Event Recap: Ecological Rhetorics in vivo/in situ: Precarity Infrastructure Across Borders with Dr. Jennifer Clary-Lemon

On Wednesday, October 5, the DePaul WRD community was joined by WRD alumna Dr. Jennifer Clary-Lemon, who restarted the in-person Writing and Rhetoric Across Borders Speaker Series! Her presentation, “Ecological Rhetorics in vivo/in situ: Precarity Infrastructure Across Borders.” examined both “human and nonhuman elements of the rhetorical situation . . . in vivo/in situ,” that is, “in living bodies and on site.” Clary-Lemon, rhetorician and associate professor at the University of Waterloo, shared her examination of “precarity infrastructure”—measures that act as mitigation for human harms against the environment, often without success. In her presentation, Clary-Lemon discussed her field research on

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Welcoming the New MAWRD Cohort

This quarter, WRD welcomed several new MA students from a range of academic and professional backgrounds. Here, each new student shares what they hope to learn and accomplish during their time in the program. Nan Denette is another first-year MAWRD student as well as a graduate assistant for DePaul’s Writing Center. She holds an MA in Religion, Literature & Visual Culture from the University of Chicago as well as a BA in Religious Studies and English Literature from the College of Wooster. Previously, she worked in writing centers and in nonprofit communications. While at DePaul, Nan is working toward teaching

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Q&A with WRD’s New Chair Julie Bokser

The WRD department has a new chair. Professor Julie Bokser has been part of the program since its inception in 2007 when the department went its separate ways from the English department. Even prior to that she has called DePaul her academic home since the fall of 2000.  We wanted to take some time to chat with Prof. Bokser about her hopes for this new position, her time in the WRD program, and how it differs from her scholarly pursuits.  Why don’t we just start with who is Julie Bokser in relation to the WRD program? I’ve been here since

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Job Sleuth: Grant & Proposal Writing

When students decide to pursue a career in professional writing, grant writing might not immediately come to mind. However, knowing how to write grants and proposals is an important work skill even if you have no intention of pursuing that industry. That’s why Professor Lisa Dush’s WRD 526 Grant and Proposal Writing class for graduate students is popular year after year. Students from other departments flock to it too–not just the WRD folks.  So we asked Professor Dush to tell us a bit more about her class and how the skills you learn in WRD 526 can help prepare you

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Event Preview: Ecological Rhetorics  in vivo/in situ: Precarity Infrastructure Across Borders with Dr. Jennifer Clary-Lemon

The WRD Writing & Rhetoric Across Borders Series is back in person! On Wednesday, October 5 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in McGowan South 105, gather together with Dr. Jennifer Clary-Lemon to learn about how built objects affect the things around them. If you have ever gotten into a serious debate about what is and is not considered rhetoric–this talk is for you! As always, the event is free to attend!  Dr. Clary-Lemon is an associate professor at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. She has a BA in Political Science from the University of Arizona, an MA in

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Six Books to Keep the Summer Interesting

Being that we are nearly at the end of the Spring Quarter, thinking about reading for fun might not be high on the priority list. But we are just a few short weeks away from summer break which opens up some time for reading what we want to read. Luckily we have some recommendations courtesy of the WRD graduate assistants as well as from experts on social media.  Don’t worry, these aren’t all high-level academic works. These recommendations will, however, keep your summer interesting and your mind curious.  For Fun: The Secret History – Recommended by GA Kristin Fleming Written

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Course Spotlight: WRD 287 The Comic Book As Visual Argument

There has long been an argument about whether or not graphic novels or comic books should be considered literature. Regardless of which side of the argument you may be on, it is a fascinating conversation to be sure. Professor Alan Ackmann is taking on an adjacent discourse in the upcoming course WRD 287 – The Comic Book as Visual Argument. This class will dig into the rhetorical nature of comics and explore the ways in which they add to conversations. Read on to learn more about this class and, perhaps, even get some reading recommendations if you cannot take this

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Alumni Spotlight: Krissy Wilson

We caught up with yet another WRD alumna who took a more teaching oriented career path. Krissy Wilson (class of 2018) is an Instructional/Learning Designer at Northwestern as well as an adjunct here at DePaul, and we checked in with her to see what her day-to-day is like, and how WRD helped prepare her.  What about this job drew you in? Did you know a career like this was an option? After I completed an MFA in Writing at the School of the Art Institute in 2014, I ended up applying to DePaul’s MA in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse, looking

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Alumni Spotlight: Rachel Landgraf

After graduation, life moves pretty fast–and sometimes in directions you never expected. At least, that’s the case for alumna Rachel Landgraf who graduated with her Master’s degree in New Media Studies in 2017. For the last three and a half years, she has been working for United Airlines. We had the chance to catch up with her recently to see what she’s been up to, where her academic work has taken her and to see if she had any advice to share.  What do you do for a living? Is it what you believed you’d be doing after grad school?

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