heja0805
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Posts posted by heja0805
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I know firsthand about the "pedagogy" WPAs value, which has actively crippled me in teaching many first-year students in many writing classes. And yes, I think many other humanities/social science disciplines are qualified to teach writing, and I think they probably should. That is often the way it works at the nation's best schools. I rather have an accomplished historian teach me how to write than one of your "compositionalists" with their "best practices." WPAs frequently impose pedagogy and curriculum; they don't just lead discussions. By making qualified scholars conform to their "best practices," they deprive students of the diverse teaching practices that should be present in the college classroom at the discretion of the instructor leading it. I know- I am a troll for calling into question your disciplinary practices on a thread concerned with them. This is exactly the kind of "helpful" officiousness that troubles me about rhet/comp in general. I have no problem with collegial sharing and governance, but as I keep pointing out, that isn't how the WPA system works. Anyways, I leave it to the OP if he wants to join your ranks. I certainly would not.
It's a lot easier to intellectually colonize (i.e., lecture) students than to provide thoughtful, scaffolded, and interactive learning experiences for them. The best practices you describe are based on research--and according to research, class discussion does not lead to student comprehension or learning (unless it is scaffolded and integrated with activities and learning experiences). As a rhet/comp (but really more tech comm) person, I strongly believe that students in writing classes ought to actually learn something. It's true--some of the best writing teachers I've had (and observed at my institution) are lit people, but they were the same folks who were deeply invested in making their classrooms interactive and engaging spaces, scaffolded, informed by these best practices, and truly designed for students to learn.
The histories and politics of our disciplines are complex, and while we won't agree on everything, I think we can at least agree that writing pedagogy ought to be dedicated to students.
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Yes! A week or so ago, I ranked programs (in my field) by how many of their PhDs they placed in other PhD programs in my field. But that's not enough: I should have noted how many recent graduates (say, from 2010 onward) are at other PhD programs.
Yup. I know the risks. No use thinking toxic thoughts.
Would you be interested in sharing your rankings on GC? If not, I'd love to see them via a PM.
I think it's very important and useful information!
One thing though--is there a reason you chose 2010 as a factor in your rankings? Very few...I mean very few new PhDs in rhet comp get jobs as graduate faculty in PhD-granting departments the first time they're on the job market. Many take jobs at teaching-focused institutions before going on the market again (usually prior to tenure) and making the jump to an R1--and this can take a few years. There are great candidates with recent PhDs that get jobs at R1s off the bat, too...it's just uncommon.
Also, remember that teaching at an R1 isn't always the optimal situation for everyone. Working in that kind of setting requires a certain kind of lifestyle that I'm not sure if I'd want to be part of for my entire career, but for some it's a great situation.
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Thanks for posting this, joncgoodwin! I look forward to seeing your charts on sub-fields within English departments, too.
If you do that --and as I'm certain you're already aware-- just keep in mind that writing departments are an emerging trend and exclusively hire het/comp scholars. As an added factor, these writing departments offer, to many, some of the most desirable working contexts for job seekers in rhet comp. Your data might not represent the rhet/comp community as a whole if you don't take writing departments into account, but then again, that might merit a study on its own.
Likewise, there are of course departments dedicated solely to linguistics, applied linguistics, and second language studies. I don't know as much about these areas, but I'm willing to bet that top scholars want to be part of these departments, too.
ANYWAY, this is interesting and important, and thank you for posting it here.
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Waitlists = the worst. I was waitlisted by every program I applied to last year except for one, which accepted me more than two months before I had heard anything from the other programs. I've since been told that this was strange, and it sounds like you're going through a similar experience. I spent that time wondering about my applications, and once I was waitlisted, I had mixed feelings because those were the programs I really wanted to be at...
but there's something that can be said about a program that accepts you outright. It indicates that they truly want you there, you're a great fit, and your interests and experience bode well with (and compliment) the other students who were sent acceptances. it shows that they not only want you in their program, but that you have potential to shape their program and they want to learn from you, too. Some programs are very strategic about selecting cohorts in this way, something I didn't realize when I was applying last year. I acknowledge that some programs might not do this, however, yet it's something that I think you should really consider.
