STRUCTURED EMPHASIS OPTIONS
The Structured Emphasis Option allows faculty members in a shared field to create a special curriculum for their students in order to assure that they receive appropriate and in-depth training. The Structured Emphasis options for each of the seven fields vary, but all involve interdisciplinary course work and doctoral study with participating faculty members.
- Ethnic Literary Studies
- Film Studies
- Folklore
- Literature & Environment
- Medieval Studies
- Poetry and Poetics
- Rhetoric and Composition
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STRUCTURED EMPHASIS IN ETHNIC LITERARY STUDIES
The structured emphasis in ethnic literary studies requires a sustained engagement with ethnic studies theories and methodologies as well as an interdisciplinary knowledge of U.S. ethnic literary traditions and their interrelationships. Although the structured emphasis is comparative, students must focus on one of the following fields: African American, Asian American, Chicana/o and Latina/o, or Native American literatures. Students are also encouraged to analyze these fields in relation to U.S. and British literary canons as well as their transnational and interdisciplinary contexts.
REQUIREMENTS
- Distribution Courses: Six distribution course as outlined in the regular PhD program in the EnglishDepartment, at least two of which must substantially engage ethnic literary or cultural studies.
- Individual Plan of Study: Three English courses in chosen field of focus (African American, Asian American, Chicana/o and Latina/o, or Native American literary andcultural studies), preferably at the 600 level (but at least one at the 600 level). Three 500- or 600-level English courses in other areas of ethnic studies. Two 500- or 600-level courses outside of English in related areas. These courses should contribute to an understanding of the theoretical, interdisciplinary, and/or transnational contexts of ethnic literary and cultural studies, and they must be chosen in consultation with an adviser.
- Pass the structured emphasis exam within two terms of completion of the qualifying exam.
- Complete and successfully defend a dissertation with a strong focus on ethnic literary studies with one of the ethnic literature faculty as the director or co-director. Students who undertake the structured emphasis will be assigned an adviser in the field of focus. The adviser must review and approve the student's plan of study on an annual basis.
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GRADUATE STUDY IN FILM STUDIES
The English Department has three faculty members in film studies and several other participating faculty members who also teach and write about film and media. The department offers courses on film history, theory, screen writing, and aesthetics. Additionally, the university abounds with film courses, taught by faculty in specialized areas of media study, fine arts, social sciences, foreign languages and area studies, journalism, and law.
The English Department offers a film studies focus for both masters and doctoral students: the M.A. in English with an Emphasis in Film Studies and the Ph.D. Structured Emphasis in Film Studies.
Ph.D. STRUCTURED EMPHASIS in FILM STUDIES
All regular Ph.D. program requirements apply.
The Structured Emphasis in Film Studies is designed for students interested in developing research and teaching skills in the areas of film and cultural studies. Students pursuing this emphasis design a course of study that enables them to develop specialized knowledge of film theory, criticism, and history in addition to a strong foundation in literary studies. This background equips them for advanced interdisciplinary research on a broad range of cultural texts, as well as teaching careers in departments seeking versatile scholars qualified to teach literature, writing, film studies, and popular culture.
Course Work and Exams
The structured emphasis consists of:
- Two 600-level ENG film studies seminars
- Three courses, preferably 600-level, outside of ENG in film studies or related areas
- Three 500-level ENG film studies courses
- Two 600-level ENG twentieth-century studies courses
- One 600-level seminar in theory
- One 600-level seminar in race or gender studies
Students in the Structured Emphasis option also complete one area of the Qualifying Examination in the field of film studies, based on a reading list prepared by film studies faculty.
The qualifying examination reading list for the Film Studies structured emphasis can be found at http://www.uoregon.edu/~engl/graduate/FSQEReadingList.pdf .
Libraries and Resources
The University of Oregon and surrounding community offer many resources for graduate students interested in film and related fields. The Knight Library has excellent holdings in film studies scholarship and subscribes to the major journals within the field. In addition, the library participates in a large regional university collection, Summit, that allows campus members access to over twelve million volumes in a matter of a few days. In its Media Services department, within the past seven years, the Knight Library has increased its holdings of filmed material regularly taught in film classes, with the goal of building a core collection of classic films on videotape, laser disc and DVD. Film studies students also make use of the strong university program and archival holdings in folklore.
