WRD Speaker Series – Dr. Chris Thaiss

The department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse at DePaul University is pleased to welcome Dr. Chris Thaiss as the spring quarter WRD Speaker Series presenter. On Wednesday, April 16th, Dr. Thaiss will give his talk “Writing Programs Worldwide.”   Dr. Chris Thaiss is Clark Kerr Presidential Chair and Professor in the University Writing Program (UWP) of the University of California at Davis. A member of the Language, Literacy, and Culture Graduate Group at UCD, he also serves as Principal Investigator of the Area 3 Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project.

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WRD Department Moves From McGaw

Between the autumn and winter quarters, the WRD department moved from McGaw Hall to a new home on the third floor of the Schmitt Academic Center.  WRD shares the third floor with the Department of Modern Languages, and the University Center for Writing-based Learning is one floor below.  The new space offers the department a more central location on campus, improved technology spaces, and new opportunities for student activities. Directly across the hall from the department is the WRD Invention Lab.  Housed in SAC 302, the lab is a space for graduate and undergraduate students to work collaboratively.  NMS graduate

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Jeff Rice Brews “Craft Identity”

 On Monday, October 21, WRD students and faculty gathered to hear University of Kentucky Associate Professor Jeff Rice present “Craft Identity,” a wide-ranging lecture in which Rice used his experiences with craft beer to explore questions about meaning-making in the age of social networks. In attendance at the lecture were MA in WRD and MA in NMS students, including those in Assistant Professor Sarah Read’s WRD 500: Proseminar class. Read’s students had read Rice’s previous book, Digital Detroit: Rhetoric and Space in the Age of the Network, in this quarter’s proseminar.

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TESOL Coordinator On the Go in the Classroom and Abroad

It has been a busy autumn quarter for WRD visiting assistant professor Jason Schneider. After becoming the Coordinator for the TESOL Graduate Certificate in July 2013, Schneider has had a full schedule, including teaching first-year writing undergraduate and graduate students, helping students plan their class schedules, building a relationship with an international university, and organizing a faculty-led lecture workshop on multilingual writers. In his new role as TESOL coordinator, Schneider helps students plan their coursework around their teaching interests and post-graduation plans.

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WRD Students Profit from Nonprofit Event

On September 24, MA in WRD and MA in NMS students received valuable career insights from four communications professionals working in the nonprofit sector. “Profit from the Nonprofit Experience,” the first event in a series of WRD professional development events, brought four Chicago-area nonprofit professionals to DePaul to share their experiences

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Jeff Rice to Present “Craft Identity” Talk

WRD Department Speaker Series: Jeff Rice Date: Monday, October 21, 2013 Time: Reception – 5:30pm; Talk – 6:00-7:00pm Location: McGowan South, Room 104 Jeff Rice will present his talk “Craft Identity” on Monday, October 21, 2013 as part of the WRD Department Speaker Series. Rice is the author of several books, including Digital Detroit: Rhetoric and Space in the Age of the Network, and currently serves as the Martha B. Reynolds Endowed Professor in Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies at University of Kentucky.

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Academic Writing in the Global Classroom

In celebration of International Education Week at DePaul, WRD is sponsoring a special discussion session featuring WRD instructors and multilingual students. Mark your calendars and don’t miss this great event! Becoming a successful college writer in a first language is hard. Becoming a successful college writer in a second (or third) language is exponentially harder. In this session, faculty from the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, & Discourse will talk about their experiences teaching multilingual writers in the WRD 103X and 104X classes, and international students will talk about their experiences as writers in these and other classes. 

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Bowden to Present Fall Teaching Commons Workshop

WRD professor Darsie Bowden will be presenting the following Fall 2013 Teaching Commons Workshop with English professor Lucy Rhinehart on Thursday, October 31st and Friday, November 1st. Reading Strategies: Helping Students Read Effectively This workshop is designed to help teachers learn more about the differences between a good reader and a poor reader, acquire tips and strategies for helping students get the most out of class reading assignments, and develop ideas for making reading an integral part of students’ experience and learning in your courses.

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Profit from the Nonprofit Experience: Veronica Vasquez

Meet Veronica Vasquez, a nonprofit professional who will be presenting at “Profit from the Nonprofit Experience” on Tuesday, September 24th. Veronica Vasquez Veronica Vasquez is the Communications Manager for the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago. In her role, she enjoys mentoring aspiring students who intern and volunteer for the Red Cross. Last year Vasquez was deployed to Florida and Louisiana to help with the Red Cross disaster relief effort after Hurricane Isaac.

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Profit from the Nonprofit Experience: Katie O’Dea

Meet Katie O’Dea, a nonprofit professional who will be presenting at “Profit from the Nonprofit Experience” on Tuesday, September 24th. Katie O’Dea Katie O’Dea has served as the Director of Communications at Latin School of Chicago for the past eight years. In her role, she is responsible for managing the strategic development, integration and implementation of all aspects of the school’s communications program including content creation, design, production, media relations and social media.

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