Things tend to shake out a bit after CCCC's. It's a busy time of the year, so committees usually just can't find the time to make decisions before C's, and it becomes kind of a milestone marker for the spring semester. You can probably expect to hear more a week or two after C's. There are some programs that meet with recruits informally there, and others commit to programs just prior to C's so that they can network and celebrate with new their programs who hold parties and get-togethers (this is exactly what I did last year).
Also, mmmscience: I'm totally not prepared for my presentation! My presentation last year was kind of disastrous, so I'll be putting a lot more time into preparing for it this time. There was a thread going on the WPA listserv about "tips for new presenters or attendees to the 4Cs conference." I propose to this thread that we create a new conversation:
"How do we move past the stress, professional posturing, the anxieties, and the crap of this conference, hack it, use it for our own uses and purposes, and find something meaningful out of the experience?"
As added crap, the Bedford Party has refused to move back the start time of their annual shindig (6:00-8:00 p.m.), so attendees participating in the annual special interest group (SIG) meetings (these are groups that represent diverse and oppressed voices in our field) will be denied entrance if they show up late (these groups finish at 7:30 p.m.). The scholars for the dream awards are being handed out at this time as well. This might be coincidental, but in any case, I refuse to support a for-profit textbook publisher that benefits from my patronage. So, if you can bear refusing free drinks for two hours --which really isn't a full two hours, based on my experience last year -- then do yourself and everyone in your discipline a favor. Support open access and open-education resources while you're at it.
Rant over.
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I'm not really a DH person, but like ProfLorax, technology is pretty essential to my research and I sometimes find myself participating in DH conversations & reading texts from that area. There's a well-known DH research center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and many more of them listed here: http://www.hastac.org/content/listing-digital-humanities-centers-and-institutes
Matrix at Michigan State is very active. In recent years, they've done a lot of work in West Africa and African heritage. They have a great graduate student fellowship program in Cultural Heritage Informatics that a couple of my peers have participated in. It sounds like a great learning experience with lots of lectures and workshops built in.
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What is an acceptable amount of time to wait before inquiring about funding? It's been 14 days since I received the email to sit tight.
I know that patience is virtuous and next to godliness, however, I would like to know if I should start applying to jobs so I can have gainful employment come graduation. I suppose I should mention the fire is that I'm a dog groomer and I've been bitten twice in 2 weeks (a problem I've never experienced before in the 10 years I've been grooming...) and I guess I'm in a hurry to know if I can quit and sit on my savings til May/June or should I plan to continue grooming until I move to NC.
Eeek! I'm really sorry to hear that. I moved to Michigan last year from Minnesota to do my PhD, and it cost me substantially more than I expected. Of course, this depends on how much you save and your spending habits, but I truly should have worked all the way up to the point when I made the move.
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So I just read the crazy-intense debate happening in "reputation" thread, and it made me really happy to be rhet/comp. Yay for interdisciplinary research with broad applications. Correct me if I'm wrong, but are there any Ivy-type schools that even offer degrees in rhetoric/composition/professional writing? I'm sure the market is fiercely competitive, and prestige still a factor, but at least our field seems to lend itself to a greater diversity of opportunities post-grad.
And I'm with y'all! We switched around bringing food to my last seminar class too...baked goods always make discussing Burke better:)
I think Carnegie Mellon and RPI are the only major programs at private universities (and both are great programs). My personal theory is that entrenched lit faculty at the Ivies (and elsewhere) stifled the chance of R/C programs at their schools.
Syracuse, TCU, Case Western Reserve, and Illinois Institute of Technology (though IIT is tech comm) are the only other private universities I know of that offer PhD programs. University of Denver has a new one, but I don't know much about it.
Also, weekly potlucks in my rhetoric theory and history class made it 1000x more enjoyable!
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Congrats to all the new PhD admits!
I know it's small stuff compared to most of your crazy awesome schools, but I was just accepted to Iowa State and Purdue's MA programs with teaching assistantships...eek!
Woot woot! congrats! both programs are pretty dope.
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I've never heard of a PhD program in rhetoric & technical communication that didn't provide a full funding package. You have until April 15th to review their funding offer and make your decision, so you'll just have to wait this one out.
