CLA: Department of Writing Studies

Ph.D. candidate Kim Thomas-Pollei was elected to serve on the RSA board. Congratulations Kim!

Posted by Shannon at 10:19 AM | Permalink

'Vocal Stylings: The Orator's Voice in Classical Typologies of Prose Style'
presented by Professor Richard Graff
Department of Writing Studies

***Friday, November 20th, 3:30pm***
110 Nicholson Hall

Abstract: In this presentation, Professor Graff will discuss the close linkage between (verbal) style and voice in Greek and Roman treatises on rhetoric and literary criticism. This linkage takes two main forms. First, several authors (e.g., Aristotle, "Demetrius", Dionysius of Halicarnassus) remark on how certain stylistic features of the written oratorical text compel an animated (or monotonous) vocal presentation in reading or recitation; here, the text's style controls its manner of vocal delivery (speaking rate, intonation, etc.). Second, the style of individual orators was regularly characterized in terms of its fullness or weakness of "voice". Although this is a metaphorical use of the term, often such characterizations appear to project known (or presumed) qualities of a given speaker's actual, physical voice back onto the style of his texts. This latter procedure, though suspect on several levels, contributed both to the hardening of a traditional evaluation of the styles of Isocrates, Demosthenes, and other Attic orators, and to the evolution of the theory of style-types (kharakteres lexeôs, genera dicendi).

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by:

Classical and Near Eastern Studies
University of Minnesota
245 Nicholson Hall
216 Pillsbury Dr SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

P: 612-625-5353
F: 612-624-4894

cnes@umn.edu
http://cnes.cla.umn.edu

Posted by Shannon at 10:12 AM | Permalink

Speaking Across the Disciplines:
What Speech Pedagogy Can Teach Us About Writing

Presented by Timothy Oleksiak

A Department of Writing Studies Parlor Event
Monday, November 23, 2009
12.30 Nicholson Hall 345

Please join us for discussion and refreshments

Posted by Shannon at 10:43 AM | Permalink

The Center for Writing presents its second annual Interdisciplinary Studies of Writing (ISW) Research Colloquium this Friday, November 13. Three recent ISW grant recipients from across the disciplines will present the findings of their original research, and a lively discussion will follow. The colloquium will be held from 12:00-2:00 in 135 Nicholson Hall. Lunch will be provided for the first 30 people to register at http://writing.umn.edu/twwi.

The three presentations are based on the following grants:

Bridge Students Talk Back: Analyzing the Writing Component of the Summer Bridge Program
Thomas Reynolds and Pat Bruch, Writing Studies

Digital writing in a doctoral level pharmacotherapy course for physical therapy students
Amy Pittenger, Pharmacy, Office of CyberLearning and Outreach

Teaching discipline-specific writing to horticulture students using an online module
Eric Watkins, Horticultural Science

Posted by Shannon at 2:32 PM | Permalink

Congratulations to Linda Clemens (seen here with MWCA President Deaver Traywick) who received a Midwest Writing Centers Association student travel award!

Jessica Orton and Renata Solum from the Center for Writing also won the award.

Posted by Shannon at 10:32 AM | Permalink

WORLD USABILITY DAY will feature speakers on usability topics, a participatory recycling activity, and an open house at the Usability Services Laboratory. Sponsored by the Office of Information Technology and the Digital Technology Center. Nov. 12. For more information, see usability day.

Posted by Shannon at 10:26 AM | Permalink

Meet Daniel Philippon, local author and U of M professor, on Tuesday, November 10 at 4:00 p.m.

Daniel Philippon, local author and University of Minnesota associate professor, will discuss his book, Our Neck of the Woods: Exploring Minnesota's Wild Places, on Tuesday, November 10 at 4:00 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union.

About the book: Learn about Minnesota's best-loved places including the North Shore, Lake Bemidji, the western prairies and grasslands, the Boundary Waters, and the Mesabi Iron Range, from notable writers and conservationists. Drawn from pages of Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine, these observations and spirited tales beckon Minnesotans to work, play, and explore in the natural places close to their homes and hearts. Our Neck of the Woods explores themes such as embracing winter, making camp, and finding wildness even amid development as the authors tell of hunting, fishing, birding, canoeing, and other great outdoor activities that help define what it means to be Minnesotan.

