Dr. Burton Pu retired from The Writing Center in May of 2020 after 35 years at Washington University. He served undergraduate and graduate students in The Writing Center for over 24 of those years. Dr. Pu earned his BA in English and American Literature at Yunnan University in China, his MA in English and American Literature at the University of Montana, and his PhD in American Literature at Washington University.
His long journey of learning and teaching English language and literature endowed him with a unique understanding of the importance of language and writing. In his 35 years at Washington University, he taught various courses in academic writing, literature, and the general humanities. He worked at The Writing Center from its founding in 1995.
As he retired, Burton said, “A person does not really live in this world if his or her story is not told.”
In honor of Burton’s many years of helping students tell their stories, The Writing Center established a graduate fellowship in his name. The Dr. Burton Pu Distinguished Fellowship is awarded to a returning graduate fellow who has demonstrated the values Burton instilled in our center: patience, understanding, calm, and dedication to service.
We are grateful for Burton’s wisdom, kindness and stories, and we look forward to this fellowship continuing his legacy in The Writing Center. For a list of recipients, see below.
2023-2024: Charlotte Fressilli
Our inaugural Dr. Burton Pu Distinguished Fellow is Charlotte Fressilli. Charlotte is a PhD candidate in English and American Literature as well as a Lynne Cooper Harvey Fellow in American Cultural Studies. Her interests include 20th/21st-century American literature and race and ethnicity studies, as well as American literary engagement with fascism during the interwar period. She has held teaching positions in a wide range of settings, including in public and private high schools, middle school programs in the US and abroad, and in the College Writing Program at Washington University. Charlotte is entering her third year with The Writing Center, having demonstrated the same excellence, understanding, and dedication of this fellowship’s namesake.
2024-2025: Kyria Brown
Our second Dr. Burton Pu Distinguished Fellow is Kyria Brown. Kyria is a PhD candidate in the social work program at the Brown School, as well as a Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Fellow. Her research interests revolve around perinatal harm reduction and the criminalization of pregnancy. Before coming to WashU, Kyria worked as a birth doula for about a decade and will forever consider herself a birth nerd. She also has experience in working with street-based sex workers and in harm reduction. Kyria is entering her third year with The Writing Center, having already contributed to the growth and improvement of our center thanks to her thoughtfulness and insight.
Kyria will also be serving as The Writing Center’s Brown School specialist, offering writing and public-speaking support to all Brown School students via a dedicated schedule in our scheduling system.