the M.F.A. degree is the completion of a book-length manuscript: a collection of poems, short stories, or a novel.

The Special Committee. Every student selects a Special Committee who will be responsible for providing the student with a great deal of individual attention. The University system of Special Committees allows students to design their own courses of study within a broad framework laid down by the department, and it encourages a close working relationship between professors and students, promoting freedom and flexibility in the pursuit of the graduate degree. The student's Special Committee guides and supervises all academic work and assesses progress at a series of meetings with the student.

Teaching. Teaching is considered an integral part of training for the profession. The Field requires a carefully supervised teaching experience of at least one year for every doctoral and masters candidate as part of the training for the degree. The Department of Literatures in English, in conjunction with the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines , offers excellent training for beginning teachers and varied and interesting teaching within the university-wide First-Year Writing Program. Graduate students are assigned to writing courses under such general rubrics as "Writing Across Cultures," "American Voices," "Word and Image," "Reading Now," and "Writing the Environment," among others. Serving as a Teaching Assistant for a lecture course taught by a member of the Department of Literatures in English faculty is another way graduate students participate in the teaching of undergraduates.

View the procedural guides for the  M.F.A. program and Ph.D. program .

Contact Information

250 Goldwin Smith Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY  14853

Data and Statistics

• Research Master's Program Statistics
• Doctoral Program Statistics

Field Manual

Subject and degrees, creative writing.

• Creative Writing (M.F.A.) (Ithaca)
• English Language and Literature (Ph.D.) (Ithaca)

Concentrations by Subject

• creative writing
• African American literature
• American literature after 1865
• American literature to 1865
• American studies
• colonial and postcolonial literatures
• cultural studies
• dramatic literature
• English poetry
• lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies
• literary criticism and theory
• Old and Middle English
• prose fiction
• the English Renaissance to 1660
• the nineteenth century
• the Restoration and the eighteenth century
• the twentieth century
• women's literature

Elizabeth S. Anker

• Campus: Ithaca
• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; literary criticism and theory; the twentieth century; women's literature
• Research Interests: postcolonial literature; human rights; literary theory; narrative studies

Kevin D. Attell

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; colonial and postcolonial literatures; literary criticism and theory; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: 20th-century American and British literature; literacy and critical theory; history and theory of the novel; postcolonial studies; film studies

Anindita Banerjee

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies
• Research Interests: Environmental humanities, speculative fiction, media studies, migrancy

Jeremy H. Braddock

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; cultural studies; literary criticism and theory; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: 20th-century American literature; transatlantic modernism; African American literature; visual studies; film; libraries, archives and information

Mary Pat Brady

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; American literature after 1865; colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; women's literature
• Research Interests: U.S. Latino and Latina literatures and cultures; cultural studies; American literature after 1865; critical geography; multi-ethnic literature, theories of race and sexuality

Laura Schaefer Brown

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: cultural studies; literary criticism and theory; prose fiction; the Restoration and the eighteenth century; women's literature
• Research Interests: restoration and eighteenth-century literature

NoViolet Bulawayo

• Concentrations: Creative Writing: creative writing
• Research Interests: Creative Writing

Jodi A. Byrd

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American studies; colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; literary criticism and theory
• Research Interests: American Indian and Indigenous literatures, Indigenous feminisms and queer Indigenous studies, Indigenous critical theory, settler colonial studies, critical technology studies, video game studies

Cathy Caruth

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; literary criticism and theory; Creative Writing: creative writing
• Research Interests: British and German romanticism; literary theory; literature and theory of drama; psychoanalysis

Eric T Cheyfitz

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; American literature after 1865; American literature to 1865; colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; literary criticism and theory
• Research Interests: American literatures; federal Indian law; Native American literatures

Elisha Cohn

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: colonial and postcolonial literatures; the nineteenth century; women's literature
• Research Interests: 19th century British literature and culture; history and theory of the novel; lyric poetry

Naminata Diabate

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; literary criticism and theory; prose fiction; women's literature
• Research Interests: African and Diasporic African literature, film studies, and (new)media studies, gender, sexuality, race

Grant A. Farred

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; literary criticism and theory; prose fiction; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: Africana studies; cultural studies; postcolonial theory; race theory; African-American literature; Diasporic literature and theory; literature and philosophy

Chelsea Mikael Frazier

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; colonial and postcolonial literatures; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; women's literature
• Research Interests: African American and African Diaspora studies, gender and sexuality, environmental humanities

