Faculty Spotlight: Jennifer Finstrom, WRD Adjunct Faculty

This Winter Quarter, Professor Jennifer Finstrom is teaching WRD 371: Mentoring Youth in Community Writing Groups. The course is for students who want to mentor young writers and understand how writing in community functions as an identity-building process.  WRD 371 earns Experiential Learning credit in the Liberal Studies Program and is also an elective in the WRD major and Professional Writing Minor. Students provide extensive online feedback for middle school writers engaged in writing projects and also visits to them at their school.

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Job Sleuth: Technical Writing and Technical Communication

One job area that the WRD program prepares students for is a career in technical writing. WRD Majors can take courses like Technical Writing (WRD 204), Writing in Workplace Contexts (WRD 301), and Writing and Metadata (WRD 322). Graduate students can also prepare for work as a technical writer through the Professional and Digital Writing concentration of the MA in WRD. Careers in technical writing can be found in a wide range of industries—from software development, to healthcare, to business. In this article, we’ll provide you with some resources to help you get your bearings in the field of technical

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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. 

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Erin Workman

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.

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WRD 515 seminar

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

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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.

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News and Updates

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,

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