Faculty News – Page 5

March 19, 2014 depaulwrd

WRD Professor Explores the Rhetoric of Green Spaces

On Tuesday, February 11, WRD Professor Christine Skolnik participated in “Ecological Imaginings,” an interdisciplinary panel discussion sponsored by DePaul’s Institute for Nature and Culture. In her talk, “Imagined Ecofutures,” Skolnik explored the persuasive, imaginative rhetoric of visual urban plans and their implications for ecological restoration. Skolnik, who holds a PhD in English and Rhetoric from Penn State, recently completed an MA in Urban Sustainability and is a faculty advisor for the Institute for Nature and Culture.

January 30, 2014 depaulwrd

Community Literacy Journal wins “Best Public Intellectual Issue” Award

We are pleased to announce the Community Literacy Journal was awarded the 2013 “Best Public Intellectual Issue” award by the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) at the recent Modern Language Association Conference, which was held in Chicago. The Community Literacy Journal is edited and produced in Writing, Rhetoric & Discourse at DePaul University — and two runner-ups. According to the CELJ, journal contestants in the “Best Public Intellectual Issue” Award category must reach out beyond academe, connect with a popular audience in terms of accessible language and attractive presentation, and seek to achieve the democratic mission of higher education.

November 8, 2013 depaulwrd

Student, Alumni, and Faculty News

WRD students, alumni, and faculty share their recent professional and academic achievements. Students Katie Booth (MA in WRD) presented her paper “One Who, Two Who, Old Who, New Who: The Discourse of Identity in the Doctor Who Fan Community,” at the Midwest Popular Culture / American Culture Association Conference in St. Louis, MO, on October 12, 2013. Booth’s paper is an analysis of recorded interviews with fans of the cult television series, focusing on identity and authenticity as represented in language.

October 30, 2013 depaulwrd

Greetings from Professor Vandenberg in China

Professor Vandenberg, WRD Department Chair, is in Quanzhou (Fujan Province) China this week at DePaul’s sister school, Huaqaio University. His visit follows one that WRD’s Visiting Professor and Coordinator of WRD’s Graduate TESOL Coordinator, Jason Schneider, made to Huaqiao this summer. Professor Vandenberg gave a talk on writing instruction in US universities on Monday and is meeting with administrators to explore possible connections between WRD and Huaqiao’s English department, including student and faculty exchanges and opportunities for WRD alumni to teach in China.

June 25, 2013 depaulwrd

WRD Staff and Faculty Pursuing New Opportunities

As we say goodbye to this year’s MA NMS and MA WRD graduates, we also have to say goodbye to faculty members Associate Professor Matthew Abraham, Assistant Professor Rene Agustín De los Santos, and Associate Professor Chris Tardy as they leave DePaul to pursue new teaching positions.

May 24, 2013 depaulwrd

Skolnik to Speak on Spirituality and Neuroscience in Jerusalem

Dr. Christine M. Skolnik of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric & Discourse at DePaul University has been invited to speak on a panel about spirituality and neuroscience at the Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Modifiability conference in Jerusalem, June 2-5, 2013, sponsored by the Feuerstein Institute. Dr. Skolnik will speak on a panel titled “Materialism v. Spiritualism on Brain Plasticity” with experts on spirituality and neuroscience from Israel.

March 5, 2013 depaulwrd

Buckvold and Skolnik Receive QM Award

The DePaul Online Teaching Series recently awarded WRD faculty members John Buckvold and Christine Skolnik with the Quality Matters Star Award and Certificate. Buckvold’s WRD 202 and Skolnik’s WRD 204 each received a perfect 95 in the DePaul Internal QM Review. The QM Award recognizes DOTS-developed online and hybrid courses that meet course design standards of usability and quality.

February 5, 2013 depaulwrd

Vandenberg featured in ePortfolio Community Profiles

WRD Department Chair Peter Vandenberg is excited to be among the faculty featured in the ePortfolio Community Profiles found on DePaul’s Teaching Commons’ website. In his interview, Professor Vandenberg talks about using ePortfolios in his undergraduate capstone course (WRD 390) for the Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse major. Vandenberg says, “”The key thing about technology is that it always follows the learning outcomes… we don’t want technology to lead; we want technology to follow effectively.”

January 31, 2013 depaulwrd

Johnston Publishes New Poetry Collection

WRD instructor Allan Johnston’s new poetry collection, Departures, is being published by Finishing Line Press. Departures shares the richness of Johnston’s life growing up in Southern California. Gary Snyder says, “Johnston’s intimate knowledge of Pacific Coast L.A. suburb lifeways comes alive in an old language…even as the ever-present ocean washes over it all.” Whitney Scott, editor of the Black-and-White anthology series, says, “With its rippled tidal waters, dragonflies and cattails, Departures recalls a past that resonates powerfully, part of the present.”

January 29, 2013 depaulwrd

Seifert Inducted into the 25-Year Club

Twenty-five years, or a quarter of a century, that is the amount of time Eileen Seifert, WRD Associate Director of First-Year Writing, has dedicated to DePaul. Seifert and other new members of the 25-Year Club were recently recognized for their service by the Office of Mission and Values. Seifert started at DePaul as a part-time first-year writing teacher in 1985, before she began working full-time as an instructor in 1987.