Emily Jane Fridlund

• Research Interests: fiction

J. Ellen Gainor

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: dramatic literature; the nineteenth century; the twentieth century; women's literature
• Research Interests: British and American Drama; feminist theatre criticism; women playwrights; dramaturgy

Andrew Scott Galloway

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: English poetry; Old and Middle English
• Research Interests: Medieval English poetry (esp. Layamon, Chaucer, Langland, Gower); medieval drama; medieval history writing; history of the book; literature and the prospect of cultural history

Roger Stephen Gilbert

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; American literature to 1865; English poetry
• Research Interests: American poetry; modern and contemporary poetry; aesthetics and evaluation

Ellis Hanson

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: cultural studies; dramatic literature; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; literary criticism and theory; prose fiction; the nineteenth century; women's literature
• Research Interests: Victorian literature; decadence and aestheticism; gender and sexuality studies; and film

Rebeca L. Hey-Colon

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; American studies; cultural studies; women's literature
• Research Interests: US Latinx/a/o literatures and cultures, Afro-latinx literatures and cultures, Afro-diasporic spiritualities and religions, Caribbean studies, Cultural studies

Juliana Hu Pegues

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; American studies; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; women's literature
• Research Interests: Asian American studies, Native and Indigenous studies, women of color feminisms, queer of color critique

George Hutchinson

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; American literature after 1865; American literature to 1865; American studies
• Research Interests: American modernism; African American literature; race in American culture; Walt Whitman

Ishion Hutchinson

• Campus: Ithaca - (Divisional Member)
• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; colonial and postcolonial literatures; dramatic literature; English poetry; the twentieth century; Creative Writing: creative writing
• Research Interests: poetry in translation; American and British poetry; creative writing and creative reading; the long poem and the Epic

Karen Jaime

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American studies; cultural studies; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; literary criticism and theory; women's literature

Jane A. Juffer

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: cultural studies; literary criticism and theory; women's literature
• Research Interests: cultural studies; Latino/a studies; ethnography; feminist, gender and sexuality studies

Rayna M Kalas

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: dramatic literature; English poetry; literary criticism and theory; prose fiction; the English Renaissance to 1660
• Research Interests: 16th- and 17th-century poetry and prose; poetics and technology; visual studies; the labor and craft of writing in the early modern period
• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American studies; colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: transnational Asian American studies, comparative empire studies, environmental humanities, speculative fiction

Alexandra Grace Kleeman

John R. Lennon

• Research Interests: creative writing (fiction): contemporary literature; crime and science fiction novels

Caroline Elizabeth Levine

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; English poetry; literary criticism and theory; prose fiction; the nineteenth century
• Research Interests: Victorian literature and culture; narrative theory; formalism; literary and cultural theory; world literature;the relations between art and politics

Mary Loeffelholz

• Campus: Ithaca - (Minor Member)
• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; American literature to 1865; American studies; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; the nineteenth century; women's literature
• Research Interests: Nineteenth century American literature and culture, American poetry, theory of the lyric, nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women’s writing

Gregory Michael Londe

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American studies; colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; English poetry; literary criticism and theory; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: 19th, 20th, and 21st century Anglophone literature Modernism Institutional histories of literary culture Economics and literature Comparative and transnational poetics Irish studies

Philip A. Lorenz

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: dramatic literature; literary criticism and theory; the English Renaissance to 1660
• Research Interests: Renaissance Drama, political theology, sovereignty, poetics and theory, literature and philosophy

Kate McCullough

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; American literature to 1865; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; literary criticism and theory; women's literature
• Research Interests: American literature after 1865; women's literature; feminist literary criticism and theory; lesbian/queer theory

Natalie Anne-Marie Melas

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: colonial and postcolonial literatures; literary criticism and theory; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: postcolonial questions; the politics of disciplinary histories; cultural comparison; modernisms (English, French, Caribbean, Greek, Egyptian); Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean literature and theory; multilingualism

Jonathan Beck Monroe

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; English poetry; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: modern and contemporary poetry; comparative/interdisciplinary approaches; modernism/postmodernism; critical theory; sociohistorical and linguistic criticism; romanticism

Valzhyna Mort Hutchinson

• Research Interests: poetry

Mukoma Wa Ngugi

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: colonial and postcolonial literatures; cultural studies; literary criticism and theory
• Research Interests:

Mendi Lewis Obadike

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; American studies
• Research Interests: Sound Studies, Sound Art, African American Literature and Culture, Poetry, Performance, Media Art

