last modified:2009-09-08 13:24:52
Graduate Students
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Graduate Students
Graduate Concentration in Rhetoric and Composition
The University of Utah Writing Program was one of the first autonomous writing programs in the United States. We offer interdisciplinary M.A. and Ph.D. degrees with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition through three affiliated departments: English, Communication and Education, Culture and Society. The program is unique. Students take core rhetoric and composition courses taught by Writing Program faculty members, while they individualize their programs of study through their home department.
The program prepares students in the history and theory of rhetoric, composition theory and pedagogies, and research about writing and texts. Our approach is both historical and cultural. Areas of concentration that students can pursue through the departments include American studies; argumentation; critical rhetorical studies; educational historical studies; environmental rhetoric; gender studies; literature and theory; multicultural/multilingual literacies; new media and technology; organizational communication; race studies; social justice; whiteness studies.
Our graduates' dissertations have addressed innovative first-year composition curricula, the history and theory of the concept of error, the role of texts in organizational change, differences in writing for educational and personal uses, writing and collaboration among members of a successful scientific team, and resistance and compliance in a Japanese internment literary magazine.
Our graduates share a thorough background in rhetoric and composition, coupled with strongly developed habits of inquiry. Students routinely work closely with faculty to develop individualized research skills. Alumni have held positions at Clarkson University, Michigan State University, North Carolina State University, San Diego State University, Texas State University- San Marcos, University of California-San Diego, University of Oregon, University of San Francisco, University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire and Utah State University, and other prominent universities.
Opportunities
Graduate students have many opportunities to enhance their course work. They receive fellowships for support as they teach Writing Program courses, support cross-curricular outreach on campus, participate in community outreach in a local high school that serves under-represented populations, or tutor in the University Writing Center.
Core Faculty and Scholarly Interests
Jay Jordan ESL Composition, World Englishes/English as an International Language, Intercultural Rhetorics, Applied Linguistics, Technical Writing, Writing and Technologies
Thomas N. Huckin Discourse Analysis; Genre Theory; Technical Writing; Applied Linguistics
Maureen Mathison Rhetoric in the Disciplines; Disciplinary Writing and Literacies; Gender and Disciplinary Discourses; First-Year Composition as Academic Socialization; Research Methods
Susan Miller History of Rhetoric, Composition Theory, Pedagogy, Cultural Studies; Eighteenth-Century British Literature; Writing Program Administration
Natalie Stillman-Webb Scientific Writing; Technical or Business Writing; Writing for Multimedia; American Literature