CLA: Department of Writing Studies

* 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

Joe Weinberg and John Logie have collaborated with Max Haper and Joe Konstan of the Computer Science department to present at the Internet Research 10.0 - Internet: Critical conference for the Association of Internet Researchers in Milwaukee, WI in October. Their paper, The ABCs of DEF is a study of Q&As on websites with an Aristotelian approach.

Mary Jo Wiatrak-Uhlenkott has been accepted to present at two conferences this fall. In October, she is scheduled to present on the identity of the feminist composition community at the 2009 Feminisms and Rhetorics conference at Michigan State University in East Lansing. She is also scheduled to present at the National Women's Studies Association conference in November. The focus of the panel she is on is the politics of memory and the history of domestic violence.

Posted by Shannon at 2:43 PM | Permalink

Bernadette Longo, was recently interviewed for a story in the Daily about how University faculty are using Facebook, a social networking site.

Faculty frequently use Facebook for networking, but not many have brought the site into the classroom. Associate Professor Bernadette Longo, who teaches in the Department of Writing Studies, is an exception. This semester, she integrated a Facebook group into her Information Design class and asked her students to join.
The group, called “First Step Initiative,” is centered around an organization by the same name, which works with women entrepreneurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The group has 109 members globally. Longo’s students are able to share information with people around the world via Facebook, but the site’s other opportunities are still unknown, Longo said. Since Facebook is still relatively young, teachers are still figuring out how it can be used to educate students, Longo said. “Who doesn’t love Facebook?” she said. “We don’t exactly know yet the full potential. It seems like it has a good structure for working with people in the whole world.”

Read the full article: http://www.mndaily.com/print/50589

Posted by Shannon at 10:13 AM | Permalink

Professor and Chair, Laura Gurak, was recently interviewed for a story in the Star Tribune about words that haven't kept up with evolving technology.

"We press buttons to make a phone call, yet we still call it "dialing" a number.... It's similar to a concept called "semantic bleaching" in the linguistic world.

"What they mean is that the original concept gets bleached out from its original meaning.... The word is rooted in a literal meaning, and that's the way we become used to describing it. So when the technology changes and automates some of that or takes it away from some of the hands-on experience, those phrases or words become metaphoric."

Read the full article: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/38828717.html

Posted by Shannon at 9:19 AM | Permalink

Faculty
Professor or Associate Professor of Writing Studies

The Department of Writing Studies in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota invites applications for a full-time, nine-month faculty position beginning fall semester 2009 (August 31, 2009). Appointment will be made at the rank of professor with tenure or associate professor with tenure, depending on qualifications and experience and consistent with collegiate and University policy.

More Information

Continue reading "Faculty Position Opening -- Professor or Associate Professor of Writing Studies" »

Posted by Shannon at 1:09 PM | Permalink

Patient Tales: Case Histories and the Uses of Narrative in Psychiatry

In this engrossing study of tales of mental illness, Carol Berkenkotter examines the evolving role of case history narratives in the growth of psychiatry as a medical profession. Patient Tales follows the development of psychiatric case histories from their origins at Edinburgh Medical School and the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary in the mid-eighteenth century to the medical records of contemporary American mental health clinics. Spanning two centuries and several disciplines, Berkenkotter's investigation illustrates how discursive changes in this genre mirrored evolving assumptions and epistemological commitments among those who cared for the mentally ill.

During the asylum era, case histories were a means by which practitioners organized and disseminated local knowledge through professional societies, affiliations, and journals. The way in which these histories were recorded was subsequently codified, giving rise to a genre. In her thorough reading of Sigmund Freud's Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria, Berkenkotter shows how this account of Freud's famous patient "Dora" led to technical innovation in the genre through the incorporation of literary devices. In the volume's final section, Berkenkotter carries the discussion forward to the present in her examination of the turn from psychoanalysis to a research-based and medically oriented classification system now utilized by the American Psychiatric Association. Throughout her work Berkenkotter stresses the value of reading case histories as an interdisciplinary bridge between the humanities and sciences.

University of South Carolina Press | Amazon

Posted by Shannon at 8:26 AM | Permalink

From Bernadette Longo--

"For the next three semesters, I will be working with OIT-DMC staff as one of five UMN faculty fellows exploring opportunities in emerging learning environments, asking how we can incorporate these innovative environments more intentionally into UMN courses and programs. We have been working on this topic since August and it promises to be an exciting adventure.

