Rhetoric and Composition @ WSU

The second Rhetoric Reading Group Meeting of the semester will take place at 3:30 PM, April 17. The location will be The Motor City Brewing Works (470 W. Canfield Street). Our text will be Daniel M. Gross’ The Secret History of Emotion: From Aristotle to Modern Brain Science (University of Chicago Press, 2007).

Professor (and Director of Composition) Ellen Barton has been named co-winner of the 2009 Nell Ann Pickett Award. The award is given annually to recognize the best article published in the previous year’s issues of Technical Communication Quarterly. Professor Barton shares the award with Barbara Mirel and Mary Ackerman, co-authors of their article “Researching Telemedicine: Capturing Complex Clinical Interactions with a Simple Interface Design.” The essay originally appeared in TCQ 17.3 (2008): 358-378. Professor Barton will be formally presented with the award at a banquet following the conclusion of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing Conference on March 11 in San Francisco, CA.

PhD candidate Hilary Ward will represent the WSU rhet/comp program at the 2009 Conference of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing.  She will present a talk on March 11 as part of the panel “Codes, Links, Extensions & the Politics of Information Management.”

As part of the DeRoy Lecture Series, Eugene Thacker will give a talk entitled “After Life” on Friday, March 6, at 3 PM, in the English Department Seminar Room (10302, 5057 Woodward). Eugene Thacker is the author of Biomedia (University of Minnesota, 2004), The Global Genome: Biotechnology, Politics, and Culture (MIT, 2005) and co-author with Alexander Galloway of The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (University of Minnesota, 2007). He co-edits the book series “Anonymous Theory,” and has previously collaborated with RSG (Radical Software Group), Biotech Hobbyist, and Fakeshop. Thacker is Associate Professor in the School of Literature, Communication, & Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Wayne State’s Rhetoric/Composition program will be well-represented at the 2009 Conference on College Composition and Communication:

• On March 11 PhD candidate Cara Kozma will present a talk entitled “Thinking Globally, Writing  Locally” as part of the Developing Long-Term, Reciprocal Relationships with Community Partners workshop.
• On March 12 PhD candidate Michael McGinnis will present a talk entitled “1969: Re-opening Corbett’s Fist: CCC and Social Change in the Sixties” as part of the Choragraphies of Composition: Revisiting Five Key Moments in the 60 Year History of CCCC panel.
• On March 12 soon-to-be-graduate Linda Learman will present a talk entitled “Instrumentalism in the Composition Classroom” as part of the panel Research in FYC: Reading, Reflection, Resistance and the Postcolonial.
• On March 13 PhD candidate Clay Walker will present a talk entitled “The Ethics of Affect” as part of the panel  Shades of Grey: Affect, Aesthetics, and Subversion in Composition.
• On March 13 PhD candidate Jared Grogan will present a talk entitled “Entangled Writing: Refracting Hope and Science in Eco-Composition” as part of the panel Eco-Composition as a Tool in the Writing Classroom.
• On March 13 PhD candidate Jill Morris will present a talk entitled “Online Immersion: Circulating Knowledge, Serving Communities” as part of the panel  Making (New Media) Waves: Challenging the Circulation Limitations of Community Media through Delivery Technologies.
• On March 14 PhD candidate Mary Karcher will present a talk entitled “Remembering the Waves and Capturing the Ripples: Sirc, Snakes, and the Use of Viral Media in the Composition Classroom” as part of the Digital Mobility, Viral Media, and Creative EMs panel.
• On March 14 Professor Gwen Gorzelsky will present a talk entitled “An Experiential Approach to Literacy Studies” as part of the Qualitative Research Methods: Ethnography and Beyond panel.
• On March 14 Professor (and Director of Composition) Ellen Barton will be formally presented with the 2009 Braddock Award as part of the Awards/Recognition Ceremony.

UPDATE: several grad student presenters will be holding a 4 C’s “dress rehearsal” from 11:30 - 2 PM in the 10th Floor Conference room. Join us for a sneak preview of these presentations and to provide helpful feedback to participants.

Professor (and Director of Composition) Ellen Barton has been named the 2009 winner of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Braddock Award for her article “Further Contributions from the Ethical Turn in Composition/Rhetoric: Analyzing Ethics in Interaction.” The article appeared in issue 59.4 of College Composition and Communication in June 2008. The award will be presented to Ellen at the CCCC annual convention in San Francisco on Friday, March 13 as part of the Awards/Recognition Reception.