"I really enjoyed the writers' workshop yesterday at Pālamanui. Richard Stevens' intro was inspiring, the garden fresh air and greenery was restorative, all the company delightful, the snacks and lunch were perfect, and the writing project was very energizing. Everything was exactly what I needed!"
On August 27th at the Hawaiʻi CC Pālamanui campus in Kailua-Kona we held the inaugural Faculty Writers Group retreat. Seven faculty members met with me to hear our own Dr. Richard Stevens speak about writing and introduce us to the 600-acre Pālamanui Forest Reserve. We planted a tree together and took a short walk along the trail to an ancient lama tree to connect with the environment before eating lunch then sitting down to write.
Our mission is to hold regular faculty writers retreats that will support, encourage, and educate faculty working on writing projects at locations around Hawai’i Island to foster knowledge of wahi pana and appreciation for Hawaiian history and culture as well as the food, wildlife, and population of modern Hawaiʻi.
In sharing our writing projects, we discovered both a wealth of knowledge and experience in the room as well as a real need for support and encouragement. Attendees worked on a wide variety of projects and some new plans were even born that day. Here's a list of some the writing tasks we worked on:
Research shows that writers retreats help to level the playing field in terms of structural inequities inherent in academics in general and for academic writing in particular and may help to further career progression by not only increasing writing productivity but providing an opportunity for intensive one-on-one mentorship that is sorely needed between senior and junior faculty members (1,3). "Retreats provide a positive model in leading and supporting colleagues: 'the retreats are a...very powerful leadership dynamic through which to support others." (1)
These writing retreats can open opportunities for faculty with writing and editing expertise to come forward into leadership roles (2). Diversity within the retreats provides differing viewpoints which underscore the rich learning experience. Writing retreats help to alleviate the isolation that many academics feel when working on large projects, like dossiers, and can help to improve the writing process (4).
While it is early to make judgements about the overall success of the program, I can say that our first event brought together a diverse group of individuals, allowed for support and camaraderie to develop, and provided a venue to make progress on our writing projects. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!
Our mission is to hold regular faculty writers retreats that will support, encourage, and educate faculty working on writing projects at locations around Hawai’i Island to foster knowledge of wahi pana and appreciation for Hawaiian history and culture as well as the food, wildlife, and population of modern Hawaiʻi.
In sharing our writing projects, we discovered both a wealth of knowledge and experience in the room as well as a real need for support and encouragement. Attendees worked on a wide variety of projects and some new plans were even born that day. Here's a list of some the writing tasks we worked on:
- Letter of recommendation
- Tenure and promotion dossier
- OER textbook
- Book manuscript
- GE designation application
- Memoir
Research shows that writers retreats help to level the playing field in terms of structural inequities inherent in academics in general and for academic writing in particular and may help to further career progression by not only increasing writing productivity but providing an opportunity for intensive one-on-one mentorship that is sorely needed between senior and junior faculty members (1,3). "Retreats provide a positive model in leading and supporting colleagues: 'the retreats are a...very powerful leadership dynamic through which to support others." (1)
These writing retreats can open opportunities for faculty with writing and editing expertise to come forward into leadership roles (2). Diversity within the retreats provides differing viewpoints which underscore the rich learning experience. Writing retreats help to alleviate the isolation that many academics feel when working on large projects, like dossiers, and can help to improve the writing process (4).
While it is early to make judgements about the overall success of the program, I can say that our first event brought together a diverse group of individuals, allowed for support and camaraderie to develop, and provided a venue to make progress on our writing projects. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!
References:
Murray, R. & Kempenaar, L. (2020). Why do women attend writing retreats? Gender and Education, 32(8), 1001–1018. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2018.1557321
Check, J., Fox, T., O’Shaughnessy, K., Tateishi, C. (2007). Professional writing retreat handbook: A how-to manual for replicating the NWP professional writing retreat model. University of California National Writing Project. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED520202
Peters, G. (2016). How we can bridge the culture gap? The Journal of Staff Development, 37(5), 12-16. https://learningforward.org/publications/jsd/jsd-blog/jsd/2016/10/13/jsd-octobe
r-2016-mind -the-gap
Tremblay-Wragg, E., Mathieu Chartier, S., & Labonté-Lemoyne, E. (2021). Writing More, Better, Together: How Writing Retreats Support Graduate Students through Their Journey. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(1), 95-106. http://dx.doi.org. brandine.uhh.hawaii.edu:2048/10.1080/0309877X.2020.1736272
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