My Simmons

Writing Boston

Fall 2025 Writing Boston Courses

WRI-101-01 Sci-Fi and Ethics (3+2 Engineering Students Only)

Instructor: Shreya Bhattacharyya
M/W/F | 12:00-12:50pm

In this writing course through recent science fiction, we will explore societal outcomes and ethical dilemmas that may arise from technological advances being made in Boston right now.

WRI-101-02 Writing Boston: Apartheid Schooling

Instructor: Masato Aoki
T/Th | 2:00-3:20pm

This writing course will focus on Boston’s history of struggle against educational inequality and residential segregation. And it will contextualize Boston’s educational and residential conditions within national patterns of educational inequality, economic inequality, racial inequality, and the testing and accountability movement.

WRI-101-03 Writing Boston: Nature in Boston

Instructor: Cristina DeOliveira
T/Th | 2:00-3:20pm

This course will explore the role nature plays in our lives and show how Boston has managed its natural resources and what challenges still lie ahead. Through multiple writing assignments, students will look at the science behind nature conservancy and critically evaluate the projects Boston and the larger eastern Massachusetts area have taken to preserve ecosystems and slow climate change.

WRI-101-04 Writing Boston: Boston’s Neighborhoods

Instructor: Brendan Halpin
T/Th | 2:00-3:20pm

This writing course invites students to look beyond the tourist attractions and media portrayals of Boston and to consider what life is like for the majority of Boston residents. Students will learn about Boston’s neighborhoods and use this knowledge as inspiration for their own writing.

WRI-101-05 Writing Boston: Boston Childhoods

Instructor: Cathryn Mercier
T/Th | 2:00-3:20pm

This course considers the ways that literature set in Boston imagines and reflects the lives and concerns of young people in the city. Along with child and adolescent characters, students will explore the personalities and histories of Boston’s neighborhoods, cultural institutions, and contemporary movements as they’re represented in literature.

WRI-101-06 Writing Boston: City as Text

Instructor: Adam Walker
T/Th | 2-3:20pm

In this section of Writing Boston, we will consider the City as a text itself and explore the cultural politics and environment that make up the human geography of Boston. We’ll consider the impact of place on personal identity and explore its effect on the way we see ourselves and the world.

WRI-101-07 Writing Boston: City as Text

Instructor: Eamon Schlotterback
T/Th | 3:30-4:50pm

In this section of Writing Boston, we will consider the City as a text itself and explore the cultural politics and environment that make up the human geography of Boston. We’ll consider the impact of place on personal identity and explore its effect on the way we see ourselves and the world.

WRI-101-08 Writing Boston: City as Text

Instructor: Mark Mason
T/Th | 6:00-7:20pm

In this section of Writing Boston, we will consider the City as a text itself and explore the cultural politics and environment that make up the human geography of Boston. We’ll consider the impact of place on personal identity and explore its effect on the way we see ourselves and the world.

WRI-101-09 Writing Boston: City as Text

Instructor: JoJo Jacobson
T/Th | 3:30-4:50pm

In this section of Writing Boston, we will consider the City as a text itself and explore the cultural politics and environment that make up the human geography of Boston. We’ll consider the impact of place on personal identity and explore its effect on the way we see ourselves and the world.

WRI-101-11 Writing Boston: Navigating News in The Hub

Instructor: Christina Ramey
T/Th | 2:00-3:20pm

The course aims to introduce students to Boston’s history of news as well as its current state. We’ll look at TV, radio, print, online, and social media with a focus on news literacy, engagement, analysis and criticism.

WRI-101-12 Writing Boston: Navigating News in The Hub 

Instructor: Jessica Kaplan
T/Th 9:30-10:50am

The course aims to introduce students to Boston’s history of news as well as its current state. We’ll look at TV, radio, print, online, and social media with a focus on news literacy, engagement, analysis and criticism.