Graduate Writing Support Specialist

Montclair State University•Montclair, NJ

About The Position

Reporting to the Director of Student Academic Services, the Graduate Writing Support Specialist provides comprehensive writing support to graduate students across the University. The role supports graduate student success and research productivity through individualized coaching, workshops, and resources focused on scholarly writing, thesis and dissertation development, and professional writing for a range of careers. The specialist develops and maintains writing resources, facilitates writing communities, and contributes to programming that strengthens the university’s culture of research, writing, and scholarly communication. The position also oversees thesis and dissertation milestone and tracking processes in collaboration with the Academic Support Services team, provides guidance on university policies and formatting requirements, and advises students on the responsible use of AI in scholarly and professional writing. The specialist collaborates with campus partners, faculty, and graduate programs, and contributes to Graduate Center programming, assessment, and reporting.

Requirements

Master’s degree from an accredited college or university, preferably in a writing-intensive discipline.
At least three years of experience supporting academic or scholarly writing.
Experience working with graduate students or advanced academic writers.
Strong understanding of scholarly writing conventions and thesis and dissertation processes.
Excellent interpersonal, communication, and coaching skills.

Nice To Haves

Doctoral degree.
Experience supporting doctoral dissertation writing.
Experience facilitating writing groups or writing productivity programs.
Familiarity with academic publishing, grant writing, or faculty scholarship.
Experience working in a university writing center, graduate school, or faculty development office.

Responsibilities

Provide individualized writing support and coaching to graduate students throughout their academic programs, including for written qualifying exams, thesis and dissertation proposals, and thesis, dissertation, and capstone project writing.
Support graduate students preparing professional materials, including cover letters, curricula vitae, internship and job applications, fellowship and student grant applications, conference abstracts, and research and scholarly products.
Develop and deliver workshops and programming on graduate writing, proposals, writing strategies, scholarly and professional writing, productivity and time management, fellowships, grants, curricula vitae, and job applications.
Develop and lead writing groups and other structured writing support initiatives.
Maintain and enhance graduate writing resources, including the Dissertation Organizing Central (DOC) Canvas community, Master Your Thesis Canvas community, Graduate Student Canvas community, writing guides, and thesis and dissertation templates.
Oversee thesis and dissertation milestone and tracking processes in collaboration with the Academic Support Services team.
Guide students on university policies and formatting requirements for theses and dissertations.
Guide students on the responsible use of AI in scholarly and professional writing.
Collaborate with Colleges and Schools, University Libraries, and the Office of Faculty Excellence on research and scholarly writing events and initiatives.
Conduct outreach to graduate programs about writing support services in collaboration with the Graduate Center’s Communications Coordinator.
Collaborate with faculty, Chairs, Graduate Program Coordinators, and Doctoral Program Directors to support graduate student writing success.
Participate in designing and delivering Graduate Center programming related to graduate student success and professional development.
Contribute to Graduate Center assessment and reporting efforts.
Maintain records and track utilization of writing support services, including student participation by program, level, and purpose.
Perform other duties as assigned; management may add or change job duties at any time.