Creating a Culture of Communication: A Graduate-Level STEM Communication Fellows Program at a Science and Engineering University

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya

A graduate-level STEM Communication Fellows program at a science and engineering research university is examined as a writing-support model. Graduate fellows from STEM departments help launch discipline-specific writing support in home units. The article details program goals, departmental contexts, fellow experiences in Earth and Environmental Sciences and Mechanical Engineering, and assessment results from surveys and follow-up interviews. Findings highlight varying success linked to departmental cultures and identify needs for structured mentoring, greater unstructured writing support, and stronger asynchronous peer interaction methods.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Program goals and departmental contexts

Fellows’ narratives and experiences

Program assessment and recommendations

Institutional setting and program development

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| | Home Journals Across the Disciplines Volume 12 Simpson, Clemens, Killingsworth, and Ford, Creating a Culture of Communication | | Creating a Culture of Communication: A Graduate-Level STEM Communication Fellows Program at a Science and Engineering University[1]
Steve Simpson, Rebecca Clemens, Drea Rae Killingsworth, and Julie Dyke Ford, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
Abstract: A flurry of recent research in writing studies has addressed the need for more systematic approaches to graduate-level writing support, though more research is needed into more organic models that account for graduate students' specific needs and that build infrastructure for writing support within university departments. This article reports on a graduate-level STEM Communication Fellows program at a science and engineering research university, in which graduate students in science and engineering fields help launch discipline-specific writing support in their home departments. The article begins with a discussion of program goals and departmental contexts. Then, two graduate STEM Fellows share their experiences developing support mechanisms in Earth and Environmental Sciences and Mechanical Engineering. Last, program assessment data from surveys and follow-up interviews are discussed.
Findings from the STEM Fellows narratives and assessment data demonstrate different degrees of success as fellows wrestled with intricacies of the different departmental cultures. Findings also indicate the need for more structured mentoring opportunities between advanced and incoming graduate students, more focus on unstructured writing support over writing courses, and more development of asynchronous methods of peer interaction.
As Mike Rose and Karen McClafferty (2001) argued more than a decade ago, very little effort has been made in many universities to address graduate-level writing support in any "systematic" way. While a flurry of recent research in writing studies has addressed this issue (Aitchison & Paré, 2012; Simpson, 2012; Starke-Meyerring, 2011), more research is needed to identify graduate writers' specific needs and to develop writing resources tailored to these needs. Two specific problems emerge as we discuss graduate writing program design. First, as Steve Simpson (2012) argued, many of our existing WAC/WID models are designed with undergraduates in mind. The idiosyncratic and distributed nature of learning in graduate school requires us to rethink our "knee-jerk models of writing instruction (i.e., offering preparatory writing classes) and explore[…] models that better fit within students' existing academic networks and learning rhythms" (p. 102) . Second, as Claire Aitchison and Anthony Paré (2012) have indicated, given the importance of writing to graduate students' professionalization, writing support should not be "isolated" within service entities on campus. Rather, universities should "suffuse the [graduate] curriculum with writing" (p. 20) . Creating this pervasive emphasis on writing necessitates writing centers and WAC/WID programs developing critical cross-campus partnerships and helping build infrastructure for writing support within university departments.
This article reports on a graduate STEM Communication Fellows program developed at New Mexico Tech. While based loosely on "writing fellows" programs implemented at the undergraduate-level, this graduate-level program creates opportunities to develop organic, student-run programs catering to the writing activities most suitable for students'disciplines and to develop more community among graduate students both in our writing center and in students' home departments. Most significantly, this article is co-authored with two graduate STEM Communication Fellows, one from Geology and one from Mechanical Engine

FAQs

What purpose does the STEM Communication Fellows program serve?

It helps establish discipline-specific writing support within graduate STEM departments by using graduate fellows in science and engineering fields to launch initiatives in their home units.

How does the article describe the fellows’ work and experiences?

It presents narratives from two STEM fellows who developed support mechanisms in Earth and Environmental Sciences and Mechanical Engineering while navigating the complexities of their departmental cultures.

What assessment findings and needs are reported?

Assessment data show differing degrees of success across departmental cultures and recommend more structured mentoring, more emphasis on unstructured writing support beyond writing courses, and increased development of asynchronous peer interaction methods.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Aditya