Still Going Strong: 15 years of Dissertation Camp at the Hesburgh Libraries

Start Date

3-18-2026 2:30 PM

End Date

3-18-2026 3:00 PM

Author(s) Bio

At Hesburgh Libraries, Monica serves as the head of the Researcher Services & Scholarly Communication department. She collaborates with faculty and staff to provide information and support related to scholarly communication issues that affect researchers. She is the liaison to the Graduate School and also serves as the library liaison to the French department. She earned her master’s degree in library and information science from Syracuse University.

Keywords

Writing Camps, Graduate Students, Implementation, Literature Review, Impact

Description of Proposal

This presentation will provide an overview of a long-running graduate student writing camp dedicated to helping dissertating graduate students make significant progress in their writing goals. Hosted by Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame and run in partnership with the University Writing Center, Dissertation Camp is now in its 15th year. The overview will include the history of this graduate student service over these past 15 years, highlighting its growth and various adaptations to organizational changes. Participants will gain knowledge of the practical requirements to consider when thinking about implementing a similar service, and they will also learn how Hesburgh Libraries has built campus relationships to sustain this service. Demographic data related to program attendees (doctoral/master’s), college, department and stage in the writing process will be shared to highlight the shifts we are seeing at our institution. Assessment data, gathered via survey after each camp, will also be compiled and shared for analysis and discussion.

Additionally, the presentation will review the current literature around such writing camps, contrasting the Hesburgh Libraries anecdotal experience against other findings related to the impact of such services for graduate students, including a comparison and analysis of the different flavors of camp experiences that are provided to this population. The goal of this session will be to offer practical guidance on implementing a writing camp while thinking about the bigger picture of how these camps are measured and assessed, and what success may look like for different institutions. By combining both the practical and theoretical perspectives, it is hoped that attendees will leave feeling confident in presenting a case to their administrations to implement a graduate student writing camp at their own institutions. There will be some time at the end for discussion and questions related to the program at Hesburgh Libraries or the findings from the literature.

What takeaways will attendees learn from your session?

  • Attendees will learn about key requirements for supporting a dissertation writing camp, including information about costs, space needs, and institutional support

  • Attendees will learn how to make the case to their institution when asking for support to implement a similar service

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Mar 18th, 2:30 PM Mar 18th, 3:00 PM

Still Going Strong: 15 years of Dissertation Camp at the Hesburgh Libraries

This presentation will provide an overview of a long-running graduate student writing camp dedicated to helping dissertating graduate students make significant progress in their writing goals. Hosted by Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame and run in partnership with the University Writing Center, Dissertation Camp is now in its 15th year. The overview will include the history of this graduate student service over these past 15 years, highlighting its growth and various adaptations to organizational changes. Participants will gain knowledge of the practical requirements to consider when thinking about implementing a similar service, and they will also learn how Hesburgh Libraries has built campus relationships to sustain this service. Demographic data related to program attendees (doctoral/master’s), college, department and stage in the writing process will be shared to highlight the shifts we are seeing at our institution. Assessment data, gathered via survey after each camp, will also be compiled and shared for analysis and discussion.

Additionally, the presentation will review the current literature around such writing camps, contrasting the Hesburgh Libraries anecdotal experience against other findings related to the impact of such services for graduate students, including a comparison and analysis of the different flavors of camp experiences that are provided to this population. The goal of this session will be to offer practical guidance on implementing a writing camp while thinking about the bigger picture of how these camps are measured and assessed, and what success may look like for different institutions. By combining both the practical and theoretical perspectives, it is hoped that attendees will leave feeling confident in presenting a case to their administrations to implement a graduate student writing camp at their own institutions. There will be some time at the end for discussion and questions related to the program at Hesburgh Libraries or the findings from the literature.