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I'm a non-trad and basically came back to school for the degree/PW stuff. I wound up helping to host a conference, meeting a bunch of awesome r/c (well, mostly TC/CW) folks, and decided that was the place for me. Honestly, the time between learning that the field existed and applying to grad school was probably <3 months.
I'm just going to believe that you sent us all a heart <3
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Okay, I found a couple 2014 success stories. And you're right, CarolineKS, no more bashing my undergraduate institution. It won't happen again.
Instead of reading about how non-Ivy graduates never get jobs, I found Dr. Leah Schwebel, an assistant professor at Texas State University.She's a Chaucer scholar, and her MA is from McGill University. Her PhD is from the University of Connecticut.
I also found Dr. Rachael Zeleny, who's the Writing Program Director and Assistant Professor of English and Communication at Alvernia University! She earned an MA from James Madison University, and her doctorate is from the University of Delaware.
And then Dr. Jordan Youngblood at Eastern Connecticut State University, who's interested digital rhetoric. Dr. Youngblood's MA is from the University of Mississippi, and the PhD is from the University of Florida.
These people's names are all public knowledge, and I found them from rapid-fire searching state university websites. Congratulations to them for coming from state schools and having TT jobs!
I'm not sure what to think about this. No Ivy League institutions offer doctoral degrees in my discipline (writing studies). While a small handful of private institutions offer PhD programs in rhetoric, composition, or technical communication, many more of them are public, land-grant institutions. And while the job market isn't awesome, it's more favorable than other disciplines in the humanities. Graduates secure TT positions in both public and private institutions across the country, every year; placement rates are usually at least 90%, with the best programs coming in around 100%. Of course, securing *any* TT job in the humanities is becoming a feat, but I guess I'm just resistant to referring to any rhet/comp or writing studies TT faculty member as a success story--that narrative just doesn't match up with our context.
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So, obviously a throwaway account because I know faculty and current students lurk around here. I'm not intending this to be a thread to dump maliciously on schools or anything, rather I would like to talk frankly about different schools' reputation/rank in theory vs. the real world.
One of the schools I've been accepted to traditionally ranks somewhat low (hovering near the bottom of the Top 50 of US News) but in the Chronicle rankings list I saw posted in another thread around here, surprisingly is pretty high up, especially compared to regional schools that are better regarded.
I'm wondering how people feel about schools like that: if it has a low rank/reputation to a wider/uninformed audience (ie. US news seems to represent a broad, general public type of consensus to me) but has a decent rep within the specific field of English (Chronicle), is it worth attending? I'm worried that even though it's somewhat well regarded, the name won't carry much currency if I go national or even international after graduating.
As you can tell, I'm pretty mixed up in my feelings about this. Any input is welcome!
Hello Gradgrad, welcome to grad cafe! I can relate to your feelings about whether or not to be anonymous and the ramifications of that choice.
It's difficult to address your question because I have no idea what you study. What is your field and area of interests?
Like many folks have reacted, the English rankings from the US News are irrelevant to most people who identify with rhetoric and composition, writing studies, or technical communication. They are somewhat relevant, though, because so many of these folks work in English departments and contribute to the data that drives the US News rankings. Departments of writing are of course not included on this list at all, however.
I'm a glutton for statistics and always have, but at the same time, most people in my discipline are resistant to rankings (I usually choose to identify myself with writing studies). I'm possibly one of the few people who would find value in rankings of departments in my discipline. Researchers in writing studies and technical communication are incredibly active, and there's data that can be studied used for all sorts of purposes as a result of a ranking of research output. For instance, departments could use data on research output when seeking funding from their institutions. Applicants could obviously use it, as could job seekers.
To THE and QS World Rankings, those rankings are solely based on research output in the sciences and social sciences. Again, they might seem irrelevant for those of us in the humanities, but these numbers help provide a sense for the institutional culture. If you're hoping to do cross-or interdisciplinary work, these rankings can also help provide a sense for the quality and abundance of resources and people you can utilize for this work.
The scene for most graduate programs in the humanities is just very different from my discipline. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that writing studies programs are almost exclusively housed in land-grant institutions and also universities that began as normal schools. Graduates from programs that are housed in "low-ranked institutions" by US News standards routinely get jobs at fantastic universities ranking higher. There are so many reasons for this that I don't have time to reflect on at the moment, but the strength and quality of the graduate program itself is a huge factor, as is the kind of scholar that certain programs tends to produce, their dissertation advisor, their emphasis on teaching vs research, how they present themselves when on the job market, etc.
