Recent Courses

Introduction to Cultural Rhetorics (Spring 2025)

Level
Graduate Course (Master’s/Doctoral Level)

Course Description
All cultures are rhetorical, and all rhetoric is cultural. Hence, this course makes room for persuasive writing traditions from different cultural communities and contexts—especially your own—by introducing students to the subfield of “cultural rhetorics.” Cultural rhetorics explores how meaning is created and situated within specific community contexts, blending the different styles, languages, and objects people use to communicate. As a newer area of study, cultural rhetorics (est. circa. 2000) has the flexibility to recognize meaning-making practices typically excluded from traditional areas of academic inquiry, such as code-meshing, farming, and quilting. Students in this course can expect to study how diverse cultural communities make meaning before embodying their own traditions and practices in their writing.

Studies in Composition Methodology and Theory (Fall 2025)

Level
Graduate Course (Master’s/Doctoral Level)

Course Description
This class will offer an introduction to the discipline of Rhetoric and Composition in order to provide you with a set of theoretical tools and a vocabulary to explain your teaching. In addition to examining major concepts and theories, we will practice situating your own practices within the context of current discussions and debates within the field of composition. This is a required course for all incoming GTAs and recommended for all MA students pursuing a Rhetoric and Composition focus.

ENC 4930: Multimodal Rhetorics (Spring 2026)

Level
Advanced Undergraduate Writing Course

Course Description
Much of what we read or write today is composed through multiple modes of communication. How often, for example, do we see pictures on Instagram with written captions—captions that use letters and emojis to, say, “☕🌟 show off a brand-new Starbucks drink like it’s the highlight of the semester 📸✨”? And who hasn’t used different fonts or styles when writing their résumé? As people who constantly combine different forms of communication to do things, we need to begin developing an expanded understanding of writing and rhetoric that reflects how we compose in our day-to-day lives.

This class introduces students to multimodal rhetoric: texts and practices that assemble two or more modes of communication to persuade others. Students can expect to compose texts that cross a variety of genres and forms, such as zines, memes, and podcasts.

Studies in Writing and Rhetoric (Fall 2025)

Level
Advanced Undergraduate Writing Course

Course Description
Rhetoric was invented some 2,300 years ago (or thereabouts) by the Ancient Greeks. But here’s the twist: communities all over the world have been practicing rhetoric in some form for as long as people have been making meaning, creating a deep well of different rhetorics. This course will introduce you to contemporary developments in rhetoric and writing studies with a particular emphasis on cultural rhetorics.

By the end of this course, you’ll not only grasp why rhetoric is deeply cultural but also see how culture itself is rhetorical. This course is both conceptual and practical in nature, with students engaging in scholarly discussions about how to study rhetoric before connecting these theories to their writing.

ENC 3213: Professional Writing (Spring 2025)

Level
Advanced Undergraduate Writing Course

Course Description
ENC 3213: Professional Writing will teach students the basics of professional composition, which entails specific formatting requirements and stylistic nuances that vary from academic writing. This course will provide instruction on common types of professional documents, such as emails, formal reports, job application letters, résumés, and web-oriented materials. The course will also include instruction on conducting job searches, completing workplace research, designing appealing documents, and providing constructive peer feedback. Many assignments will have a connection to the student’s chosen career field.

The course will help students hone important professional writing skills, such as critical thinking, proofreading, concision, organization, audience consideration, outlining, and revision. Students will learn to harness their own voices for workplace success. The overall goal of the course is to prepare students to write confidently and competently in a professional setting.