PhD Program in Composition & Rhetoric

News and Announcements

Madison Area Writing Center Colloquium

"(Some of) What a Writing Center Director Needs to Know"

Monday, November 16, 2009, 5:30-7:00 PM
Room 6176 Helen C. White Hall

Informal Presentations by and Discussion with . . .

Melissa Tedrowe, UW-Madison
Nancy Linh Karls, UW-Madison
Angela Woodward, Edgewood College
Brad Hughes, UW-Madison

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Comp/Rhet Colloquium

"Doing Research in Composition and Rhetoric"

Friday, November 6, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Helen C. White 7191

Speakers Michael Bernard-Donals, Annette Vee, Tim Laquintano, and Christopher Syrnyk will discuss their views on "doing research" in composition and rhetoric, exploring such issues as the research process, navigating myriad methodologies, and fitting one's research goals/hopes into this interdisciplinary field.

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Comp/Rhet Colloquium

Professor Debra Hawhee of Penn State University, author of Moving Bodies: Kenneth Burke at the Edges of Language, will be speaking at two events next week — discussing the role of animals in the history of rhetoric and her current research on Kenneth Burke.

Monday, October 19th, 12 - 1 PM, 7191 HCW, Brown Bag discussion

Tuesday, October 20th, 7 - 8:30 PM, 6191 HCW, "Bestial Rhetoric: Kenneth Burke and the Animal Question"

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Comp/Rhet reading group

This coming Friday, October 16, the Comp/Rhet reading group will be discussing Debrah Hawhee's work in anticipation of her visit at the Comp/Rhet Colloquium next Tuesday, October 20th.

We will be meeting in the Open Book Cafe in College Library. Please feel free to come even if you haven't had time to read both/either/the whole article(s).

Contact David and Michael for more information.

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Celebrate the Writing Center's 40th birthday

Friday, October 9, 2009, from 3:00 to 5:00 PM
6191 Helen C. White Hall

There will be a short program at 4:00 PM.

As you may know, the University has one of the oldest and most comprehensive writing centers in the country, supporting some 7000 undergraduate and graduate student-writers each year, and partnering with faculty in every school and college across campus. We also have one of the largest and most established undergraduate peer-mentoring programs on campus (our undergraduate writing fellows program) and a Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program to support faculty, instructional staff, and teaching assistants across campus.

During our open house, you'll have a chance to sample many dimensions of the Writing Center's work on campus and beyond. Among the highlights: a video of a writing center consultation with a student-writer; demonstrations of our podcasts and of our synchronous online consultations; posters illustrating various of our Writing Center programs; photos from the writing center over the decades; students and faculty and administrators from across campus; a short program, which will start at 4:00; cake and other treats; plus all of us who are on the Writing Center team, eager to see you and to chat. We really hope that YOU can join us!

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New Writing Center Podcast

The Writing Center has a brand-new podcast that every Writing Center instructor should know, one that you'll want to recommend to many students you'll work with this month. It's an interview with Albert Muniz, the director of undergraduate admissions for the UW School of Business. As many of you know, UW undergraduates who want to major in business have to apply for admission specifically to the business school, during their first- or second year as undergrads. As part of the application, they have to write four short application essays. And guess whose advice they often seek? The next application deadline is November 1st, so you'll be especially popular later this month.

In this podcast, the director of undergrad admissions for the Wisconsin school of business offers advice to students about the essays, advice that can be very useful not only to students but to their conscientious Writing Center instructors. So when you have a chance within the next couple of weeks, please take a listen, and please, please recommend this to students.

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Please join us for the first Madison Area Writing Center Colloquium of this academic year, which promises to be a very special event--

"A Conversation with Michele Eodice"

A Videoconference with . . .
Michele Eodice, Director of Learning, Teaching, and Writing at the University of Oklahoma
President of the International Writing Centers Association
Co-author of The Everyday Writing Center

Monday, October 5, 2009, 5:30-7:00 PM
Room 315
The Pyle Center
702 Langdon St.
UW-Madison

In this colloquium, you'll have a chance to chat informally with and ask questions of Michele Eodice, one of the leading thinkers in writing center studies. Michele is joining the Madison Area Writing Center Colloquium as part of our celebration of the UW-Madison Writing Center's 40th birthday.

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First Comp/Rhet Colloquium panel of the year, "New Directions in the Field"

Friday, September 25th, 3-4:30pm, Helen C. White 7191

Speakers Morris Young, Maria Bibbs, Scot Barnett, and Kate Vieira will discuss their views on where Composition and Rhetoric is headed, what is or isn't changing, and what's new and different in research, teaching, or service.

See you there.

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New Writing Center Podcast

A new three-part podcast has just been published on the Writing Center's website. It's an interview with Michele Eodice from the University of Oklahoma, who's one of the co-authors of The Everyday Writing Center (2007), and the current president of the International Writing Centers Association.

Michelle will be the guest speaker (by videoconference) for the first Madison Area Writing Center colloquium of this academic year, on Monday, October 5, 2009, 5:30-7:00 PM CST, as part of the Writing Center's 40th birthday celebration.

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Writing Center Blog Launched

This fall sees the launch of Another Word, the Writing Center's new blog. The staff plans to deliver not only new content such as podcasts and writing tips but also give the writing center community, students, and city of Madison community members a space to talk (write) about writing.

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UW-Madison's First HASTAC Scholar

Rik Hunter is serving as a Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC) Scholar during 2009-2010. HASTAC is a consortium of humanists, artists, social scientists, scientists, and engineers committed to new forms of collaboration across communities and disciplines fostered by creative uses of technology.

Contact Rik if you are interested in the HASTAC Scholars Program.

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The 2009 Joyce M. Melville Award

Congratulations to Tim Laquintano, who is this year's winner of the Joyce M. Melville Award for his outstanding essay, "Sustained Authorship: Ebooks, Value, and Participatory Culture."

Tim will receive the award at the departmental welcome reception on Aug. 31.

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Kairos Award Winners Announced

Congratulations to Rik Hunter and Annette Vee, who were both presented with national awards at the 2009 Computer & Writing Conference at UC-Davis this May!

With only three awards available to graduate students and adjuncts, Rik won the Service Award, while Annette won the Teaching Award.

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May 2008-2009 faculty-authored prelim questions

They will remain in effect through August 2011.

1) How can rhetoric and composition be understood as a material practice?
2) How is writing gendered?

You can find previous prelims questions here.

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