Author and literary scholar Stephen Strang, who founded MIT’s Center for Writing and Communication in 1981 and served as its director for 40 years, passed away on December 29, 2024, surrounded by his family. He was 77 years old.
His vision for the center is ambitious. After a working group at MIT identified a gap between students’ expertise and their ability to communicate that knowledge, especially when in leadership positions, Strang advocated for an even broader approach rarely used at other universities. Instead of student tutors working with their peers, Strang would hire faculty with PhDs and subject matter expertise and teaching experience to help train all members of the MIT community for current and future careers that will increasingly require them to be persuasive and communicate with diverse audiences.
“He left an indelible mark on the MIT community,” current director Elena Karestinova wrote in a message to WCC staff shortly after Strang’s death. “He is deeply respected as a leader, educator, mentor and colleague.”
Strang began his career as a journalist at the Bangor Daily News , but quickly turned to academia, earning a PhD in English from Brown University and publishing countless novels, poems, and works of criticism over the decades, as well as educational articles on writing and rhetoric.
But the Writing and Communication Center is his legacy. At his retirement party, longtime MIT faculty member and colleague Thalia Rubio called WCC “Steve’s creation,” noting that WCC continues to serve thousands of students and others. Another colleague, Bob Irwin, noted in a memo that Strang was determined to make WCC “a place that offers both approachability and the highest level of professional advice and consultation on any communications task or issue. Steve himself was a committed man, a respected director, and a warm and trusted mentor to me and others. I consider him exemplary in his work.”
MIT recognized Strang’s significant contributions with the Levitan Teaching Award, the Infinite Mile Award, and the Award of Excellence. In letters of recommendation and testimonials, students and friends reflected on his “tireless efforts,” stating that “without the Writing Center’s help, I may not have been able to graduate, get hired into my current job, or be accepted into graduate school.”
Strang is also known as the founder of the MIT Writers’ Group, which first met in 2002 as an independent writing workshop. In another example of Strang’s recognition and response to a need in the community, about 70 people from across the Academy participated in the first year.
Mr. Strang is survived by a large family, including his wife, Aini, and her two adopted children, Ellie and Marta. Donations in his memory may be made to the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
