WRD Receives Department Initiative Grant

Writing, Rhetoric, & Discourse recently received a Department Initiative Grant from DePaul University to enhance the teaching of WRD 202: Professional Writing for Business. WRD 202 is unique given that its student population is unlike most WRD courses; it is taught by WRD faculty but taken by students in DePaul’s Driehaus College for Business. As part of the Driehaus Business Core, WRD 202 teaches students the conventions of writing in business contexts. Additionally, the percentage of multilingual students who take courses in the Driehaus Business Core is substantial. As a result, a primary goal of the grant is to create

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Recap: Sara Wachter-Boettcher’s Talk on Design for Real Life

DePaul’s Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse hosted a talk on Thursday, May 11th featuring content strategy consultant and coauthor of the book Design for Real Life, Sara Wachter-Boettcher. In her talk, she recounted the many ways our designs can be offputting to users, and how designs can leave some users feeling left out. She also delivered solutions on what we can do to mend and prevent setbacks like this. Many users believe that the term “algorithm” evokes a sort of frigid and unbiased truth that only computers could posses. An algorithm is thought to be born with no natural flaws, unlike

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Recap: Professor Kristin L. Arola’s Talk on Composition and American Indian Rhetorics

On Friday April 21, Dr. Kristin L. Arola from Washington State University visited DePaul to present a talk titled “Slow Composition: American Indian Rhetorics and Mindful Making Practices.” This talk was part of the WRD Department’s Writing and Rhetoric Across Borders Speaker Series. Arola’s described the implementation of a composition theory based on story, what she referred to as “story as methodology.” By using an American Indian lens, Arola discussed our current conceptions of the composing process and opened up new critiques on how to improve. Pointing out the current fast-paced nature of rhetoric in our society, Arola advocated for

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WRD Alumna Sarah Hughes to Start PhD Program in the Fall

Sarah Hughes, a 2012 graduate of the MA in WRD program, was recently accepted into the Joint Program in English and Education at the University of Michigan! Ultimately, Sarah’s goal is to attain a tenure-track faculty position in Composition & Rhetoric. WRD was able to catch up with Sarah and learn more about the PhD program she’ll be starting in Fall 2017 as well as her research plans. Congrats, Sarah! Can you tell us about the Joint Program in English and Education at Michigan and why you chose it? The Joint Program in English & Education is a Composition and Rhetoric

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Kristin Arola to Visit WRD on April 21

On Friday, April 21 from 1 to 2:30pm in the Lincoln Park Campus in McGowan 104, Dr. Kristin L. Arola from Washington State University will be visiting DePaul and taking part in the Writing and Rhetoric Across Borders Speaker Series. Arola will be delivering a talk entitled, “Slow Composition: American Indian Rhetorics and Mindful Making Practices.” Abstract: This presentation explores what writing studies can learn from American Indian epistemologies. By bringing together stories of the crafting and gathering practices of the Anishinaabe peoples of the Upper Great Lakes and the concept of composing as culturing, Arola offers a framework for

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Kyla Patterson: Fulbright Scholar

Kyla Patterson, a 2017 graduate of the BA in Writing, Rhetoric, & Discourse program, recently received the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship! WRD was able to catch up with Kyla and learn about where she will be going and what kind of work she will be doing as a Fulbright Scholar. Beginning this autumn, Kyla will be traveling to Czechia (also known as the Czech Republic in the recent past) to participate in an English Teaching Assistant Program. As the name of the program suggests, Kyla’s main responsibility will be teaching English to elementary-aged children in Czechia for at least twenty hours

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Alumni Spotlight: Michelle Flory

WRD recently caught up with Michelle Flory, a 2015 alumna of the M.A. in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse program and the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Certificate program.  Currently, she works as a full-time developmental communications instructor at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Illinois.  Her research interests include sociolinguistics, first-year writing, and multi-modal literacies.  She is a pet parent to three mischievous bunnies and a cat, a Netflix binge-watcher, and an annual roadtripper. What have you been doing professionally since you earned your MA degree? After earning my M.A., I began teaching developmental writing courses

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WRD 523 at DePaul

Graduate Editing Course Provides MA Students with Organizational Knowledge

Community service is at the core of DePaul’s mission toward Vincentian values and social justice. In the MA WRD program, our courses can contribute to this service through the use of community partnerships in the classroom. In the Winter 2016 quarter, Professor Sarah Read is teaching WRD 523: Editing, and students are working with community organizations, giving back to the greater Chicago community while developing skills in editing, copywriting, and technical communication. Learning the Skills This is the third time that Prof. Read has taught this class at the graduate level, which she says focuses on “the immediate professionalization of

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Recap: Professor Victoria Gallagher’s Talk on the Virtual MLK Project

In a talk sponsored by DePaul’s Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse, on Friday, February 10, Professor Victoria Gallagher of North Carolina State University described a rhetorical digital humanities project that she leads, which focuses on a speech given by the great American orator, Martin Luther King, Jr. This project is framed by an important question: What does it take to transform peoples’ hearts and minds about race? About The Virtual MLK Project Professor Gallagher described the Virtual MLK Project as situated at the intersection of rhetoric, Black history, and digital humanities. It is a project that has drawn faculty

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Justin Staley Ponders the Little League World Series in The Cauldron

WRD instructor Justin Staley’s article “25 Years Ago, I Played In The Little League World Series, Too” was recently published in The Cauldron by Sports Illustrated. In the article, Staley recalls his experiences playing in the Little League World Series championship and reflects on what he’s learned from that memorable summer. We were able to get in touch with Staley and learn more about the article and his reasons for writing it. Want to read Staley’s work? Find it here. Why did you write this piece? Did any recent event or thought trigger a desire to write about yourself and the Little

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