8 Pitt faculty developed new courses as Seminar in Composition fellows

This summer, eight faculty members in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences worked to develop new courses as part of the first Seminar in Composition Fellowship cohort.

The impetus of the fellowship is to expand Pitt’s Seminar in Composition (SC) course offerings. Focused on developing reading, writing and discussion skills, SC classes are required for most undergraduates at the University. All SC courses are guided by the same learning goals, regardless of the instructor or whether a specific discipline informs the course.

“We thought it was time to invite faculty from other [non-English] departments who were committed to helping students find their voice and their critical reading and analytical skills — and to do so in the prism of their discipline,” said Jennifer Keating, fellowship facilitator and writing in the disciplines specialist in the Dietrich School’s Writing Institute.

The fellowship is an initiative of the Department of English’s Composition Program. Since last spring, fellows have received guidance in devising an SC class informed by their field of study. Seven new courses will launch this fall, with an additional class beginning in the 2026-27 academic year.

The 2025 Seminar in Composition fellows are:

• Brock Bahler, Department of Religious Studies
• Ellen Kelsey, Department of Biological Sciences
• Bridget Keown, Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies
• Vipin Anantha Krishna, Department of History
• Michelle Morgan, Department of Chemistry
• Stephanie Nygard, Department of Neuroscience
• Lucas Riddle, Department of German
• Ana Sekulić, Department of History