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Well, actually, the fall semester wasn’t delayed at all. Only my post to this blog 
.
Welcome back everyone! I have to say that it was pretty incredible coming back this semester and having seven–SEVEN– comp/rhet faculty at our first meeting. We’ve come a long way in terms of faculty hiring and program development in a very short time. When I took over the Coordinator position, we had three comp/rhet faculty members.
There has also been a pretty rapid increase in student interest in upper-level composition courses. ENG 430 Rhetorical Traditions/Contemporary Renditions, went live in the Spring 2007 semester and this coming Spring, my new course ENG 316 Rhetoric, Democracy, Advocacy will be offered for the first time. Amy Lynch-Biniek authored a new course, ENG XXX Composition and Rhetoric Studies which is making its way through the curricular process and will be one of the key courses for our proposed concentration in Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy Studies. Linda Cullum will be submitting her new course, ENG XXX Women, Writing, Rhetoric to the curriculum committees this semester. In addition, our ENU 405 Teaching of Writing, continues to fill every semester with graduate and undergraduate students. Needless to say, we are excited about the direction our program is headed!
This semester I hope to get all our comp/rhet faculty up and running on this blog too. This way you can hear from all of us…of different approaches to teaching, latest scholarship, thoughts on writing and rhetoric, musings, and random contributions to this little space.
I am going to leave for now…but will return soon! Thanks for taking the time to check in.
There are just three days left in the semester and we’re wrapping things up. Like most of my colleagues, I am deep in grading mode. However, I thought I would take a few minutes this morning (before I head into campus and while my son is sleeping) to post.
This past academic year has been pretty incredible for our little composition program. We have one new class on the books, ENG 316 Rhetoric, Democracy, Advocacy, which will be offered in spring 2010 for the first time. We also have two classes heading for college and university curriculum committees after passing our department unanimously: Women, Writing, Rhetoric and Issues in Composition and Rhetoric Studies. A very productive year for course development and another step toward rounding out a solid concentration in Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy Studies at KU.
This past year we also completed two successful tenure-track faculty searches. In the fall, we will welcome Mysti Rudd from Lamar State College-Port Arthur (IUP PhD candidate) in Texas and Moe Folk from Michigan Tech. Over the summer I am going to ask Mysti and Moe to introduces themselves to you, but for now let me just say that both of these folks promise to contribute to our program in exciting ways. As I have suggested before on this blog, our program has at its core an ethic of “conversation.” That is, we are interested in a diversity of approaches at our composition table that can contibute to a lively conversation over the teaching of writing, literacy in the 21st Century, and all things composition and rhetoric. Many of us got into this field because of its lively discussion over the purpose and nature of writing, rhetoric, and literacy…so, it only makes sense that we would want to use that energy, that commitment to discussion as the model of our program. I am sure that Mysti and Moe will both expand and deepen our conversations.
This past spring saw another successful Composition Conference for student writers. This 5th annual conference was expanded to include student writers from all levels of composition courses, which exceeded our expectations. Despite a very miserable weather day, attendance at this year’s conference was the best yet. Our keynote speaker, Steve Parks from Syracuse University, gave an engaging talk entitled “Once I was a Washing Machine: Worker/Writer Alliances at the Edge of the Economic Abyss” (see the pics below). His talk was both well attended and sparked conversations that echoed through our conversations for weeks.
Over the course of this summer we will be planning for what promises to be an exciting new academic year. We will be hiring an additional tenure-track faculty member in Multicultural/Multiethnic Rhetorics; formally submitting our concentration for department approval; expanding our course offerings; deepening our use of new media; and continuing conversations in our weekly meetings and reading groups. Toward the end of this semester, we began some interesting and exciting conversations with our fellow rhetoricians in the Speech Department (soon to be Communications Studies). Frankly, the promise of reuniting rhetoric just gets me all happy (yes, I am a rhetoric geek). In short, I think we are in great shape…or, given that today is Obama’s 100th day in office, maybe I should say: “the state of our program is strong!” :-)
The English department held its fifth annual Kutztown University Composition Conference on April 3 2009. Our conference theme, “Writers @ Work,” represented our effort to showcase the myriad means we use to compose, as well as the genuine toil required to create. Over 300 students attended the conference.
This year, the KUCC was open to student writers from across all levels of composition courses. More than fifty students enrolled in first year composition, Advanced Composition and Teaching Writing during the 2008-2009 academic year presented original academic works at the conference.
Also new at the 2009 KUCC was our “technology room,” allowing students to present multimodal compositions. Presentations here included a short film; PowerPoint displays; the projection of compositions via document cameras (in order to display their visual elements); and a paper on protest songs culminating in the performance of an original piece of music.
Students in Dr. Chernekoff’s Teaching Writing Course created an impressive poster session, adding a new visual dimension to the day. We also sold copies of the cookbook, A Semester of Seasonings. This text was composed by members of Dr. Chernekoff’s Advanced Composition Course and reimagined by Dr. O’Brien’s Desktop Publishing class. Sales of the text benfit the foodbank of Friend, Inc in Kutztown.
The Keynote Speaker, Prof. Stephen Parks of Syracuse University, spoke to a large and enthusiastic crowd in Alumni Auditorium. His talk, “Once I Was A Washing Machine: Worker / Writer Alliances at the Edge of the Economic Abyss” explored many of the obstacles inherent in pursuing a higher education while working. His account of worker-writer alliances made among his working class Syracuse students was both moving and inspiring.
We should be very proud of our students and campus community! Read more about the event at the Composition Program’s blog: http://kucomprhet.wordpress.com/blog/
Pictures from the conference can be found at: <http://kucomprhet.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/photos-from-kucc-2009/>
My thanks to the English Department Faculty, department secretary Annette Christman, Department Chair Dr. Janice Chernekoff, and the KUCC Committee for making the day a success for our student-writers!
Best,
Amy Lynch-Biniek, KUCC Chair
In addition to all the vlogging we did and photos we took, we did our first experiment in podcasting for the KU Composition Conference. Three students from my Advanced Composition class–Tim Crane, Katrina Albert, and Renee Franklin–agreed to having their panel recorded for a podcast. A huge thanks goes out to them for their willingness to try this out.
I just finished loading up the audio (with very minimal editing) and it sounds good! If you’d like to check it out, click on the radio icon above. A QuickTime (or other audio program) should start up and play the file. If you want a little context for the panel, check out the paper assignment that provided the prompt for Tim, Katrina, and Renee’s paper. Or, check out the Ramage-tagged posts on our class blog.
Come on out and support some great student writers and indulge in all things comp/rhet to start your weekend out right.
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