Ernesto Quinonez

• Research Interests: creative writing; fiction

Masha Raskolnikov

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: dramatic literature; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; literary criticism and theory; Old and Middle English; women's literature
• Research Interests: Middle English literature, allegory, medieval literary theory and rhetoric, contemporary critical theory, feminist and queer studies

Riche D. Richardson

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; American studies; cultural studies; literary criticism and theory; women's literature
• Research Interests: american literature; gender studies; southern studies

Jessica M. Rosenberg

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: dramatic literature; English poetry; literary criticism and theory; the English Renaissance to 1660
• Research Interests: -Early modern literature and culture -History of Science -History of the Book -Media Studies -Poetry and Poetics -Plant Studies

Nicholas G. Salvato

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; dramatic literature; lesbian, bisexual, and gay literary studies; literary criticism and theory; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: 20th- and 21st-century literature; theater and culture; performance history and theory; American modernism; queer studies

Shirley R Samuels

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American literature after 1865; American literature to 1865; cultural studies; the nineteenth century; women's literature
• Research Interests: American literature and culture; 18th- and 19th-century American fiction; feminist criticism, American studies

Anna Shechtman

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: American studies; cultural studies; literary criticism and theory; the twentieth century
• Research Interests: American studies, cultural studies, literary criticism and theory, the twentieth century

Derrick R. Spires

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; American literature to 1865; American studies; the nineteenth century
• Research Interests: African American literature and culture, black print culture, African American intellectual history, pre-20th century American black speculative fiction, critical race studies, politics and aesthetics

Lindsay C Thomas

• Research Interests: 20th- and 21st-century American literature; digital media; digital humanities; literary sociology

Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon

• Research Interests: creative writing, 19th-century American literature, African American literature

Helena Maria Viramontes

• Research Interests: creative writing

Lenora Warren

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: African American literature; American literature to 1865; American studies; prose fiction; women's literature
• Research Interests: Transatlantic literature, History of Race, History of Revolution, Abolition, Enslavement

Samantha Zacher

• Concentrations: English Language and Literature: Old and Middle English
• Research Interests: Old and Middle English literature; manuscript studies; rhetoric; studies in orality and literacy; history of the English language

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Table of Contents

• Cornell Writing Centers

The CWC provides support for individuals at any stage of the writing process. It is a free resource available to all of Cornell—undergraduate students, pre-freshman and high schoolers in summer programs, graduate students, staff, faculty, and alumni—for nearly any kind of writing project: applications, presentations, lab reports, essays, papers, and more. Tutors ( highly trained undergraduate students ) serve as responsive listeners and readers who can address questions about the writing process or about particular pieces of writing. They will ask questions that foster critical thinking about your writing, and they will also consider questions of confidence, reading, analytic thought, imagination, and research. All tutors have training in supporting multilingual writers, working with writers remotely online, and in supporting writers working on application materials.

Make an Appointment

For fall 2024, the Cornell Writing Centers will start tutoring on Monday, September 9. The CWC offers both appointment-based sessions and walk-ins at five locations (Rockefeller 178, Mann Library Consultation Area, 108 Uris Library, 403 Olin library, and B06 Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Writers will need to  register for accounts and make appointments  on our scheduling platform for all online appointments. 

Make an appointment

Tutoring Schedule

Fall 2024 semester schedule , fall 2024 location schedule .

Sundays—Thursdays, 7:00-9:00pm  

• 108 Uris Library 
• 403 Olin Library   
• B06 Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Online Shifts, via WC Online 

Mondays—Thursdays, 3:00-5:00pm 

• Mann Library Consultation Area  
• 178 Rockefeller Hall   

Wanted: Writing Tutors!

Why Visit the Cornell Writing Centers?

Writing Centers: Celebrating Graduating Tutors

Commitment to combatting linguistic injustice.

The CWC recognizes and values the rich diversity of writers at Cornell, who come from different educational, national, racial, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds with varying ways of thinking and being in the world. The CWC further acknowledges the racialized ways languages (and their users) are hierarchized based on white linguistic norms. To combat linguistic injustice, our tutors receive ongoing pedagogical training on how to ask questions and provide feedback that encourages writers to value and use their own languages and voices in ways that honor linguistic differences, seek growth in writing and thinking, and advocate for their right to their language. We are committed to respecting each writer as a whole person who has agency over their writing and language choices. 

Writing Center Policies

The Cornell Writing Centers are generally flexible in our work with writers, but the following guidelines may help you to better understand how we function as well as some of our limitations.