"We have established a blog to invite people from UMN and anywhere else to join this exploration. We hope you will add your ideas and comments there. We are exploring a real issue that will impact the learning environment at UMN and your voice can make a difference.

"Please check the blog regularly because we will be adding posts and continuing the conversation there. And tell your friends!"

Congratulations Bernadette!

Posted by Shannon at 2:47 PM | Permalink

Associate Professor John Logie was recently interviewed by KARE 11 for a story about free speech and readers' comments on websites.

"Polite society depends on people not necessarily saying everything that pops into their heads," says professor John Logie, who studies the internet at the University of Minnesota.

Anonymity may be one reason people behave this way, although Logie argues it's just the perception of anonymity. Powerful search engines make it easier to uncover commenters' identities."

Read the full article and watch the video at kare11.com.

Posted by Shannon at 2:08 PM | Permalink

Prof. and Chair Laura Gurak was recently interviewed for a story about teens and cell phone use.

Teen Tech Experiment: Can teens survive without their cell phones?

The history of the Boys and Girls Clubs goes back about 150 years. ... "I don't
know what they're going to do with their time," says Laura Gurak, a professor at
the University of Minnesota. ... "They're increasingly mobile, they increasingly
want immediate communication and they want to use multi-media technologies,"
says the U of M's Christine Greenhow.

KARE - TV
To view: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=524397&catid=2

Posted by Shannon at 10:06 AM | Permalink

Professor Carol Berkenkotter was featured in the latest issue of "UWomen," a special section in the Minnesota Women's Press.

Posted by Shannon at 10:42 AM | Permalink

Faculty, Instructional Staff, Graduate Students, and Alumnae from the Department of Writing Studies and the Center for Writing are presenting at this year's CCCC Convention in New Orleans.

Bernadette Longo, along with her co-editors Blake Scott and Katherine Wills, will be receiving their NCTE Outstanding Book award at CCCC this year for their collection Critical Power Tools. Congratulations, Bernadette!

Resisting Neoliberal Reality in the Writing Center: Durable, Democratic Networks in Long-Term Tutoring Practices, Relationships, and Program Development
Chair: Tom Friedrich, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Speakers: Tom Friedrich, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Long-term Tutoring Relationships as Durable, Democratic Networks: Using Hermeneutic Study of the Essence of Long-term Tutoring to Guide Program
Development�?
Kirsten Jamsen and Katie Levin, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “‘What makes a good writing center citizen?’: Two Case Studies of How Long-term Tutoring Relationships Change Writers and Tutors�?
Candance Doerr, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Graduate Tutors and Dissertation Writers as Network Reality: Distributed Democracy or Social Reproduction?�?

Rhetorics and Realities of Change: Reflections on Theory and Practice from a New Department of Writing Studies
Chair: Patrick Bruch, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Speakers: Donald Ross, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Rhetorics and Realities of Writing as a Campus-wide Initiative at Minnesota�?
Thomas Reynolds, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Rhetorics and Realities of First-Year Composition at Minnesota�?
Tim Gustafson, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Rhetorics and Realities of Teacher Development at Minnesota�?
Lee-Ann K. Breuch, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Rhetorics and Realities of Assessment at Minnesota�?

Bodies, Water, and Money: Epideictic Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Images in Science
Chair: Ken Baake, Texas Tech University, Lubbock
Speakers: T. Kenny Fountain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Whole-Body Gifts: Epideictic Display and Anatomy Memorial Services�?
Fawn Musick, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, “Making Meanings through Visual Rhetoric in the Medical School Cadaver Lab�?
Derek Ross, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, “Sociopolitics and Dam Tourism: Glen Canyon and Hoover Dam as Recreational Areas�?
Ryan Hoover, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, “Scientists, Visual Rhetoric, and Grant Applications: Striking a Balance between Simplicity and Effectiveness�?

Institutions and the Writing In and Writing Out of Voice
Chair: Anthony Arrigo, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul
Speakers: Katy Southern, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Writing Histories of the Overlooked: Gender, Status, and the Historical Record�?
Anthony Arrigo, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul, “Puny Hands: The Rhetorically Constructed Identity of Hoover Dam Laborers in Early 20th Century Popular Science Texts�?

Rhetoric Department Alumnae
Jennifer Novak, Denver University, CO, “Shaping Future Biomedical Practices: Kairos, Tools, and the Rhetoric of Medicine�?

Open Source and Free Software Users Group
Co-Chairs: Clancy Ratliff, University of Louisiana, Lafayette
Charles Lowe, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI

Not Just a Bullet on an Outcomes Statement: Taking Civic Literacy Seriously
Chair: Clancy Ratliff, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Clancy Ratliff, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, “What Can Composition Learn from Bloggers’ Civic Writing? Tapping Into the Agora�?