This is a complex question, and none of what I've written is really all that helpful. What's important to remember is that your discipline, your values, and the context of research and teaching are things that I'd like to know more about before saying "don't go to the lower-ranked school" or something like that.
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Longtime lurker posting here. Was recently accepted into PhD (RSTC) program at Minnesota; accepted into PhD English (Rhet/Comp) program at Purdue today. Waiting to hear back from six more programs. Will I be seeing anyone from here at the Minnesota visit day at the end of the month?
congrats!!!
sending all the celebratory pizza in your direction.
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Pro/Heja, I'm determined to get a group together for drag queen bingo at some point. Otherwise, I'm determined to get as much face time with PhD program DGSs as I can. I've built my entire presentation schedule around that.
My only recommendation is that you start building your schedule around drag queen bingo. Plz keep me updated on this.
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Thanks, heja! I expect to slum it on the beach for at least several hours a day as well. Can't wait!
BTW, my name is Ruth, so if you see me at CCCC, please say hi! I love meeting GradCafers offline. (Word of warning, though: I don't actually look like the Lorax.)
Splendid! I'm fairly positive that I saw your presentation at cwcon last year in Pullman. Small world.
I'll absolutely say hello!
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I'll be there! This year's CCCC will be my first CCCC and my first conference with my daughter. I'm actually thrilled, mostly because of the promise of warm weather.
You can find me somewhere between ybor city and the beach my entire time there. I *might* just make it to my presentation...
Who am I kidding, I'll be slogging through the professional posturing just like everyone else.
But the fact that Tampa will be warm and sunny is a promising thought, and I'm excited for you!
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sigh...I'll be there.
I was so irritated with myself when I realized Cs was in Tampa this year. I just moved to Tampa--I could have submitted something!
Is anyone else going?
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Hi everyone,
My professor has told me stories about the experiences she's had there and about the program itself, and I really feel like it's where I can excel. She also warned me about how competitive it is and how there aren't a lot of MA students that get accepted, so I'm also looking into the programs at Ohio State, University of Miami at Ohio, and Michigan State since some of our previous students attend grad school there for rhet/comp.
You sound like a brilliant human, and I have no doubt that you'll get into a fine program. Because no one has mentioned these programs, I just wanted to suggest the M.S. in Rhetoric, Theory, & Culture at Michigan Tech. And if you want to live in an even colder place, consider the University of Minnesota's M.A. in Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication. As their names might suggest, these programs will have a stronger technological sensibility, but they're definitely not all about that. Both are fantastic programs. You might want to consider the M.A. in Rhetoric & Writing at St. Cloud State (my alma mater), if you want a stronger rhet/comp rather than tech comm focus. And I found the funding to be generous.
Also, I'm fairly certain the funding situation is rather bleak at South Florida, even for PhD students (something about 80% coverage of tuition, from what I remember).
To get involved, I'm not sure what to say because it already sounds like you're doing everything. But if you'd like to try to diversify yourself, volunteering in a local literacy program, for a local nonprofit, or for a cause you're passionate about can help you grow and learn about what interests you--and you can find ways to articulate your identity and what you leaned from that when it comes time to make an argument about yourself (i.e., masters applications).
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I feel like this might be a bratty comment, but it's 5 a.m. and I'm on a Grayhound bus, so forgive me if I seem a little rough around the edges--to me, I've grown to learn that rhetoric isn't always about what texts to read as it is about asking the right questions about texts, their motives, purposes, effects, & consequences.
So here's the bratty part: I think the discipline has had an ongoing identity crisis, and sometime around the 1960s, classical rhetoric was haled to strengthen the identity of a discipline that can't ever seem to situate itself like other disciplines can. Haling classical rhetoric as a basis for the field required sound, sophisticated arguments--and even today it's hard to avoid seeing some kind of theoretical underpinning that stems from Aristotle. You're going to come across texts as far ranging as the Greeks to Foucault (as bhr mentioned), Dewey to Derrida, Burke, Stuart Hall to bell hooks, Friere, De Certeau, Lacan, Latour, blah blah blah. We have to borrow theory from other places to make arguments, and that theory usually comes from disperate sources and disciplines, making ours rightfully muddled and confusing. Thus concludes history of the discipline, Pt. I. Lol kidding of course. And I have zero interest in producing a Pt. II.