Tutoring Times

Writers can only make  a  60-minute appointment  using our online scheduler, WC Online. We recognize that 60-minutes may seem like too much time and/or may be overwhelming. However, this requirement is to protect both your scheduled appointment time (for example, in cases where figuring out technology or wifi issues may take up 10-minutes in the beginning of the session) and to protect our tutors from fatigue. Further, the length of the actual session will be determined by what you bring to work on with the tutor (that is, you do not need to use the entire allotted hour appointment).  

Writers are encouraged to  only bring 4-6 pages of writing at a time. If you bring a longer piece of writing, we would strongly encourage you to have a smaller section that you'd like to work on. We believe that tutoring is best when the writer and tutor are working together to think through smaller sections. 

Appointment Limitations

Generally, writers can only make two appointments per week through our online scheduling system, WC Online. Our goal is to help you understand how your piece of writing works and how you can revise it and grow as a writer. Growing as a writer involves reading and revising your writing on your own as well as working with a tutor; thus, we hope that the maximum of two appointments per week will encourage further time reading and thinking about your writing on your own. Further, we are a limited resource and want to ensure as many people as possible can make appointments. 

We encourage writers to work with multiple tutors, rather than only making appointments with the same tutor for every session. We believe that getting multiple perspectives on your writing will prove more useful.

We encourage writers to cancel WC Online appointments no less than 8 hours before the scheduled appointment. Canceling your appointment, when necessary, is a courtesy both to the tutor and to other writers who may wish to make an appointment at that time. If you miss three appointments (without canceling them), your WC Online account will be automatically disabled.  

Tutoring Pedagogy 

Our tutors are trained to create a collaborative tutoring experience that is interactive and conversational. They will ask you questions about your larger argument and purpose in writing, how you're using evidence and analyzing, and how you're understanding particular vocabulary or language choices. We believe that writers learn about writing through both doing the work (writing, revising) and through talking about their writing and noticing the effect of certain choices. Thus, to get the most out of a tutoring session, we hope that you will come prepared to have a rich and engaging conversation about your writing!

Tutor Agency 

The CWC also honors each tutor's agency to make decisions that represent a negotiation of what is best for both the tutor and the writer. This policy acknowledges that both tutors and writers are complex humans with varying needs when it comes to reading, writing, and communicating. That means, your tutor may ask you to print out your essay because that's how they read best, or a tutor may be willing to work with you for an extra half hour or they may need to be done immediately when their tutoring shift is done. Tutors, like writers, have individual reading and tutoring preferences as well as varying comfort levels with different types of situations--we encourage them, like you, to make purposeful decisions that all parties are comfortable with. While this policy does result in a variety of different practices and approaches to different situations, we hope that you'll respect each tutor's requests and sense of what they need, as they will also respect your choices about what you need. 

WC Online Scheduling System

We use WC Online ( https://cornell.mywconline.net/ ) for scheduling appointments and keeping track of the number of appointments we have each semester. If you came to the Writing Centers without an appointment, it is likely a tutor created a WC Online account for you in order to track the appointment. If you are trying to login to WC Online and can’t, simply use your Cornell email address and click on “Reset your password.” The “Reset your password” link is right below the login button.

Proof of Appointments

Generally, we do not support tutors (who are peers) providing teachers with proof of an appointment. Since we believe that peers are equals and tutors do not have power over their peers, tutors should not be asked to sign or authorize any documents that prove writers attended a session. However, writers can request that tutors email the writers their client report from, which the writer can use as they please. Client report forms are, generally, an internal document that summarizes and reflects on the tutoring session.

Online Tutoring

How online tutoring works .

Online tutoring is by appointment only, so to get started, writers need to  register for an account and make an appointment. 

Our online appointments offer  the option for video-conferencing or text-box chatting , and  in order to “show up” for an appointment,  you simply need to  login to the schedule , click on your appointment, and then click the yellow link that says “START OR JOIN CONVERSATION.” Our tutors will be prepared to help you navigate technology issues—they will email you to check-in and offer help should you have any trouble “showing up.”

Check-out this video demo for how to make and "show up" for an appointment: 

Though we work hard to ensure smooth online appointments, due to the regularity of technical and other unforeseen issues, we ask all writers to make hour-long appointments. If technology/internet issues do arise or you're struggling to "show up," don't worry--our tutors are trained to reach out and help and they all have a back-up plan! 

Become a Tutor

Interested in becoming a tutor here are some things our past tutors have valued in the work: .

