[email protected] speaker series

This fall, the Writing Program instituted a new speaking series: [email protected] This series showcases working writers in a variety of capacities. Our first speaker was Jen Reeder, a freelance writer and the president of the National Dog Writers Foundation. Mindy Sink, our second speaker, discussed her work writing Colorado hiking guidebooks. Keep an eye on our calendar for more speakers in this exciting new series. 

fall faculty accomplishments

Pauline Reid recently published Reading by Design: The Visual Interface of the English Renaissance. The book discusses how the printed book as a medium brought the visual to the forefront while at the same time creating a crisis that questioned the relationship between vision and perception. Congratulations, Polly, for this scholarly achievement!

Congratulations to Libby Catchings, who has a new article coming out in the November/December issue of WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship titled "Consultation Length and Higher Order Concerns: A RAD Study." The article is a research study she conducted with Susan Cross.

Former Service Learning Faculty Member of the Year, Heather Martin received a Grand Challenges Scholars grant last spring to co-create a professional development program for the teachers at Charles Hay Elementary in Englewood. The program is scheduled to roll out this spring, with the support of Englewood Schools and the principal and vice principal at Charles Hay.

David Riche published "Toward a Theory and Pedagogy of Rhetorical Vulnerability" last year in LiCS: Literacy in Composition Study, an open access, peer reviewed journal that Juli Parrish has co-edited for six years. The article argues that instead of only viewing rhetoric through the lens of agency, we should also pay attention to how rhetorical messages are received and cultivate an understanding of rhetorical vulnerability, even when investigating especially agonistic rhetorics. Congratulations, David!

Congratulations are in order for Rob Gilmor and April Chapman, who are researching the DU transfer student community in a six-year longitudinal study. They are researching if WRIT 1133 has some impact on helping transfer students navigate DU, especially connecting them to campus resources and other transfer peers. They are using their research to create WRIT courses specifically aimed at meeting the needs of transfer students and plan to connect other transfer students to a dedicated DU Transfer Student Website. Gilmor and Chapman will be presenting their findings at CCCC's in 2019.

Kamila Kinyon is part of the Laboratory for Ethnographic Collaborations initiative, an initiative headed by Alejandro Ceron from the Department of Anthropology and involving fifteen people from multiple departments across campus who are currently planning a series of potential events—such as colloquia, brown bags, and writing workshops—as well as preparing a CILCA grant application for supporting ethnographic research and writing at DU by: 1) facilitating interactions and collaborations among faculty who do ethnography, 2) offering a space where students interested in ethnography can develop their ideas and skills through mentorship opportunities, and 3) offering students and faculty an "umbrella" for ethnographic research that helps build sustainable collaborations beyond DU.

2018 cccc regional conference

The University of Denver Writing Program was proud to host the 2018 CCCC Regional Summer Conference July 20-21, 2018. Over two hundred people from across the country attended the conference on the University of Denver campus. The program featured 6 workshops led by University of Denver faculty and staff, a Research and Teaching forum, 42 panels, and a keynote speech by Howard Tinberg, Professor of English at Bristol Community College. Howard's keynote can be viewed here. We're grateful for everyone who attended, as well as the planning efforts of NCTE, CCCC, and the DU Writing Program. 

news

Dr. Sarah Hart Micke, who served as the Writing Center Assistant Director for the past three years, has returned to full-time teaching as a Teaching Associate Professor in the Writing Program, including her ongoing work teaching community engaged classes and co-leading the WRIT Engagement Program, which supports undergraduates teaching writing in local elementary schools.

In her time with the Writing Center, Dr. Hart Micke had a signifiant impact on undergraduate and graduate students, staff, and faculty at DU. In addition to working closely with writing center staff, she oversaw our Writing Fellows program; coordinated outreach efforts; facilitated many dozens of workshops, trainings, and events; and worked regularly at our community site at the Gathering Place, a daytime drop-in shelter for women, children, and transgender individuals experiencing poverty and homeless.

Dr. Hart Micke's impact will be lasting, and the Writing Center will continue to feel the benefit of her collaborative and ethical approach to teaching and tutoring writing for a long time to come.

The Writing Program is thrilled to celebrate our students' award-winning writing! All 3 recipients of CCESL's Distinguished Public Good Scholars award for exceptional portfolios are Writing Minor or WRIT Engagement Corps members.

Mackenzie Langley - A 2nd-year writing minor student, Mackenzie received an award for the portfolio she created in Angela Sowa and Sarah Hart Micke's WRIT 2701 "Writing for the Public Good" course.
Mackenzie's Portfolio: https://mackenzielangley.wixsite.com/portfolio

Andi Schlut - A 3rd-year writing minor and double major in political science and socio-legal student, Andi's portfolio emphasizes the theme of "pursuing social justice and equality by mitigating the effects of systematic biases."
Andie's Portfolio: http://portfolio.du.edu/Andi.Schlut/

Cristin Espinoza - A founding WRIT Engagement Corps member and 2018 DU graduate, Cristin will join Teach for America's 2018 Denver Corps.
Cristin's Portfolio: http://portfolio.du.edu/Cristin.Espinoza/

spring faculty accomplishments

Russell Brakefield published the poetry book Field Recordings in March. He also has two forthcoming poems in The Southeast Review and The Literary Review later this spring.

In March, Richard Colby and Jennifer Campbell published "Servers, Cooks, and the Inadequacy of Metaphor" in the edited collection, WPAs in Transition: Navigating Educational Leadership Positions, drawing on how Campbell mentored Colby in becoming the next Assistant Writing Program Director.

While teaching the writing intensive course "Poetry & Pleasure," David Daniels was also a poet-in-residence at Goshen College for two weeks this spring. Additionally, his poem, "Pearl," was published in the spring issue of Rise Up Review.

Heather Martin published the essay "Divorce and Death-by-Crushing" in Argot Magazine this April.

Juli Parrish presented at the Colorado Wyoming Writing Tutors Conference this April with 11 undergraduate and graduate writing consultants. Here is a list of their panels:

Calling Fellow Travelers: Reimagining the Role of the Writing Fellow
Julia Fleming (MA, English)
Patrick Munnelly (MA, Professional Creative Writing)
Kyle Przybylski (MA, Clarinet Performance

Structure without Structure: Non-Institutional Professional Development in the Writing Center
Dennis Sweeney (PhD, English / Poetry)

Beta-Testing: Social Media and the Writing Center
Maggie Sava (Senior, Art History & English)
Sasha Strelitz (PhD, English - Literary Studies)

Writers' Groups and the Risks of Sharing
Zach Johnson (Sophomore, English)

Examining Oregon State University's Writing Across Borders and Kaplan's Theory of Contrastive Rhetoric
Erinrose Mager (PhD, English)

Expectations Met and Missed: Student Expectations of Writing Center Appointments
Madison Hakey (Sophomore, English)
Mikayla Peters (MA, English)

Reimagining Local Contexts: Reciprocity in Writing Center Partnerships
Juli Parrish (Writing Center Director)
Alicia Wright (PhD, English)
Jason Schlueter and Erin Campbell, Arapahoe Community College

Mission

Creating a robust culture of writing on the DU campus, the Writing Program helps students and faculty develop complex writing abilities needed in contemporary academic, professional, and civic life.

The nationally recognized program provides a national model for colleges and universities seeking exemplary practices in teaching writing.