Skolnik to Speak on Spirituality and Neuroscience in Jerusalem

Dr. Christine M. Skolnik of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric & Discourse at DePaul University has been invited to speak on a panel about spirituality and neuroscience at the Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Modifiability conference in Jerusalem, June 2-5, 2013, sponsored by the Feuerstein Institute. Dr. Skolnik will speak on a panel titled “Materialism v. Spiritualism on Brain Plasticity” with experts on spirituality and neuroscience from Israel.

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Bernard-Donals Speaks About Jewish Rhetoric

The latest installment of the Writing and Rhetoric Across Borders speaker series brought Dr. Michael Bernard-Donals, professor of English and Jewish Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, to DePaul on April 29, 2013. He spoke to WRD faculty and students on how to carve out a space for Jewish rhetoric by emphasizing the deterritorialized Jewish stance. He explained how this perspective does not seek to speak “for” or “about” others, but instead attempts to create the prospect of dialogue and understanding by speaking from the position of the exile.

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WRD Students Perform High Stakes Research

Performing research in a WRD course takes on a whole new layer of meaning when there are real stakes in the outcome of the research. Students in WRD 530: Workplace Ethnography, taught by Assistant Professor Sarah Read during AQ12, had the opportunity to do qualitative research for stakeholders at Josephinum Academy, a Catholic girl’s high school in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. Read’s course partnered with Josephinum with the assistance of Jean Vipond at DePaul’s Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning.

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WRD Alumnus Wins National Education Reporting Award

Ray Salazar’s education blog, The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher, tied for second place in the Best Blog category of the Education Writers Association (EWA) contest: the 2012 National Awards for Education Reporting. A judge from the contest had this to say about White Rhino: “White Rhino offers an interesting point of view on Latino issues at a moment of their emergence as a political and cultural force. He also has an endearing approach of a crusader, asking hard questions of the union chief and criticizing the mayor.”

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Melanie Yergeau Presents Disability Hactivism

Spread the WoRD’s keynote address will feature DePaul MA in Writing program alumna Melanie Yergeau, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan. Her talk, titled Disability Hactivism, discusses the history of the term “hacking,” positing its problematic relationship to identity construction, particularly concerning disability and transgressive activism. If you haven’t already, click here to RSVP for the conference and talk on Saturday, May 11th.

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WRD Graduate Assistant Featured on Zeega

WRD graduate assistant Amy Hubbard’s project, A Ghostly Rendering, was recently featured on the Zeega blog. Zeega is a web publishing tool designed to enable interactive storytelling. “I know that [Zeega] can create complicated documentaries, but I really think the rhetorical power here is in the simple ability to re-envision narratives. Simply put, I’m really excited about this and am eager to see where this technology goes in the future.” Amy was first introduced to Zeega in an NMS digital storytelling course taught by Assistant Professor Lisa Dush.

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Alumni Spotlight: Brooke Becker

Brooke Becker graduated from the New Media Studies master’s program in 2012. She currently works as an interactive web and marketing designer for SpringCM. We caught up with her recently to ask her some questions about her journey before, during and after her time in the MANMS program.

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Unveiling Occult Chicago

Chicago’s long history with esotericism, occultism, and alternative spirituality allows students to explore the disciplines of anthropology, rhetoric, and sociology, through the diverse belief systems that thrive in the city. WRD Instructor Jason Winslade has incorporated themes of occultism in his Explore Chicago classes since 2000. Winsalde’s course “Unveiling Occult Chicago: Secret Societies, Magicians, and Alternative Spiritualities,” examines how the Chicago occult community has influenced mainstream rhetoric and values, particularly politics and activism.

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Buckvold and Skolnik Receive QM Award

The DePaul Online Teaching Series recently awarded WRD faculty members John Buckvold and Christine Skolnik with the Quality Matters Star Award and Certificate. Buckvold’s WRD 202 and Skolnik’s WRD 204 each received a perfect 95 in the DePaul Internal QM Review. The QM Award recognizes DOTS-developed online and hybrid courses that meet course design standards of usability and quality.

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