"As a writing tutor, I enjoy the one-on-one conversations and brainstorming sessions I have with writers from various disciplines. This experience has challenged me to not only quickly learn and dive into a topic that I am not too familiar with, but also tailor my advice to the writers' specific needs and goals. I have become a better writer and critical thinker thanks to this job!" - Sichun Liu

"Being a writing tutor at WC makes me realize writing is not a solitary activity. It gives you access to the workings of so many brilliant minds." - Qijia Yu

"It is incredibly satisfying to have a job as intellectually stimulating as being a Writing Tutor for the Knight Institute. As an international student studying mechanical engineering, I have worked with students of feminist studies, urban planning, music theory, English, and anthropology - to name a few. These interactions - where I get to learn as much as the students who come to the writing center - have allowed me to experience fully the breadth of a liberal arts university despite having a 'technical' major, and have greatly enriched my Cornell experience." - Emad Masroor

Why Tutor? 

As the above quotes indicate, tutors find this work to be rewarding for a number a reasons: working with writers from across the disciplines, the intellectual engagement of tutoring, the collaboration, professional development around pedagogy and writing, and the community! We have a vibrant and diverse tutoring community that participates in on-going professional development activities. This work is generative, creative, and an excellent opportunity for students interested in communication, writing, education, and collaborative learning.

Our undergraduate and graduate writing tutors provide support for a diverse pool of writers at various stages of the drafting process for nearly any kind of writing project.  We operate out of five campus locations to offer thirty- to sixty-minute individual meetings. During tutorials, writing tutors typically:

• help writers get started with essays by reading and discussing a writing assignment, evaluating research material, or brainstorming an outline;
• discuss ways to shape coherent arguments, make strong use of evidence, and work with appropriate citation conventions;
• consider questions about depth of analysis, organization, thesis definition, audience expectations, paragraph development, stylistics, or sentence structure;
• offer specific strategies for diverse writers navigating different parts of the writing process, including brainstorming, drafting, revising, and editing; 
• support both native and non-native speakers of English to identify patterns among errors in grammar or usage;
• and, help writers understand and address specific feedback from peers and teachers.

In short, writing tutors serve as responsive listeners and readers who can address questions about the writing process or about particular pieces of writing. 

Job Descriptions

Writing centers tutor.

• Tutors typically work 1-3 tutoring shifts a week. We currently have two tutoring shifts: 3:00-5:00pm or 7:00-9:00pm ET. Tutors usually work between 2-9 hours a week.
• New tutors must complete a 7-week, 1-credit training course (WRIT 2101, see below for details). Tutor training is only held in the spring, and begins when the 7-week courses start, midway through the spring semester. 
• After completing the tutor training course (once hired), tutors are required to attend 4 (paid) staff meetings a semester. Staff meetings are usually at 5:30-6:30pm ET, on varying week nights. During these meetings, as a group, we discuss tutoring pedagogy and practice, workshop a variety of sample student writing, and reflect on tutoring experiences. Staff meetings deepen and extend the introduction to basic tutoring pedagogy and practice covered in WRIT 2101 (tutor training). 
• Tutors get paid an hourly rate, and there is often the bonus of snacks and cookies at events.  

Positions for Advanced Tutors

Social media intern.

The Cornell Writing Centers have an instagram, facebook, and twitter account, as a method for promoting and connecting with writers across campus. We typically hire 1-2 trained Writing Center Tutors to run our social media for one academic year. Social media interns must regularly meet with Dr. Kate Navickas to plan and develop content and discuss different promotion strategies. This position offers the opportunity to gain some communication and promotion skills as well as to develop creative and engaging content. Typically, interns work .5-1 hours per week. 

• Requirements: Applicants must be trained Cornell Writing Center tutors to apply. 
• To apply: email Kate Navickas, [email protected], with an explanation of your interest in the work and a resume. 

Knight Writing Mentor 

Writing mentors are experienced CWC tutors who meet with assigned students for one or two hours each week for the duration of a semester or year to develop effective and sustainable writing habits and strategies. Undergraduate and graduate students can work up to 6 hours per week to support writers enrolled in First-Year Writing Seminars or other writing-intensive courses, and students working on substantial writing projects, like honors theses. Writing Mentors meet regularly for reflection on pedagogy and practice with Dr. Kate Navickas. Though mentors may start tutoring right away, they still are required to attend the same 7-week paid tutor training that new undergraduate writing center tutors do (this starts the week before spring break). 

Graduate students, seniors, and current Writing Center tutors are encouraged to apply. Applications from juniors with relevant experience may also be considered.

