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!

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

'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

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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

* 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.

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

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.

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).

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

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.

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.

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)

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

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!

"Darwin's Polysemy: Survival of the Fittest Meaning"
Tom Wright
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Nicholson 12 @12-1:15

"Audience as Auditors in Greek Rhetoric"
Richard Graff
Friday, April 10, 2009
Nicholson 325 @ 3:00

Title TBA
Brett Werner
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Nicholson 12 @11:30-12:45

Medtronic and US Bank, as part of their affiliations with the University of Minnesota, Writing Studies Department, Programs in Scientific and Technical Communication, have established fellowships in the amount of $2,000 each for graduate students in our program. One fellowship per company will be awarded for the 2009-10 academic year. The fellowship may be used by a student to support his or her graduate research. The following describes the criteria of the fellowships and the application procedures. In the past, fellowship winners have used this opportunity to work on part of their thesis or dissertation and have published papers and given presentations as a result of their collaborations with our industry partners. These Fellowships are an exciting opportunity to do research in a “live” setting and to see how the exigencies of workplace technical communication relate to the theories you learn in class.

The funds are a result of a gift to the Department. You may use these funds in any manner that is in support of your graduate work.

For more information, please read the Call for Applications.

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

Award: To provide a $2,000 scholarship award to undergraduate student(s) who are majoring in the field of Scientific and Technical Communication (S&TC). The award may be given to a freshman and may be continued for four years if the student makes satisfactory progress toward a B. S. degree. (Sophomores and juniors may apply as well and seniors with at least two semesters of full-time coursework remaining.)

More information

Download flyer

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

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

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/

Find out more about the Medtronic Technical Communication Scholarship for technical communication majors. The deadline is February 1, for the 2009-2010 school year. This $2,000 scholarship is renewable. Details can be found at http://www.writ.umn.edu/ugrad/scholarships.html.

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.

"Making Life Easy"

The Office of Information Technology and the Digital Technology Center are sponsoring a free program of events on Thursday November 13th for World Usability Day. The purpose of the program is to promote awareness of the benefits of usability engineering and user-centered design. World Usability Day was started in 2005 by the Usability Professionals Association and involves 36 hours of usability-related activities around the world in 41 countries.

You are invited to join us for a program including speakers and discussions on usability and accessibility topics, an Adaptive Technology Fair, a participatory activity on signage and way-finding, and an Open House at the Usability Services Laboratory.

All students, staff, faculty, and the general public are invited to the World Usability Day events. Events will take place in Walter Library on the East Bank of the Minneapolis campus. All events are free of charge and no registration is necessary.

For more detailed information and directions to the World Usability Day events, please see http://www.dmc.umn.edu/usability/world_usability_day/.

We hope you can join us for these great events! Please pass this invitation along to anyone else who might be interested.

Cordially,

Alice de la Cova
Usability Services Manager
Office of Information Technology's Digital Media Center
University of Minnesota
(612) 624-9365
a-dela@umn.edu

Do you need to learn tools such as Dreamweaver & Photoshop? There are a number of resources at the University you can take advantage of:

1.) Free courses--CLA's "Get Wired!" program
The CLA Infotech Fees Committee and the University Technology Training Center (UTTC) offer non-credit computer training to currently enrolled undergraduates in CLA. Free courses are offered at the beginning of the semester and cover tools such as Dreamweaver, XHTML/HTML, Photoshop, and MS Office.

2.) Fee courses--UTTC Short Courses
UTTC also offers the above short courses, and several others, for a fee.

3.) For credit--UC 3201 & 3202: Web Designer Introduction I & II
3201--Web design process: plan, design, launch, and publish. Design principles, business practices, site analysis. Students use industry standard Web design software, including Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Flash, to build Web site. HTML, CSS. Lectures, exercises, lab.
3202--Designing with Adobe Photoshop vector tools, using batch processing. Macromedia Flash as an animation tool. Developing an environment through ActionScripts. DHTML Layers, HTML frames, form processing. Internet service providers, hosting, search engines, Web site marketing.

Writing Studies staff member Shannon Klug has taken a lot of these courses. If you have any questions, she'd be happy to talk with you.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
The goal of UROP is to help you become involved in research and creative activity to stimulate your mind, broaden your perspectives, expand your intellectual and social networking and strengthen your connections to the University of Minnesota community, as well as the research and creative communities nationally and throughout the world.
UROP provides stipends of up to $1400 and research expenses of up to $300 for undergraduate students working with a University of Minnesota Faculty Mentor. Full-time (enrolled for ≥6 credits) undergraduates enrolled in any college on any campus are eligible to apply.

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

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!

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.

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

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

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

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/

Reyman, J. (2008). Rethinking plagiarism for technical communication. Technical Communication, 55(1): 61-67.

