Tim Doherty

Biography

After graduating as an English major from UMass-Amherst in 1983, Tim Doherty spent his first three years after college teaching at the Greenwood School in Putney, Vermont, a private residential school for learning-disabled boys, ages 8-15. While teaching at Greenwood, he spent three summers at the Pine Ridge School outside of Burlington, Vermont as a teacher-trainer in Orton-Gillingham, a multi-sensory, phonics-based remedial reading method for dyslexics. In 1988, he began his doctoral studies in English at UMass-Amherst, and teaching first-year composition throughout the eight years of his program there. He pursued a dual concentration in English Renaissance literature and Rhetoric and Composition, completing a dissertation with Peter Elbow entitled "College Writing and the Resources of Theater." That title might suggest something of his values as a teacher of writing: he believes in creating experiences that help people play with language and perspective. Since 1999, he has directed first-year writing and the writing-across-the curriculum program at Rivier. In 2010, he founded its Center for Faculty Excellence.

Research Interest

"Writing pedagogy Assessment Deliberation Faculty Development"