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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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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Word Art of Jobs

MA in WRD Job Listings: January 18, 2017

Looking for job opportunities in and around Chicago? Students in the MA in WRD and MA in NMS programs may be interested in the weekly listings below (click a link to jump to the category): Teaching Writing Jobs, Entry Level Professional & Digital Writing Jobs, Entry Level Professional & Digital  Writing Jobs, Advanced Teaching Writing Jobs – Entry level ESL Instructor Howard Area Community Center “We are seeking one instructor for a morning multi-level ESL course (Beginning Literacy to High Beginning.) Instructors should have experience teaching in adult education and/or working a social service agency with diverse populations.” Citizenship Instructor Erie

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Word Art of Jobs

MA in WRD Weekly Job Listings: November 1, 2016

Looking for job opportunities in and around Chicago? Students in the MA in WRD and MA in NMS programs may be interested in the weekly listings below (click a link to jump to the category): Professional & Digital Writing Jobs, Entry Level Professional & Digital  Writing Jobs, Advanced Professional & Digital Writing Jobs, Part-Time Teaching Writing Jobs, Part-Time Professional & Digital Writing Jobs, Entry Level Communications Associate Les Turner ALS Foundation “The Communications Associate is responsible for many of the day-to-day communications activities of the Les Turner ALS Foundation. The associate will work to ensure consistent, timely and effective communications

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Students from NMS and 510 with their nonprofit partners

MA Students Partner with Local Nonprofits

This post was written by Meaghan Young-Stephens, a graduate assistant to the WRD program who was enrolled in Writing Digital Content. If you’re like me and spend a lot of time on Chicago trains and buses, you’ve probably seen DePaul’s marketing promise, “The city is your campus.” Of the classes I have taken so far, NMS 510 is the one where the slogan rings most true. NMS 510 “Writing Digital Content” (or WRD 525 for those of us in the Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse program) is structured around a service-learning component that sets it apart. Early in the quarter, each student

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News and Updates

WoRDing It Your Way with Kevin Lyons and Bridget Wagner

We recently spoke with Kevin Lyon and Bridget Wagner, both alumni of the MA in WRD program who now work in Faculty Instructional Technology Services (or “FITS”) at DePaul. Kevin and Bridget are two of several MA in WRD alum who are now putting their degrees into practice at FITS! FITS isn’t the only DePaul experience Kevin and Bridget share: Both worked as peer tutors in the University Center for Writing-based Learning (UCWbL) and currently teach classes in DePaul’s First-Year Writing program. In FITS, Kevin works as an Instructional Technology Consultant to the College of Computing and Digital Media and College of Communication, and Bridget

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Canavor Workshop Brings Together Professional Writing Faculty

This is a first-person account written by one of the MA in WRD graduate assistants, Allison Pelletier.  On March 4, DePaul faculty members who teach professional, business, and technical writing for WRD attended an on-campus workshop, hosted by WRD and led by Natalie Canavor, author of Business Writing Today: A Practical Guide. As a graduate student in WRD, I am both excited by and intimidated by the prospect of teaching at the college level. I am equally enthusiastic about any opportunities that will help prepare me to teach. So although I’ve had little experience with professional writing, I was glad

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WRD Student Spotlight: Maddy Johnson

WRD recently caught up with Maddy Johnson, a current student in the BA/MA in WRD program. She started working at Zacks Investment Research as an intern and is now a full-time content curator/stock news reporter. Her main work duties include covering the trendiest or high-profile financial news stories of the day as well as creating informational reports that range from upcoming IPOs to the current oil crisis. She also manages the intern team at Zacks, editing and revising their work throughout the day. In this article, Maddy shares more about her current position and how WRD has impacted her career.

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WRD Alumni Spotlight: Tim McElroy

This week, the WRD Alumni Spotlight features Tim McElroy, a 2015 graduate of the BA in WRD program. He currently works as a writer for a digital marketing firm in Chicago, Illinois. What have you been doing professionally since you earned your degree? I’ve been working at a digital marketing firm in Fulton Market, located in the West Loop. As a writer in this setting, I’ve been working a wide range of various jobs within my company . PR, press releases, ghostwriting, copywriting, editing – the list goes on and on.

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