Faculty Workshop: "How to Free Your Inner Op-ed Writer: A Hands-on Workshop"

Academics possess deep expertise and a responsibility to help shape public conversations that matter. Yet transforming scholarly insight into a compelling, accessible op-ed can feel daunting. In this fast-moving, hands-on workshop, award-winning author and columnist Susan D’Agostino will guide participants through the process of turning their ideas into publishable commentary. Drawing on experience writing for The Atlantic, Scientific American, The Washington Post, and other leading publications, as well as her monthly column, The Public Scholar, in Inside Higher Ed, Susan will demystify how to write with clarity and purpose for non-specialist readers. Through brief, structured exercises, participants will begin drafting an op-ed during the workshop—identifying their core argument, shaping a narrative hook, and developing a persuasive through line. Partner discussions will help refine ideas and sharpen voice. Attendees will leave with concrete instructions for finishing and submitting a polished op-ed after the session. Susan D'Agostino is a mathematician and writer whose stories have published in The Atlantic, BBC, Scientific American, Wired, Quanta, Washington Post, LA Times, and other leading publications. Her book, How to Free Your Inner Mathematician (Oxford University Press, 2020), won the Mathematical Association of America’s Euler Book Prize. She is a columnist at Inside Higher Ed, where she writes The Public Scholar. Her next book, How Math Will Save Your Life, will be published by W.W. Norton.