Dietrich School Launches New Writing Institute


Jean Grace

The Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences recently launched a new writing institute to help create a “more vibrant writing culture” on Pitt’s campus.

The William S. Dietrich II Institute for Writing Excellence, which is rooted in the Department of English’s Composition Program, will help Dietrich School professors advance their writing instruction and help them teach discipline-specific writing in their courses. The new institute will also provide an environment for instructors to share tools that they’ve developed and learn from one another. The center plans to offer workshops for faculty and graduate students working on large projects.

“Writing is important because it allows us to move our ideas forward, to create knowledge, to figure things out,” said Jean Grace (pictured), senior lecturer in the Department of English and director of the Institute for Writing Excellence. “Writing is the life force of the academic community—it’s how we communicate research and advance our fields, how we document our work, how we earn credentials.”

The institute is named for William S. Dietrich II, the late philanthropist and double-degree Dietrich School alumnus who made a historic gift of $125 million to the University to name the then-School of Arts and Sciences to honor his father, Kenneth P. Dietrich. The Dietrich Foundation also gave a generous gift to help create the new writing institute. 

Read more about the new writing institute on the Dietrich School’s website.