Learn more and apply here

Writing Centers Assistant Director 

The Writing Centers regularly hire graduate students for the role of assistant director. The work involves 5 hours of administrative work per week. The position includes tasks like reviewing tutor applications, participating in tutor interviews, conducting peer observations, analyzing Writing Center data, leading tutor staff meetings, teaching or co-facilitating tutor training, and other necessary administrative work. Assistant directors meet regularly with the director, Kate, to select administrative experiences that align with the program’s needs and the TA’s interests as well as to reflect on the professional value of the experiences. 

How to Apply

All tutor applicants must be matriculated Cornell students. 

Undergraduate Students

• Undergraduate tutoring applications are only reviewed in the spring
• Prerequisite: Successful completion of at least one First-Year Writing Seminar 
• Complete  this application form 
• DEADLINE:  Spring 2025 deadline: Friday, February 7th.

Application Process:  Applications will be reviewed after the spring deadline. A select number of applicants will be invited to sign-up for small-group interviews. The applicants who will be offered positions tutoring, will begin the 7-week tutor training course (WRIT 2101) after group interviews, roughly midway through the semester. Thus, the application and training process approximately takes a full semester. Newly  hired tutors will begin tutoring during the exams period of the semester they get hired and trained. We hope to encourage tutors to apply early in their academic career and to continue tutoring throughout their time at Cornell. 

WRIT 2101: Responding to Writing: Theory & Pedagogy (1 credit)

Course Description: This course introduces students to scholarship on writing pedagogy, requiring them to think critically about collaborative learning strategies, multilingual writing challenges, ethical considerations in peer tutoring, and the ways in which race and other facets of identity inform teaching and learning. The learning objectives include: develop an understanding of different theories of writing and the history of writing centers; practice reading and responding to a variety of different writing genres and student situations in ways that connect theory to practice; learn to question assumptions in specific pieces of writing, frameworks for writing, and in pedagogical interactions; self-reflect on individual writing processes, writing, and previous educational experiences; analyze the ways in which writer and tutor identities affect pedagogical interactions and learn strategies for equitable and ethical tutoring; develop confidence in suggesting interventions for other writers at various stages of their writing processes; and, gain flexibility in utilizing a variety of strategies for fostering writer agency and growth.    

Spring 2025 Tutor Training Course Details:

• Starts the week of March 17
• Held weekly, on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays at 4:30-6:00pm (course day will be determined by selected applicant schedules)
• Knight Institute staff will enroll hired tutors
• Non-tutors interested in taking the course can email requests of interest to Dr. Navickas, [email protected] 

Graduate Students

• Prerequisite: successful completion of Writing 7100 or previous tutoring or teaching experiences. 
• Submit a CV and letter of interest detailing relevant employment or coursework to Dr. Kate Navickas, [email protected] 
• DEADLINE: Applications accepted on a rolling basis.

CWC for Teachers

The Cornell Writing Centers (CWC) can help support you and your students  through classroom visits and workshops, writing guides, and the Essay Response & Consultation Program. We are always excited to work with you to develop activities, workshops, or resources that are specific to your course and writing needs.

The CWC relies on support and promotion from faculty and instructors across campus; thus, we hope that you will continue to support our services and your students by including the CWC blurb (below) on your syllabus or Canvas site and by periodically reminding students about the work we do.

The Cornell Writing Centers Syllabus Blurb

The Cornell Writing Centers (CWC) provide support for individuals at  any stage of the writing process.  It is a  free resource  available to everyone on campus—faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students—for nearly  any kind of writing project : applications, presentations, lab reports, essays, papers, and more. Tutors (trained peers) serve as responsive listeners and readers who can address questions about the writing process or about particular pieces of writing. They can also consider questions of confidence, assignment expectations, critical reading, analytic thought, and imagination. All writing tutors are also trained to work with multilingual writers writing in English and to help support application materials.  Walk-ins are welcome , or you can make an appointment here:  https://cornell.mywconline.net/   

Request Bookmarks, Stickers, or Posters

To promote the CWC, we typically print promotional bookmarks, stickers, and posters each semester. All students in first-year writing seminars receive either a CWC bookmark or sticker each semester. If you would like us to send promotional materials to you for your course or to send posters to be hung in your building, please email Director Kate Navickas, [email protected]. 