Posted by Shannon at 11:30 AM | Permalink

Richard Graff recently presented "The Rhetorical Tradition Meets the World Wide Web and Contemporary War Images": A Reconfiguring Rhetorical Studies event at UMD (with Marguerite Helmers).

Several dozen students and faculty from three departments were present.

http://events.tc.umn.edu/event.xml?occurrence=407254

Posted by Shannon at 8:47 AM | Permalink

The edited collection Critical Power Tools: Technical Communication and Cultural Studies (ed. Blake Scott, Bernadette Longo, and Katherine Wills) has just been announced as the the winner of the 2007 NCTE Award in Technical and Scientific Communications for the Best Collection of Essays on Technical and Scientific Communication. The award will be presented at the ATTW Conference (part of CCCC) on April 2, 2008 in New Orleans. Congratulations to Bernadette and her co-editors on this important recognition.

Posted by Shannon at 10:41 AM | Permalink

McDowell, E. E. (2007). America’s great gun game : gun ownership vs. Americans’ safety : an outline of the need for increased federal gun legislation. New York : iUniverse.

More than 30,000 American deaths are caused each year by firearms, and more than 230,000,000 guns exist in the United States today. America's Great Gun Game: Gun Ownership vs. Americans' Safety presents two sides of the gun issue- the gun control advocates, the silent majority; and the gun rights supporters, the vocal minority. Author Earl E. McDowell urges the silent majority to become the vocal majority as he tackles the controversial topics of gun control and concealed carry laws.

Unlike other volumes on the gun issue, America's Great Gun Game challenges the National Rifle Association's interpretation of the Second Amendment by citing the opinions of Supreme Court justices, the president of the American Bar Association, state and federal legislators, and former U.S. presidents. McDowell traces attempted presidential assassinations and presents a detailed account of the gun movements from 1922 through 2000, assessing which side won the gun game for each movement. Gun Game is unique, as it also reports statistics on how guns affect women and children and which women's and children's organizations support gun control.

America's Great Gun Game presents McDowell's thoroughly researched argument in favor of stopping the proliferation of guns throughout the United States and the increasing need for federal gun control legislation.

Profits from the book will be contributed to women’s and children’s pro-gun control organizations.

Earl E. McDowell, Ph.D., is a professor of scientific and technical communication and was the director of graduate studies for the MS program in Scientific and Technical Communication from 1991 to 2005 at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of the awarding winning textbook: Interviewing Practices for Technical Writers, Baywood Press. His book Research Methods in Scientific and Technical Communication, Burgess Publishing, focuses on experimental and survey research. He also has published over 50 articles in communication journals.

Posted by Shannon at 4:13 PM | Permalink

Harmon, J. E., & Gross, A. G. (2007). The scientific literature a guided tour. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

The scientific article has been a hallmark of the career of every important western scientist since the seventeenth century. Yet its role in the history of science has not been fully explored. Joseph E. Harmon and Alan G. Gross remedy this oversight with The Scientific Literature, a collection of writings—excerpts from scientific articles, letters, memoirs, proceedings, transactions, and magazines—that illustrates the origin of the scientific article in 1665 and its evolution over the next three and a half centuries.

Featuring articles—as well as sixty tables and illustrations, tools vital to scientific communication—that represent the broad sweep of modern science, The Scientific Literature is a historical tour through both the rhetorical strategies that scientists employ to share their discoveries and the methods that scientists use to argue claims of new knowledge. Commentaries that explain each excerpt’s scientific and historical context and analyze its communication strategy accompany each entry.

A unique anthology, The Scientific Literature will allow both the scholar and the general reader to experience first hand the development of modern science.

[From the University of Chicago Press]

Posted by Shannon at 3:57 PM | Permalink

On October 18, 2007, Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch, Ph.D., received an Alumni Recognition Award from the department of English at Iowa State University, where she graduated with her Ph.D. in 1998. The alumni awards are reserved for a select group of ISU graduates who have developed innovative methodologies or taken novel approaches to the application of their knowledge and who have distinguished themselves with outstanding accomplishment in their respective fields. Breuch was honored for her accomplishments including her book Virtual Peer Review: Teaching and Learning about Writing in Online Environments from SUNY Press (2004), her work with online tutoring, online writing instruction, and usability of online interfaces at the University of Minnesota.