Anyway the point of all that is you're likely going to encounter texts from said theorists, but it's important to ask the right questions while you read them. There are other, more practical ways of learning about this stuff, too. It's worth checking out an issue of College Composition and Communication, and just read the articles for the style of writing, the article structure, the kinds of research the authors present, and if they happen to present any sort of theoretical basis for the arguments they present. I think you'll find that the discipline is unique (apart from ed. and applied linguistics) in that teachig forms a strong core for the academic work in writing studies. There are open access journals I can point you to if you don't have institutional access to that one. I just feel that a brief skim of practical, recent scholarship can be a better way to get a sense of the field than delving into the theoretical stuff that gets thrown around. But regardless of what you read, it's always about really questioning those texts.
So idk if that's ranty or helpful at all? I hope it is. As a final note, don't bother with The Rhetorical Tradition. (For reasons I can elaborate if anyone asks or is intersted)
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Hey y'all,
I'm a hopeful rhet-comp student applying to MA/PhD programs for next fall. If you're already at one of the programs I'm looking at, I'd love to hear any feedback you have about your experience!
UC Berkeley, UT Austin, TCU, Iowa State, Michigan State, Clemson, Florida State, Purdue, Nebraska, UC Davis
And a question: is it okay to email current student in these programs to ask about their experience? I feel a little odd cold-contacting strangers, but the websites only offer so much information.
Thanks!
I'm happy to chat with you about MSU--I'm a first-year PhD student here. You're more than welcome to send me a PM here on Grad Cafe.
I can also connect you with one of the student recruitment reps in our program, if that interests you.
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Okay, I'm not getting notifications for this thread, but I check back about once or twice a week to see if anyone has posted. I'm surprised to see that no one has--maybe there are conversations going on in other threads? Maybe I worry too much? Where have all the humans gone? Halp?
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I have a few pitches for programs--I hear great things about all of them: Iowa State's MA in Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Communication, the MS in RTC at Michigan Tech, and either the MA in RSTC or MS in STC at the University of Minnesota.
In terms of how departments can frame your experience as a masters student, you should check out this survey of masters programs in writing studies. I think you'll find it helpful to see some of this data and how different disciplines have a way of forming different cultures and values about graduate education in writing studies. There's other helpful info on there as well, such as typical institutions where masters students have gotten their bachelor degrees.
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Applicants to technical and professional communication programs:
You may have come across Angela Eaton's helpful guide for students planning on pursuing tech comm grad programs, but if not, you can find it here:
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/english/tcr/grad_application/ApplyingToGradSchool.pdf
It's a really helpful guide if you're looking for essentials.
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So many in California this year! There might not be that many on the list, but the ones posted look excellent. Do you know if it's typical for many of them (and by that I mean more than half) to be in technical & professional comm?
Will Studying Abroad Make or Break my Comp & Rhet Application? Not Sure If I Want to Go...
in Literature, and Rhetoric and Composition
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I agree that going abroad again might be beneficial for you personally, but like Chadillac has stated, the way that experience connects with (or doesn't) your interests and SOP will determine the value of that experience to admission committees. So like, if you framed your SOP around multilingual or second language writing, transnational rhetorics, language policies/politics, language identities, etc., then I would say that your study abroad experience would illustrate that very nicely. But you already have language experience, and you already have study abroad experience, too.
This might not be super useful because I know that they're not all universal terms, but if you'd like to see how areas of interest in the field are being framed, taking a look at the CFP for the annual CCCCs is useful. Taking a look at this past year's program (also available online) is another way to familiarize yourself with current research in the field and how yours might fit (and ideally, expand on it for the better).
To me, it seems like someone has provided you with...for lack of better words, crappy advice about this "making" or "breaking" your academic profile. You already have excellent experience, far more than I ever did as an undergraduate, and you should own that. In your application package, find ways of making each and every little thing have value.