WRD Blog

February 19, 2018 Delasha Long

New Library Spaces Present New Possibilities for WRD

Recently, the John T. Richardson Library here in DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus finished a renovation of the second-floor that features a maker space called the Maker Hub, several media studios called 1581 Studios, and a collaborative work space called The Forum. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni are encouraged to use these spaces to create and use many different types of media including video, audio, photography, and computing. In WRD, we are particularly excited about these new spaces, which promise new opportunities for our students and faculty, especially those who are interested in digital and technical writing.

February 13, 2018 Kelsey Bolger

Tracy Morse Recap

As part of our ongoing speaker series, the WRD Department welcomed Tracy Ann Morse on Friday, February 9th. Morse is the Director of Writing Foundations and an Associate Professor of rhetoric and composition in the Department of English at East Carolina University, and author of Signs and Wonders: Religious Rhetoric and the Preservation of Sign Language. Morse’s talk, “He will Reach His Hand in Mine: Religious Rhetoric and the Preservation of Sign Language,” discussed research from her book on the connection between religious rhetoric and the history of oppression against deaf Americans. Morse shared examples of attempts at preserving American Sign Language (ASL)

February 12, 2018 depaulwrd

Alumni Spotlight: Kyla Patterson, WRD ‘17 Graduate and Fulbright Scholar Recipient

Kyla Patterson is a DePaul ‘17 alumna who graduated with dual majors in Public Relations and Advertising and Writing, Rhetoric & Discourse. Last year Patterson became a Fulbright Scholarship recipient and began teaching English to students in the Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, in September 2017. WRD caught up with Kyla in the new year to see how her experience as a full-time teacher abroad has been so far.

February 2, 2018 Anthony Melville

MAWRD Alumni Spotlight: Shannon Kelley

Shannon Kelley, a 2014 graduate of the MA in WRD program, currently resides in Portland, Oregon where she works as a writing instructor at Chemeketa Community College and Clark College. After graduating from DePaul she went immediately into work teaching various levels of writing, allowing her to mix her WRD education while drawing on her past experience in corporate communications. We had the pleasure of getting in contact with Shannon to hear all about her time at DePaul and beyond. Read on to hear more about Shannon’s experience.

January 31, 2018 Delasha Long

Faculty Spotlight: Erin Workman

Assistant Professor Erin Workman is our newest tenure-line faculty member in the WRD department. She joined our faculty in the autumn quarter, teaching both WRD 103 Composition and Rhetoric I and WRD 104: Composition and Rhetoric II. This quarter, Workman is teaching a graduate course, WRD 540: Teaching Writing, and the undergraduate course, WRD 209: Genre and Discourse.

January 26, 2018 Anthony Melville

The Essay: Course Profile

What is an essay? The term essay is today used to describe an array of written products; the word is used almost interchangeably with other terms like paper, article, or composition. But the essay is a particular form, which people have been writing since the late 16th century, when the genre was formally invented with the publishing of Michel de Montaigne’s book titled Essais. This title roughly translates to, “an effort or trial,” and describes a particular form of inductive, digressive writing. In WRD 515: The Essay, MA in WRD students explore the history of the essay, from its origins

January 25, 2018 Anthony Melville

Tracy Morse visits DePaul February 9

The Writing Rhetoric and Discourse Department welcomes Tracy Ann Morse. As part of our ongoing speaker series, Writing and Rhetoric Across Borders, the WRD department will be welcoming visiting speaker Tracy Ann Morse, Director of Writing Foundations and associate professor of rhetoric and composition in the Department of English at East Carolina University. Her talk will cover a historical overview of how religious rhetoric empowered deaf Americans to protect and preserve their sign language culture against the dominant hearing community.

January 24, 2018 Alex Gonzalez

MA in WRD/NMS Faculty, Student, & Alumni Updates

Here’s an update on what some of our MA in NMS and MA in WRD students, graduates, and faculty members have been up to in the last six months! MA in NMS Students and Alumni Caroline Bank (2012) works in digital marketing and recently began to manage Halo Top Creamery’s digital marketing program in-house. She is focused on international expansion after Halo Top became the best-selling ice cream in America over the summer. Kristi Bruno (2016) received a Forty Under 40 Award from Award Association Forum and USAE. Kristi was recognized for her professional accomplishments, commitment to the industry, leadership skills,

January 22, 2018 depaulwrd

WRD Faculty Profile: Erin MacKenna Sandhir

Erin MacKenna Sandhir, a faculty member in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse, was inspired to develop WRD 265: Social Movement, Social Media, and American Identities after the success of a similar course at the graduate level last fall. This online course introduces students to social movements like civil rights and women’s liberation from a rhetorical perspective and explores ways that social media has reoriented American political participation.

December 14, 2017 depaulwrd

WRD Student Profile: Mariah Schultz

Mariah Schultz is a senior at DePaul University studying Dramaturgy with minors in History and Professional Writing in the Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse Department. Schultz’s first WRD class was 103, the writing course for first-year students at DePaul. Though it was required, she is thankful that she had to take it because of a faculty member who helped her declare a Professional Writing minor, former WRD Professor Nathan Fink. “Nathan was an inspiring professor and made every class tie into the current events of our world by using The New York Times as a constant, living source of writing and

Benefits of the WRD Combined Degree Program

Event Recap: Branding and Copywriting with Professor Nancy LaFever

Course Spotlight – WRD 288: Rhetoric and Popular Culture

Course Spotlight – WRD 377: Writing and Social Engagement: From Hip Hop To Hashtags

Course Spotlight – WRD 511: Rhetorics of Displacement

Event Recap — Dr. V Jo Hsu’s “The Story Begins with a Sundering”

Course Spotlight — WRD 522: Writing in the Professions

Course Spotlight — WRD 203 Style for Writers

Course Spotlight — WRD 283: Environmental Writing