Abstract:
This article proposes that technical and professional communication instructors reconsider the treatment of the concept of plagiarism in current curriculum. I begin by examining existing approaches to teaching technical communication students about plagiarism and explaining the need for rethinking plagiarism in light of contemporary technical communication practices. The second section suggests several preliminary steps for addressing these issues, including revisions to plagiarism policies, classroom practices, and the treatment of plagiarism in textbooks. I conclude with a call for increased industry-academic dialog on the dissonance between the treatment of plagiarism in the classroom and in workplace practices.

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�?

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�?

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.

The University's Writing Initiative was recently featured in an article in the Washington Post. Balancing Academic Tradition and Skills Employers Demand

UMTC RSTC Alum David Beard and Colleagues from UMD & UMC present "Reconfiguring Rhetorical Studies - Panel Discussion": A talk with Mark Huglen, David Beard, and David Gore

David Beard, assistant professor in the Department of Writing Studies at UMN Duluth, will discuss "Truth and Argument in the New Rhetoric: Toulmin, Richards, and the Epistemic Movement." In this excerpt from a chapter of his in-progress monograph on I. A. Richards and the Anglo-American Roots of the New Rhetoric, Beard demonstrates that the New Rhetoric needed to be fully interdisciplinary, integrating literary critics, philosophers of language, and speech teachers, to achieve its full bloom.

Thursday, April 10, 2008 4:00 PM
Room 125 Nolte Center for Continuing Education

All are welcome.

Sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Studies

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

Grading and Responding to Student Writing Workshop
Wednesday, February 27
12:30-1:30 pm, 305 Lind
Will Bush

Approaches to Teaching Argument
Thursday, March 6
11:00 am-12:00 pm, 12 Nicholson
Nick Hengen
Tim Gustafson

Strategies for Facilitating Discussion
Thursday, March 27
11:00am-12:00 pm, 12 Nicholson
Matt Kimlinger
Katie Levin

Approaching the Job Market
Wednesday, April 16
12:30-1:30 pm, 305 Lind
Sara Berrey
Tom Reynolds

Using Wikis in the Classroom
Wednesday, February 20
12:30-1:30 pm, 305 Lind
Krista Kennedy
Matt Williams

Wiki Workshop
Thursday, February 28
11:00 am-12:00 pm, 12 Nicholson
Kim Schultz

Teaching Web Development
Wednesday, March 12
12:30-1:30 pm, 305 Lind
Maureen Aitken
Merry Rendahl
Tom Wright

Web Vista Discussion Tools
Wednesday, March 26
12:30-1:30 pm, 305 Lind
Kim Schultz

Virtual Peer Review Panel
Wednesday, April 9
12:30-1:30 pm, 305 Lind
Lee Ann Kastman-Breuch
Scott Wyatt

Radiohead ushers in a new era of music distribution
Broadcast: Midmorning, 10/12/2007, 9:06 a.m.

The recording industry may have won a victory when a Duluth woman was found guilty of illegally downloading music, but critics say the record companies are clueless when it comes to the future of music distribution. Radiohead's new album may be a sign of things to come.

Guests
John Logie: Associate professor in the department of writing studies at the University of Minnesota, and author of "Peers, Pirates, and Persuasion: Rhetoric in the Peer-to-Peer Debates."

Jim DeRogatis: Pop music critic at the Chicago Sun Times and co-host of Sound Opinions.

Cara Duckworth: Director of communications at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Listen at http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/10/12/midmorning1/

Writ 3562W was recently featured in an article about business writing skills on MinnPost.com.
Email 101: Shouldn't the generation raised on email know how to write one? Employers, colleges offering classes

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.

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.

Congratulations to Scientific & Technical Communication major, Neil Fahlstrom, winner of the Medtronic Scholarship in Technical Communication for the 2007-2008 academic year!

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.

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

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/

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.

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.

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].

Read the Minnesota Daily feature on the nearly $1 million grant the University received from the Bush Foundation. The grant will fund a Writing Enriched Curriculum program to ensure all students have writing-enriched courses at the University.

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2007/03/28/71291

The MN Daily recently featured a story on the Department of Writing Studies, Center for Writing, and the University's new first year writing curriculum.

http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2007/02/06/70628

Laura Gurak, Chair of the Department of Writing Studies, was interviewed yesterday for a WCCO "Good Question" piece on the reliability of W ikipedia. The story can be viewed online at wcco.com.

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.

Mary Lay Schuster was interviewed last Friday for a WCCO TV piece on communication between women and men. If you'd like to see it, go to http://wcco.com/video and search for "Women Complain: 'Men Don't Listen,' Could It Be 'Yes Dear' Syndrome?" dated 11/10/2006.