The Department of Rhetoric and Writing sponsors events each year in conjunction with our RHE 306 First-Year Forum text. The current text this year is Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, and this semester, we are hosting James McWilliams, professor of history at Texas State University and author of Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly. Dr. McWilliams will offer a response to Pollan and give an alternative perspective. We hope you will join us for this event, Wednesday, November 4, at 6:00 pm in the Texas Union Ballroom. (Tickets are not required, but seating will be limited.)

The Faculty and Student Teams for Technology (~FAST Tex) program has teamed up with the Digital Writing and Research Lab (DWRL) and Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (DIIA) to develop a new learning tool for rhetoric students.

Rhetorical Peaks is a game inspired by David Lynch's Twin Peaks television series. The game uses several digital mediums, such as Second Life. Students follow a murder mystery narrative but must complete rhetorical exercises, practice argumentation, and sharpen their analytical skills to solve the game.

Read the DIIA announcement and visit the Rhetorical Peaks website to learn more about this project.

Congratulations to Sean McCarthy, recipient of the DIIA Graduate Student Instructor Award. McCarthy has been an instructor for the DRW for four years and is currently teaching RHE 312, Writing for Digital Environments. McCarthy is also an assistant director of the Digital Writing and Research Lab.

Read more about this award.

The Department of Rhetoric and Writing is excited to announce the addition of two faculty members:

Justin Hodgson

Justin Hodgson recently completed his Ph.D. in Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design at Clemson University. His doctoral research explored the connections and intersections of technologies and rhetorics, and did so by performatively and critically (re)engaging rhetorical invention in the space of the medium/message divide (á la Marshal McLuhan). To do this, Hodgson rendered both a traditional print-based dissertation and a version in a multimedia, ebook platform (Sophie2).

Hodgson's research interests range from digital rhetorics to transcontinental philosophy, with touchstones in classical rhetoric, multimedia rhetorics, visual rhetorics, teaching with technology, game theory, space and place rhetorics, audio/video composition, and experience design.

He has a passion for studying digital rhetorics and for teaching with digital technologies and hopes to be a major contributor to the digital rhetoric and/or "Tech Rhet" presence of the department, the college, and the University.

Rasha Diab

Rasha Diab joins the DRW after completing her Ph.D. work in Composition and Rhetoric, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Diab is also an affiliate of the departments of English and Middle Eastern Studies.

Diab's research and teaching interests include history and theory of rhetoric; contrastive/comparative/intercultural rhetoric; revisionary histories of rhetoric; transnational rhetorical analysis; critical discourse analysis; writing and especially second language writing; and writing center pedagogy.

Her current research project focuses on a rhetorical exploration of an indigenous peacemaking practice in the Arab world called sulh and its use in the international arena. Diab's research also extends to an exploration of the potentials and limitations of peaceable pedagogy especially in relation to the teaching of writing and rhetoric.

Diab brings a commitment to the exploration of rhetorics of peace and potential of (inter)cultural rhetoric to promote understanding and efficacious, communicative encounters.

This summer, DRW faculty member Clay Spinuzzi will join collaborators Mark Zachry (University of Washington) and Bill Hart-Davidson (Michigan State University) in leading a two-day workshop for the Rhetoric Society of America Third Biennial Summer Institute. The workshop, entitled "Visualizing Patterns of Group Communication in Digital Workspaces," covers how to "extend the analysis of organizational writing practices to include digital environments."

The CWRL recently hosted Michael Joyce as part of its Speaker Series. Dr. Joyce is currently a professor of English at Vassar College where he teaches hypertext fiction, media studies, modern literature, and theory. The event was held on April 2, 2009, in the Texas Union.