CLA: Department of Writing Studies

We are very pleased to announce that Chris Haas will join the Writing Studies department in fall, 2010. Her articles have appeared in the prominent journals in composition and writing studies--Journal of Business and Technical Communication, College Composition and Communication, Research in the Teaching of English, and Written Communication. Her work also includes studies of writing in the workplace and classroom. One focus of Professor Haas's research has been, to cite the title of her book, Writing Technology: Studies in the Materiality of Literacy. She has charted the path of digital technologies from word processing, digital writing, hypertext, web environments, new media language, and most recently to instant messaging.

She has also been the editor of the internationally recognized journal, Written Communication, since 2004. That journal will be re-located to the University of Minnesota next year.

In spring semester, 2011, Professor Haas will teach a graduate seminar on Literacy: Theory, History, Practice.

We welcome her to the University of Minnesota!

Posted by Shannon at 3:17 PM | Permalink

Ph.D. candidate, Merry Rendahl, recently published an article, "It's Not The Matrix: Thinking about Online Writing Instruction," in M/MLA, the Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association. Merry has taught writing in online, face-to-face, and hybrid formats. Her dissertation on online writing courses for first-year students will be completed in the 2009- I0 academic year.

The article resulted from her 2008 conference presentation, "Connecting Teachers and Students in Digital Writing Classrooms," which was part of the Digital Humanities special panel. Kathleen Diffley, Executive Director and Editor, invited her to submit my paper.

Rendahl, Merry A. "It's Not the Matrix: Thinking about Online Writing Instruction." M/MLA 42.1 (2009): 133-150. Print.

Traditional classrooms, and the simultaneous gathering of teacher and students therein, function as a ''transparent technology" of education, an assumed, unquestionable practice, one to which online learning is often juxtaposed. Yet the current configuration of "the classroom" is not inevitable; it carries within it many cultural values and warrants critical examination.

Posted by Shannon at 10:25 AM | Permalink

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

Posted by Shannon at 10:19 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

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

* 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

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

Posted by Shannon at 1:09 PM | Permalink

Writing Studies first year Ph.D. students, Jacqueline Schiappa, Joshua Welsh, Andrew Virtue, and Timothy Oleksiak have been accepted to present a panel at this years 4Cs in Atlanta. Their session is titled Writing (in) the Public Sphere: Deliberative Democracy and Computer Mediated Communication. This panel aims to clarify several of the complications that stem from teaching writing with CMC.

Timothy Oleksiak has been accepted to present his paper "Speaking Across the Disciplines: What Speech Pedagogy Can Teach Us about Writing" at the 2009 SAMLA conference in Atlanta.

Posted by Shannon at 2:10 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

Krista Kennedy was recently selected to receive the Kairos Graduate Student and Adjunct Scholarship Award for 2008.

As noted on the Kairos web site, "The Scholarship Award is given to a person whose research and scholarship is already excellent and/or also shows future promise for having an impact on our field. Three $500 awards will be given to graduate students and/or adjuncts in the field of computers and writing. These awards are based upon the three areas that guide our professional lives: Service, Scholarship, and Teaching."

Congratulations, Krista!

Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy
(http://www.technorhetoric.net/awards/gradadjunctnom.html)

Posted by Shannon at 8:57 AM | Permalink

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
SUMMER 2009 FUNDING FOR RSTC STUDENTS

April 10, 2009

Dear RSTC Students:

Through a combination of block grant money from the Graduate School, our James I. Brown and Industrial Affiliates Program foundation accounts, and CLA's Graduate Research Partnership Program, we are able to offer the following opportunities for summer funding to RSTC graduate students in good standing.

1. Competitive fellowships to support summer research and travel. Students may apply for any amount up to $2,000. (Download application materials and selection criteria.) Deadline is 10:00 a.m., Monday, April 20, 2009

2. CLA Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP) awarding two $4000 research fellowships (Download attachment and see this site http://cla.umn.edu/intranet/grad/grpp_gdlns.php.) Deadline is 10:00 a.m., Monday, April 20, 2009

3. Writing Studies $500 Graduate Student Teaching Award (Download attachment.) Deadline is 10:00 a.m., Monday, April 20, 2009

4. The two Industrial Affiliate Program (IAP) research fellowships ($2,000 each) are with Medtronic and US Bank. These fellowships are for the 2009-10 school year and are open to all current MS and RSTC students as well as the newly admitted students. Call for Applications is attached. The new IAP application deadline is April 24, 2009.

Details for each award are included in the attachments, however, don't hesitate to contact me or Mary Wrobel if you have questions.

Bernadette Longo, Ph.D.

Director of Graduate Studies
RSTC Program
Dept. of Writing Studies
University of Minnesota

Posted by Shannon at 4:02 PM | Permalink

Congratulations to Greg Schneider, winner of the COGS Leadership Award Honorable Mention! Greg is honored for his leadership on behalf of the graduate students in the Department of Writing Studies. Greg has served as a graduate student representative to the DGS Advisory Committee, instituted a graduate student assembly, worked to redesign and expand the Writing Studies Parlors, ensured that graduate students' perspective is represented well in the curriculum, and helped redesign the way the department conducts preliminary doctoral examinations.