Advice for Encouraging Students to Use the CWC

Making an appointment at the Cornell Writing Centers can be intimidating for students. When you talk about the value of tutoring, it helps to explain to students what they can expect. Here are some points we hope you might emphasize: 

• Tutoring is not only for struggling writers, it's beneficial for all writers. All writers grow from sharing their work, talking about it, and getting feedback on it. 
• Tutoring is interactive and collaborative because this leads to deeper learning and growth. Writers can expect tutors to ask them questions about their writing, ideas, understanding of the assignment, and hopes for a piece of writing. Tutors may also encourage writers to do some brainstorming, reading, and writing with them during the session as a way to get started on the work. 
• Tutors will help with language-issues, grammar, syntax, and editing; however, they will do this in a collaborative manner. That is, a tutor will not silently line-edit someone's essay. The goal of tutoring is learning, which means they may ask questions about word choice, vocabulary, intention, and sentence-structure in order to help clarify meaning and discuss possible corrections. The expectation, though, is that the writer will be involved and in-control of their own writing.  
• Tutors are highly trained undergraduate students who are incredibly friendly and love talking about writing! 

Requiring Tutoring Appointments 

The Cornell Writing Centers do not officially support requiring students to attend a tutoring session. There are several reasons why it may not be best to require students to get tutored. On a logistical level, we usually have two tutors for each shift at each location; requiring tutoring can lead to one location being overwhelmed, which isn’t great for either tutors or students. On a more pedagogical level, tutoring is primarily about fostering writer agency—that is, tutors are trained to help writers become better writers through the writer’s own work, efforts, writing and thinking. This type of learning environment works best when students make the choice for themselves to come to the Writing Centers. Sometimes, when students are required, they are resistant to feedback or less interested in discussing their work or actively engaging with their writing, which makes tutoring less effective.

While we discouraging requiring tutoring appointments, we do understand the value of giving students a slightly stronger form of motivation. We often hear stories of students who have had meaningful learning experiences through a tutoring session but would have never made an appointment if a teacher had not encouraged them to do so. Instead of  requiring  tutoring, though, we recommend offering a writing center appointment as extra credit. If you choose to do this, here is some advice: 

• Make sure you review the above recommendations on what to expect from a tutoring session with all students. In particular, students need to expect an interactive and collaborative experience. 
• Build in enough time so that students have a week or two to make an appointment. When students are given an extra credit assignment, but only have one weekend to get tutored, our locations get overwhelmed and students get frustrated.
• After you visit the Cornell Writing Centers, write a 250-word reflection on the experience.  You might consider any of the following questions to guide your writing:  What were the most and least successful aspects of the session?  What specific writing strategies did you and the tutor discuss?  What specific revisions did you and the tutor discuss?  How was the tutor's feedback similar to or different from the feedback you have received from classmates or me this semester?  What do you plan to do differently after this tutoring session? Why?
• Tutors are not allowed to sign off on a student’s appointment. Undergraduate student tutors (who are peers) are not prepared to police, monitor, or evaluate students. So we strongly discourage teachers for asking for proof in the form of a signed slip of paper, etc. What a Writing Center tutor can do, however, is to send the  writer  a copy of their client report form. All tutors write up a summary of each session for our records, which they are allowed to email to the student. The student, then, is allowed to do whatever they want with that client report form (including sending it to you).

Writing Guides

The CWC has developed a select number of  writing guides (with downloadable PDF handouts) on common writing skills.  While these writing guides are written for student audiences, we encourage teachers to share them directly with students or to use them to develop in-class activities related to specific assignments. Further, we are happy to meet with teachers to discuss specific writing assignments or challenges and develop course-specific writing guides. For more information on course-specific writing guides, please contact Director Kate Navickas, [email protected]. 

Classroom Visits & Workshops

The CWC can also help foster productive and engaging small group writing workshops in your class! Kate Navickas, Director of the Cornell Writing Centers, along with some tutors, can schedule classroom visits that promote effective peer responses around higher order concerns, like focus, organization, the development of ideas, thesis sentences, using sources, etc. Tutors will work with and alongside small groups of students as they read and respond to each others' writing. 

Workshops are limited by our schedules and capacity. When requesting one, we typically ask for: 

• Two weeks notice 
• Course days, times, and location 
• Syllabus copy 
• Assignment that students will be working on 
• Teacher's understanding of writing skills to focus on 

Contact  Kate Navickas  for more details. 

• Essay Response Consultation

The Essay Response Consultation  enables instructors to sit down one on one with tutors to talk about student writing. Because tutors have a great deal of experience in reading student essays and teacher comments, they can usefully support instructors who want to deepen and extend strategies for commenting on student work. Instructors can work with tutors to:

• review a set of papers on which the instructor has already commented.
• discuss a set of papers when the instructor is in the process of providing response and evaluation.