Posted by Shannon at 3:36 PM | Permalink

The University of South Carolina Press has accepted for publication Professor Berkenkotter's book, Patient Tales: Cases Histories and the Uses of Narrative in Psychiatry.

Patient Tales is a study of the evolution of psychiatry's case histories from their first mid- 18th century appearance in medical records in the Royal Edinburgh Infirmary to the published case narratives in the American Journal of Psychiatry between 1968-2002.

Posted by Shannon at 1:44 PM | Permalink

An essay by Art Walzer was published in the most recent issue of Rhetorica, the journal of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric (ISHR). Title: "Blair's Ideal Orator: Civic Rhetoric and Christian Politeness in Lectures 25-34," Rhetorica 25 (Summer 2007):269-295. Art presented a version of the paper at the ISHR conference in Strasbourg in July 2007.

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 8:48 AM | Permalink

LACK OF GROCERY STORES MAY RESULT IN POOR NUTRITION FOR N. MPLS
In Minneapolis, city statistics indicate that Northside residents have higher rates of obesity and related health problems than the city as a whole. A lack of grocery stores in North Minneapolis appears to be part of the problem -- government studies show that a shortage of full-service grocery stores can be linked to poor nutrition and obesity.
Link: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/08/24/veggies/

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 3:54 PM | Permalink

Victoria Marie Mikelonis, St. Paul, Minnesota, died Tuesday, August 14th, 2007, at 60 years of age. Born in Dubois, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of the late Anthony J. and Victoria Baranowski Mikelonis.

Professor Mikelonis received her Ph.D. in Language and Literature from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1975. After teaching at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan, she joined the University of Minnesota’s Department of Rhetoric as a faculty member in 1980. Most recently Professor Mikelonis was the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Bachelor of Science in Scientific and Technical Communication degree. She taught courses in international and intercultural communication, grant proposal writing, technical writing, and metaphor and schema theory. A popular and respected scholar and teacher, both in the department and across the University, Professor Mikelonis’s classes were always filled to capacity. Her research focused on the challenges of intercultural communication in a digital age; she spearheaded national institutes on technical communication. Professor Mikelonis is the author of numerous publications, including the book Grant Seeking in an Electronic Age.

Involved in funded research, she wrote grant proposals funded by the United States Agency for International Development for the Environmental Training Program and for the Center for Nations in Transition at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs. These proposals led to her many trips to Central and Eastern Europe, where she developed training materials and taught in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Above all, Professor Mikelonis mentored countless numbers of colleagues and students across the profession, always working to meet and exceed the need at hand. Her “can do�? spirit was contagious, and her friendship will be greatly missed.

She is survived by two sons, Anthony Jamil Mikelonis and Theodore Samar Mikelonis, both of St. Paul, Minnesota; two brothers, Eugene C. Mikelonis of Liberty Township, Ohio, and Robert J. Mikelonis of Erie, Pennsylvania; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by a brother, Albert Mikelonis. A Mass of Christian Burial was held Saturday, August 18th at Saint Michael the Archangel Roman Catholic Church in Dubois, Pennsylvania. A Memorial Mass will be held at 5 p.m. Friday, August 24th, at the Church of St. Andrew, 1051 Como Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota. The Rev. Fr. Patrick Ryan officiating. A reception in the church hall will follow immediately after the mass.

Memorial donations may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice or to the Victoria Mikelonis Undergraduate Memorial Fund in Scientific and Technical Communication. Checks should be made out to the University of MN Foundation (V. Mikelonis Undergraduate Memorial Fund in the memo line) and mailed to the University of Minnesota, Dept. of Writing Studies, 180 Wesbrook Hall, 77 Pleasant St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 4:52 PM | Permalink

The Viability of the Rhetorical Tradition reconsiders the relationship between rhetorical theory, practice, and pedagogy. Continuing the line of questioning begun in the 1980s, contributors examine the duality of a rhetorical canon in determining if past practice can make us more (or less) able to address contemporary concerns. Also examined is the role of tradition as a limiting or inspiring force, rhetoric as a discipline, rhetoric's contribution to interest in civic education and citizenship, and the possibilities digital media offer to scholars of rhetoric.

--From SUNY Press

Richard Graff is an Associate Professor in the Department of Writing Studies.
Arthur Walzer is a Professor in the Department of Writing Studies.

This book is available on Amazon.com and from other retailers.

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 3:05 PM | Permalink

Offers a thorough look at peer review in virtual environments.

