In autumn quarter 2018, WRD extended a warm welcome to Professor Tim Elliott, the newest tenure-track member of the WRD faculty. He will teach undergraduate and graduate Professional Writing courses at DePaul. This quarter, Professor Elliott is teaching graduate course WRD 523: Editing and undergraduate course WRD 301: Writing in Workplace Contexts.
Professor Elliott’s Research
Prior to joining the DePaul WRD team, Professor Elliott was a Ph.D. student at Texas Tech University (TTU). His interest in visual rhetoric and urban space informed his decision to research urban planning communication projects in Lubbock, TX. In 2016, he co-presented “Transforming a City of Alleys into a City of Spanish-Indebted Courtyards” at the World Multidisciplinary Civil Engineering-Architecture-Urban Planning Symposium. The essay he presented analyzes a Lubbock community redevelopment project, examining how architects respond to rhetorical situations in their work with communities, including their use of images to convey ideas and transform physical spaces.
Professor Elliott’s most recent project, “Expert Opinions, Public Priorities, and Joint Opportunities: A case study of design professionals and the public engagement process,” examines the rhetoric of urban planning communication between the community members of Lubbock and The American Institute of Architects (AIA). It explores how professional writers can use rhetorical tools to foster more effective communication between the public and project stakeholders, like architects and developers. One goal of the work is to make a case for a more equitable planning process, where community input has measurable impact.
Community-Engaged Scholarship and Teaching
One of the key goals of the WRD hiring committee was to bring a teacher/scholar to the department who was aligned with DePaul’s mission of community engagement. Professor Elliott is a great fit, as his primary interest as a scholar is “public technical writing,” which investigates how public-facing organizations can disseminate information in a manner that is more inclusive of, and accessible to, the community. Already, Professor Elliott has found the DePaul Irwin S. Steans Center for Community-Based Service Learning to be an invaluable resource for connecting faculty with nonprofit organizations that need assistance with technical writing and editing. This quarter, his WRD 523: Editing course is working with the Chicago nonprofit Centro Romero, to edit and increase the accessibility of their technical documentation.
Professor Elliott is excited about how Chicago promises to be a site of many more such community-engaged teaching opportunities.
Advice to Students
Professor Elliott offers a great tip to WRD students planning to pursue careers in Professional Writing:
Find a mentor that is six or seven years ahead of you—someone who is closer to your age and also your experience level, who is willing to talk with you even if it’s just once a quarter.
Finding a mentor can be a difficult task. Therefore, Professor Elliott recommends that WRD students consider using DePaul’s Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) network to find a mentor. ASK is a free professional development resource available to all DePaul students and DePaul graduates.
Professor Elliott looks forward to becoming involved in the DePaul community, sharing his experiences with students, collaborating on future projects, and having positive impact on the DePaul community. He is often on campus and happy to meet new people. Ask him about his interest in comic books and comic book culture!
Interested in a firsthand experience with Professor Elliott? Register for one of his classes! He is teaching two sections of WRD 204: Technical Writing in the Winter Quarter.