WoRDing It Your Way with Kimberly Coon

This month, we interviewed Kimberly Coon, a 2012 grad of the MA in WRD program.  Kim used her experiences in WRD to land an exciting job in the non-profit sector. What was your academic and professional background prior to entering WRD? What I focused on once I was in the WRD program was a really natural extension of what I’d spent the five or so years prior to WRD doing, which was finding ways to tell the stories non-profits are creating through their cause-based work.

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Liberal Arts and the 21st Century Job Market

Have you ever wondered how the study of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse may be parleyed into a career? Perhaps you’ve questioned how Foucault’s insights will help you navigate the 21st century job market. Maybe you spent four years as a liberal arts undergrad, alternately reading great texts and answering the dreaded “what will you do with that degree?” question. On Tuesday, March 11, DePaul’s school of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences attempted to bridge the worlds of Liberal Arts and Career Preparation with a discussion led by Student Affairs admin Matthew Rust of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

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Chris Thaiss Presents “Writing Programs Worldwide”

On April 16, Dr. Chris Thaiss presented “Writing Programs Worldwide: The Present and Future of the WAC/WID Mapping Project” to WRD students and faculty. In his presentation, Thaiss presented findings from his research on mapping Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) and Writing in the Disciplines (WID) programs across the world. Through his research, Thaiss aimed to determine the prevalence of WAC and WID programs in higher education, reveal trends in these programs, and evaluate how the programs have changed over time.

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News and Updates

News & Updates

WRD students, alumni, and faculty share their recent professional and academic achievements. Students & Alumni Sarah Brown (MA in WRD 2010) presented “The Girl Scout Career Model: Open Badging and Representations of Learning” at CCCC in Indianapolis, Indiana in March. Eric Iberri (MA in WRD 2010) recently began working as a Proposal Editor for SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA. Stephanie Irvine (MA in WRD 2011) quit her full-time marketing job in February to pursue an independent writing career.

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WRD Speaker Series – Dr. Chris Thaiss

The department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse at DePaul University is pleased to welcome Dr. Chris Thaiss as the spring quarter WRD Speaker Series presenter. On Wednesday, April 16th, Dr. Thaiss will give his talk “Writing Programs Worldwide.”   Dr. Chris Thaiss is Clark Kerr Presidential Chair and Professor in the University Writing Program (UWP) of the University of California at Davis. A member of the Language, Literacy, and Culture Graduate Group at UCD, he also serves as Principal Investigator of the Area 3 Writing Project, a site of the National Writing Project.

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News and Updates

Alumni and Faculty News

  WRD alumni and faculty share their recent professional and academic achievements. Alumni Jessica Vician (MA in NMS 2013) and colleague Libby VanWhy (MS in HCI 2014) launched YOUparent.com, a parenting website that provides community support for child success, in December 2013. Laura Collins (MA in NMS 2013) designed the winning logo for the Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation’s new project, Gen Ops Plus.  The project expands grant-making opportunities for Chicago-region art groups. Ana Milena Ribero (MA in WRD 2009) received the Scholars for the Dream Award from the Conference for College Composition and Communication.

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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.

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