Published on April 9, 2026
By: Alivia Roach
What shows human perseverance better than committing to and completing a whole week of writing? What about a group of only 18 writing 354 pages in that one week? The feat is incredible, and Angela Danso Gyane, a political science Ph.D. student, emerged victorious from the Writing Center’s week-long DANG (Dissertation Acceleration & Navigation Group) event with a wrist weary from typing, and a mind better prepared to tackle any writing challenge.
But before this accomplishment, Danso Gyane herself had struggled finding the motivation to write.
“(Regarding her dissertation) I’m looking at the effect of race and international politics, specifically how one colonial legacy affects how their democracies work and how people view their government based off of that,” Danso Gyane said. “I enrolled in DANG because I needed to hit the ground running, and to write as much as possible to prepare for the semester.”
The Writing Center itself offers a wide range of unique learning opportunities for Mizzou students, both for undergraduates and graduates. While the DANG event is just one of the many experiences offered to students, it is set apart because of its longer duration and intense dedication to helping graduate students feel more confident when writing their dissertation.
Bailey Boyd, the Assistant Director for the Writing Center and DANG coordinator, wanted the event to function according to the needs of those attending – where grad students can join together in a common consensus that writing can be challenging, be supplied with helpful resources and hold each other accountable.
“Writing’s not easy, and it’s really vulnerable to come in and ask for feedback. If someone doesn’t like writing, try one conversation and see if it helps. Even just talking it through, it can help,” Dr. Boyd said.
It’s certainly no exaggeration that many participants saw great success in “pushing” dissertations forward. Dr. Boyd witnessed it firsthand after facilitating the event throughout the week.
“It’s not easy work to sit there for 25 hours over a week and write. And they kept showing up, they kept coming back to their work. It’s really a testament to the tenacity of writers in grad school,” Dr. Boyd said. “It’s wonderful to see people who are so smart, who are working on incredible research projects, over the course of five days make huge progress and now feel hopeful and re-energized about their dissertation.”
Prior to 2023, MU’s dissertation boot camp was run by the Graduate School, and since then Dr. Boyd has been able to build on their successful framework to masterfully curate a week that incorporated all of these things in pursuit of two goals: introduce people to resources they need and give them the time/structure to just write.
“This is a collaboration between the Writing Center and the Graduate School, whose funding allows the DANG to happen twice per academic year. That funding enables us to provide the students with everything they need so they don’t have to worry about anything else,” Dr. Boyd said. “They don’t have to worry about snacks, coffee, lunch. The focus is just on writing.”
Dr. Boyd also highlighted guest speakers Ryan Adkins, Kimberly Moeller, Donna Strickland, Elizabeth Bent, Audrey Jenkins and Laura Roesch, noting that they offered valuable, practical insight for the participants.
“We are so lucky that we have really great partners and collaborators that are willing to come in,” Dr. Boyd said. “I want to express immense gratitude for all of the people who came in to help with every little part and make it work.”
Throughout the week, Danso Gyane noticed how much having accountability changed the way she approached writing. Not only did it surround her with people working on similar goals, but it also provided her with useful techniques like routine check-ins, making goals each day and creating mini activities to better reach those goals.
“It got me out of my comfort zone,” Danso Gyane said. “We were all being productive towards the same thing.”
They set aside time for other things as well, developing a routine that made time for lunch, meditative practices, a walk to clear their minds and other opportunities to give themselves a chance to recuperate.
It was an experience that sharpened their minds and provided for busy participants, like Danso Gyane, to actually have time to think and write for her dissertation. Although she typed so much she ended the week with a worn out wrist, Danso Gyane recalls herself to be “the most proud of that week.”
“We keep talking about it. We were able to get so much more done than we thought we could have in such a short amount of time,” Danso Gyane said. “It is a resource-packed week to really help push your dissertation forward, and you meet a great community of people from different backgrounds.”
On top of this, these grad students were able to communicate successful results to their advisors – those who work closely with them during their dissertation process – and send them their progress to show the impressive work completed.
Writing can be challenging – but you don’t have to get through it on your own.
The Writing Center has events and resources for all Mizzou students and they are eager to help each one find their own writing success.