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University of Iowa to open new ‘Office of Writing and Communication’
Hiring for the office will begin this summer, starting with an executive director
Jul. 24, 2025 10:35 am, Updated: Jul. 25, 2025 7:27 am
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IOWA CITY — Looking to “unify, amplify, and expand” its internationally-acclaimed writing programs, the University of Iowa on Thursday unveiled plans for a new Office of Writing and Communication.
Housed within the UI Office of the Provost, the new office aspires to connect the wide array of writing and communication programming across campus — from the world-renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop to the undergraduate writing certificate to Iowa’s screenwriting program or its creative writing major.
“Writing and communication are at the core of what we do and who we are,” UI Executive Vice President and Provost Kevin Kregel said in a statement. “This new office reflects our commitment to investing in excellence, fostering collaboration, and advancing innovative programming that prepares our students for success.”
Its creation follows the recommendation of a universitywide committee charged with finding ways to enhance and support the campus’ many writing and communication programs.
“Our community of writing programs expressed strong interest in establishing this office,” Kregel said, “and their input played a vital role in its creation.”
Details about the committee — including its members and full recommendations — were not immediately made available.
Hiring to begin
But the UI Office of Strategic Communication on Thursday said the group met with faculty and staff “from nearly every writing and communication unit on campus” over the past year to gather input on their strengths, challenges, and aspirations.
“The feedback was clear and consistent,” committee member Andre Perry, executive director of Hancher Auditorium and the Office of Performing Arts, said in a statement. “Faculty and staff said they saw tremendous potential in a central office that could support collaboration, amplify our shared impact, and enhance the student experience across the board.”
Top priorities the committee identified included more support for student professional development; more cohesive messaging for prospective students; enhanced academic opportunities for current students; and better “alignment, integration, and support of writing center efforts across the university.”
Hiring for the office will begin this summer — starting with an executive director who’ll lead first-phase efforts in the coming 2025-2026 academic year focused on campus engagement and strategic planning, according to Strategic Communication.
“This new position will play an essential role in turning this vision and these opportunities into reality,” Kregel said. “By coordinating efforts across departments, the executive director will build a collaborative foundation that strengthens and sustains Iowa’s leadership in writing and communication.”
Officials didn’t immediately say whether the campus will launch a national search for the director or whether it will look internally.
Writing University
By collaborating with the Office of Performing Arts and Engagement and other colleges and communications teams on campus, the new office — officials said — will be “poised to make an immediate impact without duplicating the efforts of departments or overburdening faculty and staff.”
Having gained repute as the “Writing University” — earning top billing in U.S. News & World Report rankings and across international writing circles — UI has a growing list of writing-related programs and departments, in addition to its writing-related majors, minors, and certificates.
- The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, with its founding nearly 90 years ago in 1936, became the first to offer an MFA in creative writing. Over its history, the program has tallied more than 50 Pulitzer Prize winners or finalists among its faculty and alumni, along with many other literary honors bestowed across its decades of students.
- The Nonfiction Writing Program, founded in 1976, also has gained international acclaim — attracting faculty and students from around the globe who’ve earned prestigious literary awards including the Nobel Prize in literature, Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award.
- The International Writing Program since its founding in 1967 has welcomed more than 1,600 writers from more than 160 countries and dispersed local writers around the globe as well.
- The Iowa Playwrights Workshop — UI’s MFA program in playwriting — since 1971 has been graduating students who later find success in television, screen, and stage writing, among other things.
- The UI Center for the Book offers courses in the arts of printing, binding, papermaking, and calligraphy.
- The Magid Center for Writing supports not only the UI certificate in writing but oversees several student literary publications like Boundless and Ink Lit Mag. It also supports the residence hall-based Iowa Writers living-learning community and is home to the Iowa Youth Writing Project, a K-12 literacy outreach nonprofit; the Iowa Young Writers' Studio, a selective summer camp for high schoolers; the Iowa Summer Writing Festival; and the Iowa Writers' Room — a professionally-oriented program preparing students for a career in TV writing.
The new Office of Writing and Communication will help maintain Iowa’s leadership in writing across the disciplines — “a priority for both undergraduate, professional, and graduate education.”
“The office also will serve as a strategic hub, supporting the work and autonomy of individual units while strengthening shared resources and visibility,” according to the university. “Key responsibilities will include overseeing a unified communications strategy, as well as supporting programming and professional development efforts.”
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com
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