Meet the Staff

The Cornell Writing Center tutors are a diverse group of primarily undergraduate students from across the disciplines. They are highly trained in tutoring pedagogy, completing both a required half-semester course and ongoing bi-monthly professional development. In addition to their training, tutors share a love of writing and a commitment to collaborative learning. If you're interested in joining our community, learn more about applying to become a tutor here. 

Kate Navickas

Cornell Writing Centers Director, Senior Lecturer

• Courses and Programs
• Multilingual Writing Support
• Simple Advice for Writing
• Writing Resource: Introductions and Conclusions
• Writing Resource: Strong Thesis Statements
• Writing Resource: Organizing Papers
• Writing Resources: Developing Cohesion
• Reverse Outlining
• Citation Analysis
• Writing Resource: Evaluating Sources
• Writing Resource: Personal Statements
• Reflective Writing
• Teaching Support
• Faculty and Staff

• PhD Timeline

PhD Degree Program Requirements

This is a projected timeline for degree completion in 6 years.

PhD program specifics can be viewed below and should be referenced in conjunction with the Procedural Guide for Doctoral Students in the Department of Literatures in English .

PhD course requirements include 12 graduate-level courses (at least 6 for a letter grade), First-Year Colloquium, Writing 7100, and Advanced Pedagogy Workshops (as scheduled). The stipend schedule is as follows (unless otherwise noted): Fellowship: Sage Summers, 1st and 4th years – paid at beginning of term through the bursar; Teaching Assistantships: 2nd, 3rd, and 5th years – paid semi-monthly through payroll.

Sage Fellowship 1 (or equivalent)  

Enroll in: 3 Graduate-Level Courses, First-Year Colloquium, + Graduate Research

• Submit previous MA course materials to the DGS for transfer credit review

Sage Fellowship 2 (or equivalent)  

Enroll in: 3 Graduate-Level Courses + Graduate Research

Complete Teaching Application

• Apply for Knight Writing Instructor Program

Select Committee Chair by March 1st

• Select (at least) 1 minor committee member by May 1st

Knight Writing Instructor Program

Enroll in: Teaching Writing 7100, Graduate Research

2nd Year Committee Review Meeting (takes place August 1 - September 30)

Teaching Assistantship

Enroll in: 2 Graduate-Level Courses + Graduate Research

Participate in Advanced Pedagogy Workshops

Select 2nd Minor Committee Member by December, if needed

Meet with Committee

Apply for summer Sage Summer Fellowship

Sage Summer Fellowship (or equivalent)

• Enroll in: Graduate Research

Explore external funding opportunities

Enroll in: 1 Graduate-Level Course (if needed) + Graduate Research

Prepare for A Exam

Enroll in: 1 Graduate-Level Course (if needed) + Graduate Research (to complete required coursework!)

Take A Exam (by May 30)

Apply for Sage Summer Fellowship

Develop Prospectus

Sage Fellowship 3 (or equivalent)

Enroll in: Prospectus Seminar (optional) + Graduate Research

Submit Prospectus (approval needed by October 1st)

Submit external funding application

Sage Fellowship 4 (or equivalent)

• Enroll in: Placement Seminar (optional) + Graduate Research

Explore jobs and fellowship opportunities

• Apply for jobs and fellowships

Summer Sage Fellowship (or equivalant)

Prepare for job market

• Participate in Mock Interviews
• Meet with committee
• Apply for English Summer Fellowship
• Prepare for B-Exam
• Participate in Commencement Weekend
• Defend Dissertation (B-Exam) and deposit thesis by May 1st for May degree conferral

SUMMER  English Summer Fellowship

• Defend Dissertation (B-Exam)
• Deposit thesis
• English Major Guide
• English Minors Guide
• Honors Program Guide
• MFA Timeline
• MFA Procedural Guide
• Procedural Guide for Doctoral Students in the Department of Literatures in English
• Dissertation Record
• Job Placement Record
• Resources for Graduate Students
• Prize Competitions
• Administration, Contacts & Location
• Graduate Field Faculty
• Graduate Students & PhD/MFA Lecturers
• Retired Faculty
• Books to Inspire
• EPOCH Magazine
• Zalaznick Reading Series
• History of the Department
• Recent Faculty Books
• Affiliated Departments & Programs
• Literatures in English Events