In a reassessment of peer review practices, Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch explores how computer technology changes our understanding of this activity. She defines "virtual peer review" as the use of computer technology to exchange and respond to one another's writing in order to improve it. Arguing that peer review goes through a remediation when conducted in virtual environments, the author suggests that virtual peer review highlights a unique intersection of social theories of language and technological literacy.

--From SUNY Press

Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Writing Studies.

Dr. Kastman Breuch's book is available on Amazon.com and from other retailers.

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 2:53 PM | Permalink

Starring the Text: The Place of Rhetoric in Science Studies firmly establishes the rhetorical analysis of science as a respected field of study. Alan G. Gross, one of rhetoric’s foremost authorities, summarizes the state of the field and demonstrates the role of rhetorical analysis in the sciences. He documents the limits of such analyses with examples from biology and physics, explores their range of application, and sheds light on the tangled relationships between science and society. In this deep revision of his important Rhetoric of Science, Gross examines how rhetorical analyses have a wide range of application, effectively exploring the generation, spread, certification, and closure that characterize scientific knowledge. Gross anchors his position in philosophical rather than in rhetorical arguments and maintains there is rhetorical criticism from which the sciences cannot be excluded.

Gross employs a variety of case studies and examples to assess the limits of the rhetorical analysis of science. For example, in examining avian taxonomy, he demonstrates that both taxonomical and evolutionary species are the product of rhetorical interactions. A review of Newton’s two formulations of optical research illustrates that their only significant difference is rhetorical, a difference in patterns of style, arrangement, and argument. Gross also explores the range of rhetorical analysis in his consideration of the "evolution of evolution" of Darwin’s notebooks. In his analysis of science and society, he explains the limits of citizen action in executive, judicial, and legislative democratic realms in the struggle to prevent, ameliorate, and provide adequate compensation for occupational disease. By using philosophical, historical, and psychological perspectives, Gross concludes, rhetorical analysis can also supplement other viewpoints in resolving intellectual problems.

Starring the Text, which includes fourteen illustrations, is an updated, readable study geared to rhetoricians, historians, philosophers, and sociologists interested in science. The volume effectively demonstrates that the rhetoric of science is a natural extension of rhetorical theory and criticism.

--From Southern Illinois University Press

Alan Gross is a Professor in the Department of Writing Studies.

Dr. Gross' book is for sale on Amazon.com and from other retailers.

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 2:37 PM | Permalink

John Logie, Associate Professor in the Department of Writing Studies, has recently published his book, Peers, Pirates, and Persuasion: Rhetoric in the Peer-to-Peer Debates.

"Peers, Pirates, and Persuasion: Rhetoric in the Peer-to-Peer Debates investigates the role of rhetoric in shaping public perceptions about a novel technology: peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. While broadband Internet services now allow speedy transfers of complex media files, Americans face real uncertainty about whether peer-to-peer file sharing is or should be legal. John Logie analyzes the public arguments growing out of more than five years of debate sparked by the advent of Napster, the first widely adopted peer-to-peer technology. The debate continues with the second wave of peer-to-peer file transfer utilities like Limewire, KaZaA, and BitTorrent. With Peers, Pirates, and Persuasion, Logie joins the likes of Lawrence Lessig, Siva Vaidhyanathan, Jessica Litman, and James Boyle in the ongoing effort to challenge and change current copyright law so that it fulfills its purpose of fostering creativity and innovation while protecting the rights of artists in an attention economy.

"Logie examines metaphoric frames—warfare, theft, piracy, sharing, and hacking, for example—that dominate the peer-to-peer debates and demonstrably shape public policy on the use and exchange of digital media. Peers, Pirates, and Persuasion identifies the Napster case as a failed opportunity for a productive national discussion on intellectual property rights and responsibilities in digital environments. Logie closes by examining the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the “Grokster�? case, in which leading peer-to-peer companies were found to be actively inducing copyright infringement. The Grokster case, Logie contends, has already produced the chilling effects that will stifle the innovative spirit at the heart of the Internet and networked communities."

--from Parlor Press

John Logie is an Associate Professor in the Department of Writing Studies.

Dr. Logie's book is for sale on Amazon.com and from other book retailers.

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 9:06 AM | Permalink

Bernadette Longo has been chosen to receive a President’s Faculty Multicultural Research Award to encourage and support research on issues related to people of color, particularly in a North American context. Her project, Nation Building as a Metaphor for Community Development in North Minneapolis, is based on her ongoing community-based research on food security, health disparities, and communication in North Minneapolis neighborhoods.

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 11:37 AM | Permalink