Department of Writing Studies

Industrial Affiliates Fellowship Winners
M.S. S&TC student Linda Hardin Diebes has been awarded the US Bank Industrial Affiliates Program (IAP) Fellowship for 2005-2006. M.S. student, Melissa Christ received the Medtronic Fellowship and Ph.D. candidate, Linda Clemens received the Unisys Fellowship.

Other Awards
B.S. S&TC student Harold Klein was recently awarded a $1,000 scholarship from Philanthrofund on behalf of Medtronic. Philanthrofund awards scholarships for individuals who have demonstrated leadership and service in the GLBT community. The scholarship is for the 2005/2006 academic year.

Congratulations to RSTC doctoral candidate Jennifer Novak, who was recently selected as one of the Society for Technical Communication's (STC) Graduate Student Scholarship recipients. This is quite an honor for Jennifer and for the department. (For more information on the STC's scholarship program, visit
www.stc.org/scholarshipInfo.asp The program is open to BS, MS, MA, and PhD students.)

Greg Schneider is this year's winner of the Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award. Congratulations to Greg!

Posted by Shannon at 11:02 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 02:16 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 09:18 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 04:36 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 03:28 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

From Art Walzer, Director of Graduate Studies

Congratulations to Amy Patrick (advisor: Dan Philippon) and Clancy Ratliff (advisor: Mary Schuster) who were selected as doctoral dissertation fellows for 2005-06. The fellowship includes a stipend of $17,500 and benefits.

Although I do not know how many nominations were made, there are 180 graduate programs at the University and larger programs can nominate several students. Although statistics for this year's competition are not currently available, last year 76 fellowships were awarded: 42 to students in science and engineering; 31 to students in social science and humanities; 3 to students in business. We are indeed honored to have two RSTC students selected as fellows this year.

Clancy and Amy, and advisors, Dan and Mary: you have made us proud!

Posted by Shannon at 11:01 AM | Permalink