Moody Writing Support Program

Help The Moody Writing Support Program Help Young Communicators

WHO WE ARE

Even the best students struggle as they transition from a lifetime of rhetorical writing to professional communication. The Moody College Writing Support Program is the only writing resource on the University of Texas at Austin campus designed to meet the unique writing needs of all communication majors. Peer writing coaches assist communication students — without charge — whether they are writing news articles, magazine narratives, advertising copy, press releases, screenplays or cover letters for internships.

WHAT WE ARE FUNDRAISING FOR

Our program was funded in 2013 when the University of Texas at Austin created a Student Success Initiatives program to increase the four-year graduation rate. Since then, we've grown to employ about a dozen students each year who help more than 3,000 students annually through one-on-one appointments, workshops, class visits and more. We have a proven record of success in helping students gain skills and confidence, but because of budget cuts, the ’25-’26 academic year will be our last unless we can come up with funds to keep our program going. For all our majors, this program has become increasingly important as public schools have reduced their emphasis on basic writing skills. Now more than ever, we cannot lose the resource that helps that next generation lay its foundation.

YOUR IMPACT

Your donation will let us continue the vital work we do to help students improve their writing so they can be better prepared to work as professional communicators. Former students, coaches and faculty members can attest to the importance of this program in ensuring student success:

“The Moody Writing Support Program helped me grow as a writer through its one-on-one meetings with writing coaches, where I was really able to see my writing through a completely different lens.”
— Jason Kinander, journalism major, 2024 graduate

“Access to the Moody Writing Support Program has significantly improved our students’ writing abilities across critical predictors of academic and career success. I have observed marked improvement in the quality of their research papers and article critiques, as well as in their resumes and statements of purpose. As a result, these students have excelled in the classroom and in their professional pursuits.”
— Courtney Byrd, professor of speech, language and hearing and founding director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research.

“When I arrived to Moody College, I often felt overwhelmed and out of my league, and I thought that maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a journalist. I attended the writing program countless times to work on class projects, and my confidence and grades boosted. When I received an invitation to apply to become a writing coach a couple years later, I felt like I really began a second chapter of my college experience. I ended up loving college, and I credit that almost completely to the writing program. In many ways, the writing program continues to help me build confidence today.”
— Sierra Juarez, fact-checker and researcher for NPR’s “Planet Money”

THANK YOU!