Geeta Kothari came to the English department in 1988 after graduating from NYU’s master’s program to teach part-time and work in the Writing Center. Back then, the Writing Center occupied the middle of 501 CL, and that’s where I first met her. The big curved desk lent itself to impromptu conversations with whoever was watching the desk and answering the phone. Back then, I was teaching underprepared students, and Geeta quickly became one of the tutors I would send my students to, especially if they weren’t sure they had things they wanted to say. Geeta will tell you about the student I sent her who cried every week until she finally realized some things about why she was in college. That student felt safe with Geeta, whose matter-of-factness and kindness allowed the student space to sort out what college and writing meant to her.
In 1998, Geeta became director of the Writing Center, a leadership role she has filled since then. She was responsible for building the big, busy, and prosperous Writing Center we have today. Throughout the years, her vision for the Writing Center has been guided by two principles: those who come to the Writing Center for help should get effective support for their writing, and faculty and undergraduate tutors should be as happy as possible with their work.
Geeta has been an advocate for her colleagues in the appointment (nontenured full-time) stream, playing a pivotal role in developing equitable renewal and promotion practices, and she has always been willing to sit down with colleagues to talk through their plans and career paths with practical advice about where to spend energy and how to think of their professional lives in the department. She has served faithfully on the Appointment Stream Mentoring Committee since it started. The Writing Center under her direction has been a place where faculty can try out administrative roles before moving on to bigger things elsewhere. Her mentoring has had an impact on many careers, both here at Pitt and elsewhere. And her perspective and counsel have been valued by leadership in the department and the Dietrich School.
During her time here, Geeta taught very effectively in the Literature and Composition programs, but it was in the Writing program that she has had the greatest impact and lasting influence as both a beloved teacher and trusted mentor. She has taught generations of students in Senior Seminar, Readings in Contemporary Fiction, Literary Publishing, and other courses. Her students know her to be a reader who takes their work seriously, gives direct and useful feedback, and supports their vision for their creativity. They value the ways she fosters their growth as writers and the fact that she does not accept excuses or tolerate nonsense. She won the David and Tina Bellet Award for Teaching Excellence in 2004.
Geeta has also facilitated a treasured Writing Accountability Group (WAG) for MFAs with the Writing Institute for the past several years. End-of-year comments from students in her WAG often start with “Geeta is the BEST,” and then talk about how she uses her own writing journey to help others, the ways she cares about participants as writers and people. Students love working alongside a writer whose work they admire.
Luckily enough for other writers, Geeta has turned her keen eye and editorial sense toward The Kenyon Review, where she served first as fiction editor, then as nonfiction editor, and now as senior editor. She regularly runs workshops at Kenyon College, and she mentors writers in Carlow University’s low-residency MFA program. She attends AWP and other conferences often, where she can be found meeting with writers formally and informally, providing feedback and encouraging them.
Geeta is the editor of ‘Did My Mama Like to Dance?’ and Other Stories about Mothers and Daughters (Avon, 1994) and the author of I Brake for Moose and Other Stories (Braddock Avenue Books, 2017). She has written widely anthologized essays and stories, and I know she is looking forward to having more writing time when she officially retires from Pitt in August. Look for her fiction and nonfiction in various journals and anthologies, including The Kenyon Review, the Massachusetts Review, Fourth Genre, and Best American Essays.
Those of us close to Geeta are, I’m sure, feeling bereft at the thought of her not being here involved in the day-to-day life of the department. She has the best ideas. She is an amazing friend, tirelessly supportive and kind. She is full of insight and makes me laugh. I know Pitt without Geeta has been an idea that I have taken a while to get used to.
Everyone who knows Geeta knows that she is constantly trying things in her writing—exercises, strategies, new notebooks, books about writing—and constantly thinking about how her experience can be useful to other writers. She has a huge and vibrant network of friends and former students who deeply value her insights and trust her assessment of writing. I know Geeta’s retirement will be full of exploration, writing, conversation, and travel (and likely new pets!). It will be exciting and busy!
—Jean Grace
Jean Grace is a teaching professor in Composition. She directs the Dietrich School's Institute for Writing Excellence and is an assistant chair for the Department of English.