There aren't a lot of examples of nominalization from my course of study that come to mind but I've definitely experienced it in other courses here at OSU. The course that comes to mind most readily is the Sociology class I took freshman year. There, nominalization was common because the field itself is so new. They have are constantly having to create new words in order to better facilitate discussion of these relatively new topics. Many times the expression of the ideas behind these words already exist in an adjective or verb so sociologists can just nominalize them. Like the word "deskilling." This word originated with a noun (skill), transformed into a verb (to deskill) with special, particular meaning, and then nominalized using the gerund form of that verb (deskilling). I'm sure there are better examples in this field but that's the only one that came to mind.
This class has definitely impacted my writing. I NEVER used to proof-read my papers. Also, I think this class equips writers with a sort of magnifying glass to better examine their writing. It really allows you to hone in on the way that each sentence either helps or hinders the tone of your work and allows you not only to diagnose the hindrance but also teaches you how to remedy it both effectively and affectively.