Thank you Greg, for your leadership and service to the department!

Posted by Shannon at 10:19 AM | Permalink

Professional Portfolios: Communicate what you can do
February 28, 2009
1:00-4:30PM
St. Paul Campus

* Presentation by Fred Carpenter will provide a survey of what electronic and hard copy portfolios are, their purposes, and what makes them effective
* Workshops detailing the “how to�? elements of building a portfolio
* Attendees who bring their portfolios will have the opportunity to receive comments on how to make them better, and those who do not have portfolios will learn how to get one started

More information and online registration at www.stcchapter.umn.edu

Students $5 early registration by February 16
$8 after February 16 or at the door
Professionals $20 early registration
$25 after February or at the door

About the speaker: Fred Carpenter is presently graduate program coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences, Metropolitan State University. She has worked in academic, government and corporate environments including the Public Guardian's Office for the State of Alaska and Sybase Inc. Her interest in portfolios emerged as a result of being a coordinator and guiding applicants through the reasoning, design and execution of portfolios for the program.

Download flyer

Posted by Shannon at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Monday, February 9, 2009
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Minneapolis Convention Center

Come to the biggest student career fair in Minnesota! More than 250 organizations will be there recruiting for hundreds of jobs and internships. The Job and Internship Fair is free and open to all U of M undergraduates, graduate students, and recent alumni. This event was created just for you!

For more information, visit: http://www.cclc.umn.edu/umjobfair/

Posted by Shannon at 11:10 AM | Permalink

The Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota is pleased to announce the James I. Brown Graduate Fellowship for enhanced funding during the first year in its graduate program in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication (RSTC). This fellowship is made possible thanks to the generosity of the James I. Brown family. It will provide full first-year, non-teaching support for one doctoral student entering the program in Fall 2009 (currently over $13k annually in 9-mnth salary), plus tuition waiver and full benefit package. After the first year of fellowship funding, fellows will receive 4 additional years of support (salary, tuition waiver, and benefits) through a teaching assistantship of one course per semester.

In their application materials, interested applicants should suggest a research topic, which is compatible with the intellectual focus of the graduate program. When applying, please indicate if you are only interested in this fellowship, or if you also wish to be considered as an applicant to the program with the regular 5-year teaching assistantship support as described above. To apply for the RSTC program, see http://www.grad.umn.edu/prospective_students/apply_online.html. For information on the Department and the RSTC program, see http://writingstudies.umn.edu/grad/ . For further information on the graduate program, and this fellowship, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies, blongo@umn.edu. Deadline for applications is January 5, 2009.

Posted by Bernadette Longo at 2:16 PM | Permalink

I am pleased to announce that starting in Fall 2008, Dave Kmiec will be working with the University of Delaware College of Engineering to enhance communication skills of engineering majors. In this position, Dave will work with non-native as well as native speakers of English to explore curricular possibilities of traditional and alternative course structures, such as short courses, variable credit courses, tutorials, workshops, team teaching, or linked writing credits. He will also work with grant-funded projects and industry outreach. Please join me in congratulating Dave as he moves to Delaware to accept this challenging opportunity, while continuing his studies in our Ph.D. program...B. Longo

Posted by Shannon at 10:59 AM | Permalink

Anthony Arrigo is hosting a discussion panel this Wednesday evening on hip hop culture and American politics as part of a course he's teaching this semester. The event is free and open to the public. Download flier

What: Discussion panel - "Hip Hop Culture and American Politics: Past and Present"
When: Wednesday, April 23rd
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Where: 330 Anderson Hall, West Bank of U of M campus
http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/AndH/

Posted by Shannon at 9:18 AM | Permalink

Jeff Ward has had an essay published in Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism: Teaching Writing in the Digital Age.

From the University of Michigan Press:
This collection is a timely intervention in national debates about what constitutes original or plagiarized writing in the digital age. Somewhat ironically, the Internet makes it both easier to copy and easier to detect copying. The essays in this volume explore the complex issues of originality, imitation, and plagiarism, particularly as they concern students, scholars, professional writers, and readers, while also addressing a range of related issues, including copyright conventions and the ownership of original work, the appropriate dissemination of innovative ideas, and the authority and role of the writer/author. Throughout these essays, the contributors grapple with their desire to encourage and maintain free access to copyrighted material for noncommercial purposes while also respecting the reasonable desires of authors to maintain control over their own work.

Both novice and experienced teachers of writing will learn from the contributors' practical suggestions about how to fashion unique assignments, teach about proper attribution, and increase students' involvement in their own writing. This is an anthology for anyone interested in how scholars and students can navigate the sea of intellectual information that characterizes the digital/information age.

Greg Schneider and Dr. Matthew P. Meyer co-authored "Being-in-The Office: Sartre, the Look, and the Viewer" in The Office and Philosophy: Scenes from the Unexamined Life (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series).