Philippon will sign copies of his book following the discussion.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, or to order a signed copy visit www.bookstore.umn.edu/genref/authors.html.

Posted by Shannon at 1:14 PM | Permalink

A class blog from WRIT 3001: Introduction to Scientific and Technical Communication was featured in the Write@U Gallery for the NCTE National Day on Writing (October 20, 2009). The blog can be seen at http://blog.lib.umn.edu/lkbreuch/writ3001. Students are writing about readings and guest speakers, and they are sharing their reflections about technical communication.

Guest speakers include:

October 14: Alecia Ramsay, IBM
October 21: Guy Petrie, Medtronic
October 28: John Neenan, US Bank
November 4: Lee Thomas, Yamamoto Moss
November 11: Janel Anderson, Thomson-Reuters

Congratulations to students in WRIT 3001!

Posted by Shannon at 11:58 AM | Permalink

Check the following resources for internship opportunities:

Walk-In Hours with United Way: Internships for CLA Students
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
11:00 am to 2:00 pm
135 Johnston Hall
Stop by between 11 and 2 to learn about internships available to CLA sophomores, juniors and seniors.

Walk-In Hours with AmeriCorps: Jobs for CLA Students
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
1:00 pm to 3:00 pm
135 Johnston Hall
Stop by between 1 and 3 to learn about jobs available to all CLA students and to recent graduates.

Internship Advice and a Pizza Slice
Thursday, November 12, 2009
12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Coffman Union, President's Room (3rd floor)
Learn why internships matter, how to find one, and how to get a lot out of it.

Posted by Shannon at 12:01 PM | Permalink

An article in the Minnesota Daily about the University's National Day on Writing participation features quotes from Writing Studies' Heather Mendygral, Tim Gustafson, and Tim Dougherty.

Read it here: University's Center on Writing hosts first National Day on Writing

Posted by Shannon at 10:55 AM | Permalink

* To what extent is modern rhetorical theory a rearticulation or transformation of classical rhetorical theories?
* To what extent is modern rhetorical theory a rupture from its classical roots in response to social, aesthetic or technological changes?
* Can we use modern rhetorical theories to generate contemporary rhetorical criticism?

The Institute for Advanced Study is hosting a Colloquium on Modern Rhetoric October 22-24th. Organized by RSTC alumnus, David Beard, this event features presentations from an international faculty in composition, communication and rhetorical studies, including work by RSTC faculty members Richard Graff, John Logie, Art Walzer and Alan Gross, among others. PhD candidates Kim Thomas-Pollei and Liz Kalbfleisch are also participating.

For more information, visit http://ias.umn.edu/collabs09-10/ModernRhetoric.php.

Posted by Shannon at 2:26 PM | Permalink

The National Council of Teachers of English has declared Tuesday, October 20th the National Day on Writing to acknowledge and celebrate the importance of writing in our lives. An important part of this national attention is the National Gallery of Writing: http://www.galleryofwriting.org/.

We have our own U of MN - Twin Cities wing, called Write@U, in this National Gallery (http://galleryofwriting.org/galleries/56018), where we can showcase the writing done on our campus--including writing done by FYW students and teachers. Consider submitting a piece of your writing--and consider letting your students know about the opportunity. Writing is broadly defined here, including papers, videos, blog entries, emails, poems, short stories, narratives, and much more. This isn't about grades or evaluation, or even extra credit, but about celebrating writing in its diverse forms.

Submitting your writing is easy. Go to http://galleryofwriting.org/galleries/56018 and click on the button to "Contribute to this Gallery." At that point, you will be asked to create a profile and a password; answer a series of demographic questions about yourself; answer a series of questions about your piece of writing; and finally upload a file, provide the URL of the piece, or copy and paste your document into a docbox.

Debra Hartley in the Center for Writing has agreed to be the Write@U curator, so she will prepare submissions for presentation in the gallery when it opens on Tuesday, October 20. The gallery will remain open for both viewing and submitting through May of 2010.

