Writing in the Wild: A Research Launchpad

I am Julie Hicks Patrick, PhD. A decade ago, I was feeling stuck in my career, distanced from my colleagues, and unmotivated in my scholarship. I was at a crossroads and it was painful. I was seriously contemplating leaving the Academy and finding some other occupation. Fortunately, before quitting my tenured faculty position, I enrolled in a faculty bootcamp through the ncfdd.org. One of their reflective exercises involved imagining the future 5, 10, or 20 years out. That exercise planted the seeds for Writing in the Wild.

Initially, I envisioned buying the historic town of Cass WV (it is not for sale). It is a lovely town, with cabins and a large welcome center with a cafeteria. My dream was to start a research and writing center. My kiddos could come do their thing and my Beloved could tell ghost stories around the camp fire and drive the coal-fired train to the top of the mountain and back. With delight, I shared this little fantasy with my family. They were not enthused! So, I did what any reasonable scholar would do: I wrote a federal grant to fund an intensive research training program for under-represented students.

That 5-year project, Appalachian Gerontology Experiences: Advancing Diversity in Aging Research (AGE-ADAR; https://age-adar.wvu.edu/) was an amazing program that produced more than 150 research presentations and a dozen published articles. I handled the majority of design and statistical analyses for those projects and contributed to the writing on nearly every piece. When the funding for diversity-focused training was altered in 2025, I returned to my prior dream. Thus, Writing in the Wild was born.

But running AGE-ADAR was not the only activity in the past decade that positions me to support you through Writing in the Wild. I am a certified productivity coach and have worked with hundreds of faculty members across the country. I have served as Editor-in-Chief of a scholarly journal since 2015, taking its impact factor from 0.25 to 2.0 in that time. I have been directly involved with more than 3000 manuscript submissions. I also serve on federal grant review committees, from graduate student fellowship applications to individual research grants. I recently chaired a panel that reviewed multimillion dollar Program grants. In Spring 2025, my work with research scholars across these different levels was recognized by receiving the Caperton Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing across the Curriculum (https://faculty.wvu.edu/resources-for-academic-development/awards-recognition/internal/caperton-application).

You might be interested in learning what others have said about my work with them. If so, head over to the Testimonials page!