From Blackwell:
Just when you thought paper couldn't be more exciting, this book comes your way! This book - jammed full of paper - unites philosophy with one of the best shows ever: The Office. Addressing both the current American incarnation and the original British version, The Office and Philosophy brings these two wonders of civilization together for a frolic through the mundane yet curiously edifying worlds of Scranton's Dunder-Mifflin and Slough's Wernham-Hogg.

Is Michael Scott in denial about death? Are Pam and Jim ever going to figure things out? Is David Brent an essentialist? Surprisingly, The Office can teach us about the mind, Aristotle, and humiliation. Even more surprisingly, paper companies can allow us to better understand business ethics. Don't believe it? Open this book, and behold its beautiful paper…

Join the philosophical fray as we explore the abstract world of philosophy through concrete scenes of the unexamined life in The Office. You may discover that Gareth Keenan is secretly a brilliant logician, that Dwight Schrute is better off deceiving himself, that David Brent is an example of hyperreality, and that Michael Scott is hopelessly lost (but you probably already knew that!).

Posted by Shannon at 4:36 PM | 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

Ph.D. students Kenny Fountain and Anthony Arrigo will present at this year's CCCC Convention in New Orleans.

Bodies, Water, and Money: Epideictic Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Images in Science
Fountain T. Kenny, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, “Whole-
Body Gifts: Epideictic Display and Anatomy Memorial Services�

Institutions and the Writing In and Writing Out of Voice
Chair: Anthony Arrigo, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis/St. Paul
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�

Posted by Shannon at 11:12 AM | Permalink

Zoe Nyssa was the recipient of one of eight Consortium on Law and Values grants for summer 2008. This grant makes it possible for her to conduct interviews and a survey of conservationists attending the Society for Conservation Biology conference this July as part of a pilot study for her dissertation on animal conservation discourses.

“Studying Biodiversity, Saving Biodiversity: Investigating Expert Constructions of Public Understanding of Conservation Science�—Zoe Nyssa, PhD student, Writing Studies ($5,954 awarded)

Each investigator receiving this award becomes a "Consortium Student Scholar." He or she will present a written report on the funded work to the full Consortium in 2009 and the project will be featured on the Consortium website. Awardees may also be asked to present at a Consortium-sponsored conference.

Posted by Shannon at 11:06 AM | Permalink

Zoe was accepted into the Traveling Scholar Program and is taking doctoral seminars at the University of Chicago this fall offered through the Committee on Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science. The Traveling Scholar Program allows qualified doctoral students at CIC-member institutions to spend up to two semesters taking classes for credit (and at tuition parity!) at another CIC university (For more information: http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/programs/TravelingScholars/)

Over the summer Zoe was also in Ecuador for several weeks assisting the Santa Lucia Cloudforest Reserve, the flagship community-based ecotourism project of Rainforest Alliance, a UK environmental organization. Working with the lodge director and several of the guides, she is redeveloping and expanding all accompanying English materials (primarily the self-guided tours and some website content) to better convey the scientific and conservation work Santa Lucia is engaged in to the lodge's visitors.

Posted by Shannon at 11:34 AM | Permalink

The first Parlor of the semester will be held on Friday, 28 September at 4:15. Professor Joseph Little will present on "On Seeing Further: Analogy, Insight, and Resources in Scientific Theory Construction."

Joe is an Assistant Professor in Rhetoric and Composition at Niagara University in New York. He received an MA in RSTC (working under Alan and Art) and a PhD from University of California Santa Barbara, working under
Chuck Bazerman.

Download flier

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 3:28 PM | Permalink

Scott Wyatt, a PhD student in the RSTC program, was awarded a DOVE Research Grant for the summer from the College of Liberal Arts. This is a competitive and prestigious award. The title of Scott's proposal is "Virtually Different: Rhetorical Strategies of Autistic Students in Virtual Spaces." Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch, as his academic advisor, is overseeing Scott's work.

Kenny Fountain, a PhD student in the RSTC program, won a dissertation fellowship from the Graduate School, a very competitive and prestigious award. The fellowship will support Kenny for 2007-08 while he works on his dissertation, "'A Matter of Perception': Rhetoric, Embodiment & the Visual Practices of Anatomy Laboratory Education." Mary Schuster is Kenny's advisor.

Congratulations to Scott and Kenny.

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 11:14 AM | Permalink

Congratulations to Greg Schneider who recently was named as the winner of the Council of Graduate Students' (GOGS') Leadership Award. Greg was nominated by the members of the Get Stuff Done writing group that Greg organized in 2004. The group meets regularly and its efforts have improved the quality of many Masters papers, dissertations, and conference papers produced by RSTC students. See the attached nomination letter, largely the work of Salma Monani, a grateful member of GSD.

Greg has talked about devoting part of his award money to improving the quality of the libations at GSD. Sometimes good deeds such as Greg's but also Salma's are rewarded.

Arthur Walzer

Download nomination letter [pdf].

Posted by Department of Writing Studies at 11:18 AM | Permalink