Summer Seminars at UMass Downtown

Description

UMass Downtown and the UMass Amherst Graduate School invite you to the Summer Seminar Series, a new public speaker series connecting campus research with the community. Each Wednesday evening, UMass graduate student presenters will share their research, ideas, and work in an engaging and approachable format designed to spark conversation, curiosity, and connection. Each session offers a chance to hear directly from emerging scholars doing meaningful work across disciplines, with opportunities for discussion and community engagement.

Wednesdays | June 17–August 5 6:00–7:30 PM
Free and open to the public

August 5 | Miranda Lutyens Private Freewriting In and Beyond the Classroom: What Unedited, Unsurveilled Writing Does for College Students and Their Wellbeing When was the last time you wrote for ten minutes, by hand, without stopping for any reason—especially not to check your phone? This is how Miranda’s first-year writing students begin every class session, yet they never revise, turn in, or share that writing. Instead, they reflect on the experience of private freewriting. Join us to learn more about this practice and how, according to this research, it may be impacting students’ relationship to writing, to others, and to themselves.