Dissertation Bootcamp
Each semester the Robert Penn Warren Center offers a nine-week Dissertation Bootcamp designed to get students over hurdles, toward more productive writing, and onto the next chapter.
The Spring 2025 workshop will run Tuesdays, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM, January 14th – March 28th.
There is no meeting during Spring Break, but there is no break from the assignments.
Participants will generate 10 pages of new writing per week and engage with their research in novel ways through weekly activities, and each participant has a fellow Bootcamper assigned as a buddy to get through the hard times and celebrate the good times.
Participants who successfully complete the program receive $500, processed by Vanderbilt as a financial aid award, which may result in a direct payment depending on a student’s particular aid package. Students should consult the Office of Financial Aid to review their position.
Participants will:
- complete 10 pages of new writing each week;
- complete 2 activities related to the writing, which are generally not time-consuming;
- maintain regular contact with their assigned buddy to support each other throughout the Bootcamp.
Ground Rules
- Bootcamp works with 100% commitment only: no excuses and no apologies. These waste time and energy, and both are commodities. If you’re in, you’re in. If you’re out, you’re out.
- This Bootcamp is for Bootcamp work only; it aims to create new work for the dissertation. You may not use your Bootcamp time for other ventures, including:
- revising what you’ve previously written, either prior to the Bootcamp or during it,
- grant and conference proposals,
- job applications,
- course assignments.
- At some point during the Bootcamp you may receive feedback from your advisor/committee; you may not use Bootcamp time for such revision. That’s up to you to navigate. New work and new work only!
- You must be available to meet in-person at RPW on Tuesdays at 11am-12pm. There is no remote option.
- Failure to meet these guidelines will result in dismissal.
- One “excused” absence may be taken in the form of one mental health week during the nine-week program.
Participants will receive full information at the first session, and the nine weeks will proceed after that initial meeting on January 14th.
To inquire or register, contact RPW Associate Director Matt DiCintio.