Also, see the list of UM-TC Day on Writing events, plus links to events happening nationally at http://writing.umn.edu/dayonwriting/ . Stop by Nicholson or Walter on the 20th and join the celebration; invite your students.

National Day on Writing Flier

Posted by Shannon at 12:47 PM | Permalink

With this provocative series of discussions, the Center for Writing's Teaching with Writing program offers University of Minnesota faculty members, TAs, and other instructors a venue for discussing controversial issues related to teaching with writing. Here we focus on teasing out tangled and difficult teaching issues rather than providing strategies and solutions. To help frame discussions, we will send registrants one or two short articles in advance.

Friday, October 2: what counts as "writing"?
Friday, November 6: i write, therefore i learn?
Friday, December 4: the erosion of writing skills

Discussions are from 9-10:30am in Nolte 125.

For more information, visit http://writing.umn.edu/tww/engaging/engaging.htm.

Posted by Shannon at 11:41 AM | Permalink

Call for Proposals
14th Biennial Conference
May 28-31, 2010
The Minneapolis Marriott City Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Conference Theme
RHETORIC: CONCORD AND CONTROVERSY

"I have often and seriously debated with myself whether men and communities have received more good or evil from oratory and a consuming devotion to eloquence."
Cicero

"But put identification and division ambiguously together, so that you cannot know for certain just where one ends and the other begins, and you have the characteristic invitation to rhetoric."
Kenneth Burke

In the de Inventione , Cicero recognizes two opposing dimensions of rhetoric, the one divisive and conflictive, the other irenic and unifying. Kenneth Burke, in characteristic fashion, converts this either/or into a both/and. For him, rhetoric simultaneously divides and unifies, separates as it identifies and dwells most naturally in the in-between space where sameness and difference ambiguously embrace one another. The theme of our conference calls these distinctions and confusions to mind. It asks, among many other things: Does rhetoric civilize? Or does it repress and control? Or both? Does it express the self? Or dissolve it into a cultural miasma? What is the price of community gained through the language of social control? What is the limit of dissent expressed through the language of difference and personal liberation? Where do diversity and sameness meet on the human tongue and in the human condition?

We welcome any and all papers that touch on this theme or that redefine it or reconstruct it or deconstruct it. We also welcome all other papers that deal with any aspect of rhetorical scholarship-historical, theoretical, critical, pedagogical, sophistical or Platonic, Aristotelian or Foucaultian. All are welcome to meet in Minneapolis, a space between the coasts, and a place where nice is the norm, but where nastiness has left it as the only spot in the U.S. where the number of senators has equaled the number of governors for half a year. Celebrate the confusion and the order of Minnesota and of the rhetorical world to which it belongs. Join us at RSA in May.

Proposals for sessions, special events, and individual presentations - due by September 18, 2009 - must be submitted electronically as a Word document. Instruction for submitting abstracts are indicated below. You may also go to http://rhetoricsociety.org for directions. There you will also find information (and regular updates) on housing, special features, and other aspects of RSA 2010.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
Follow this link to register online for your RSA 2010 abstract submission: https://rhetoric.conference-services.net/authorlogin.asp?conferenceID=1786&language=en-uk

* Click on "Abstract Submission"

* You must register through the submission system by creating a user name (your email address) and password. This will be your permanent login information.

* Once you have done this, you can log in with your email address and password and begin the process of submitting your conference proposal(s).

* Follow the prompts on the screen by filling in the appropriate information and uploading your proposal.

Shortly after you complete the abstract submission, you will receive a confirmation email with the details that you submitted. NOTE: You will be able to edit proposals through your account up until the deadline for submission. To withdraw a proposal, please contact Camisha Smith (clsmith@memphis.edu).

REMINDER:
Individual proposals - should be no longer than 350 words.
Panel proposals - should be no longer than 1250 words.
Special Format proposals - should be no longer than 350 words.
Please submit your proposals no later than September 18, 2009.
Questions? Please contact Michael Leff (m_leff@bellsouth.net).

Posted by Shannon at 3:31 PM | Permalink

News for Alumni and Friends of the Department of Writing Studies, 2009 (PDF)

Posted by Shannon at 1:09 PM | Permalink