The 15th Annual Summer Scholarly Writing Retreat and Workshop provided faculty with three days of structure, community and one shared goal — to move projects from stuck to submitted.
Fifteen Years In, a Faculty Writing Retreat Delivers Results and a Community
Thirty-two Duke faculty walked into the Rubenstein Arts Center (the “Ruby”) in mid-May, carrying unfinished manuscripts, stalled grant proposals, and the accumulated fatigue of a difficult academic year. Three days later, they walked out with 6,000-word chapters, near-complete journal revisions, conference abstracts, a plenary speech, grant proposals and something harder to quantify: a renewed sense of their “why” as scholars and a deeper engagement with their work.
The occasion was the 15th annual Scholarly Writing Retreat and Workshop, a consistently in-demand faculty development offering led by Faculty Write Program Director Jennifer Ahern-Dodson. This year's retreat drew participants from across disciplines, bringing together scholars at every career stage around a shared commitment to their work and to each other.
The three-day format gave participants something increasingly difficult to protect in academic life: uninterrupted time. "Having three full days carved out on my calendar allowed me to deeply invest focused time into a summer-long project in a way that is frequently difficult alongside other work-related time commitments," one attendee said.
Others pointed to the retreat's structure, which included skill-building workshops, facilitated goal-setting, individual consultations and meals provided on site, as removing the friction that typically interrupts deep work.
"The structure and support always make decision-making a thousand times easier," one participant noted. Many participants also noted that movement breaks, facilitated by Associate Professor of the Practice of Dance Sarah Wilbur, were a joyful and energizing part of the retreat, and helped sustain focus over three full days.
The results were concrete. Participants reported drafting book chapters, completing long-deferred article revisions, developing grant proposals, and breaking through projects they described as psychologically blocked.
"I was able to find a way back into a project that was important to me, but around which I’d built some psychological barriers," one faculty member wrote. "By the end of day three, I had 4,000 words ready for submission to my critique partners." Another reported writing nearly a full chapter: "This retreat helped me level up in the mad dash to finish this book manuscript. I wrote 6,000 words.
“The retreat helps me celebrate the wins in a way that is very motivating, gives me tips for avoiding rabbit holes, and helps me articulate meaningful goals that feel good when met."