Mission
According to McCourt’s mission statement, “training the ethically-grounded leaders of tomorrow, and giving them the cutting-edge skills to have a positive impact in the world, is the heart of our work. Our students understand the importance of connecting policy to the people it’s designed to serve, and are prepared for the challenges of working across differences.”
The McCourt Policy-Writing Center (MPWC) is a fundamental part of that training. Our objectives are to provide targeted competency education in strategic communication to support our students in achieving their academic and professional goals. Strategic communication is the ability to think critically about context, purpose, genre, and audience, and to communicate strategically to address each specific situation. Strategic communication requires a set of specific and complex skills that everyone can develop and improve, and is integral to powerful, ethical, and innovative leadership.
Strategy
The MPWC provides equitable and inclusive education in strategic communication to our diverse population of current and future leaders. We strive to meet student needs by offering a menu of varying opportunities with a wide range of platforms, modalities, methods, and timeframes, including virtual options. In this way, we aim to address the spectrum of backgrounds, learning styles, levels of experience, and time constraints of our students. At the MPWC, we embrace a growth mindset. We believe writing is for everyone, and everyone can improve.
History and Future
The MPWC has been an official institution in the McCourt community for more than ten years. Historically, the Writing Center provided services in response to the immediate needs of individual students. As the McCourt School continues to expand, the MPWC continues to grow and innovate. Today, we are able to adopt a proactive approach to anticipate needs before they arise and to improve strategic communication more comprehensively and broadly across the McCourt community. This proactive approach enables more equitable access for both students and faculty by expanding the menu of service options available. We continue to adapt as we welcome both graduate and undergraduate students to our new building. Please visit us on the 5th floor.
Dr. Meri Wimberly
Director of the Policy-Writing Center
Meri is a recent addition to the McCourt family, as she accepted the new Directorial position at the MPWC in June of 2022. She has been teaching postsecondary writing for more than ten years, and continues to teach for Georgetown’s undergraduate Writing Program. In addition to her doctorate in English, Meri holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Evans School at the University of Washington. She is a true believer in writing as a power skill that can change people, their careers, and their lives.
Office Location: 125 E St #516
Dr. Jeff Mayer
Thesis/Final Project Writing Advisor
Dr. Jeff Mayer has been helping McCourt students become better writers for more than ten years. He retired from the federal government in 2013 after nearly four decades of federal service, ultimately as a senior official at the U.S. Census Bureau. Before that, during a long tenure as Director of Policy Development in the Commerce Department’s Economic and Statistics Administration, he directed staff offices responsible for analyzing and developing domestic economic policy, conducting research on determinants of U.S. economic and industrial performance, and estimating the economic effects of real and simulated terrorist attacks on U.S. industrial and population centers. Dr. Mayer is a graduate of Amherst College and the London School of Economics, and received his PhD in political philosophy from Columbia University.