Furthermore, the film studies community at the university is enriched by a campus-wide undergraduate certificate in Film Studies, administered through the English Department. Among other benefits, this certificate's being housed in the English Department provides opportunities for graduate students to teach courses in film studies. In particular, four GTFs receive .4 appointments each year in the two-term Film History sequence. Teaching introductory courses as GTFs allows graduate students to refine their own intellectual perspectives on the media and to learn teaching and communication skills to convey those perspectives effectively to others. Those English Ph.D.s who develop a strong secondary field in film studies become conversant with the parameters of the discipline, learn how to write scholarly articles in the field, and gain teaching experience in film, and thus they greatly enhance their prospects as job candidates within English departments. In addition, as part of their course work toward the Ph.D., students pursuing a Structured Emphasis in Film Studies can take both screen writing and video production courses, so that they can gain a technical facility with film and video if they choose to do so.
There are many community resources for people interested in film and the creative arts in Eugene. The city and local community college are home to many groups, formally and informally organized, who are working in theater, improv acting, or fiction and dramatic writing; in these groups writers and artists meet in workshops and also frequently present their work to the public. An undergraduate organization, House of Film, was founded by UO students in 1997 to assist those seeking careers in media industries. This small but dedicated student group maintains a website, provides opportunities to work together on production projects, and fosters connections among film faculty, students and state media groups, including the Oregon Film and Video Office and the Oregon Media Production Association. In Portland, the Northwest Film and Video Center programs special screenings of international and art cinema, has conferences with creative media artists, and offers short courses in all areas of film and video making.
Courses and Seminars
Courses taught on film in the English Department in recent years include the following: The Action Film, Advanced Screenwriting, Autobiography in Film, Avant-Garde Film, Comedy and the Grotesque, Continental Chinese Cinema, Dramatic Screenwriting, Feminist Film Criticism, Film and Folklore, Film Criticism, Film Noir, Film Theory and Cultural Studies, Folklore Film Production, History of the Motion Picture I and II, Hollywood Film Comedy, Indigenous People and Film, Media Aesthetics, The Musical, Narrative Theory and Film, Native Americans in Film, Queer Cinema, Race and Representation, Race and the Musical, Realism in Film, Romanticism in Film, Stars, Studies in Melodrama, Teen Girls and Popular Culture, Transnational Chinese Cinema, The Western, Women Directors, Women in Film.
English Faculty in Film Studies
- Michael Aronson
- Sangita Gopal
- Shari Huhndorf
- Kathleen Rowe Karlyn
- David Li
- Priscilla Ovalle
- Sharon Sherman
Faculty Outside the English Department
Many UO faculty outside the English Department teach and publish on film, media, and related areas. These include the following:
- Carl Bybee, Journalism and Communications. Media and cultural theory.
- Kenneth Calhoon, Germanic Languages and Literatures. Romanticism, literary theory, film studies.
- Maram Epstein, East Asian Languages and Literatures. Popular Chinese cinema.
- Laura Fair, History. African film.
- Amalia Gladhart, Romance Languages. twentieth-century Latin American literature, theater, feminist studies.
- Wendy Larson, East Asian Languages and Literatures. Modern Chinese film and literature.
- Albert Leong, Russian and East European Studies. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature, culture, film.
- Massimo Lollini, Romance Languages. Italian film.
- Michael Majdic, Media Services. Television producer and director,documentary film and video.
- Jerry Medler, Political Science. U.S. media and politics.
- Deborah Merskin, Journalism and Communication. Advertising, girls and media, media and society.
- Daniel Miller, Journalism and Communication. Documentary.
- Kenneth R. O'Connell, Fine Arts. History and art of animation.
- Ronald Sherriffs, Journalism and Communication. Television direction and criticism.
- Al Stavitsky, Journalism and Communication. Electronic media, media policy, public telecommunication.
- Richard Trombley, Music. Film music in Hollywood and art films.
- Janet Wasko, Journalism and Communications. Communication economics, Disney.
- Stephanie Wood, History. History of Latin America through film.
- Virpi Zuck, Germanic Languages and Literatures. Scandinavian cinematic traditions.
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STRUCTURED EMPHASIS IN FOLKLORE
The structured emphasis in Folklore offers an interdisciplinary approach and perspectives on ethnic, regional, occupational, age, gender and other traditional identities of individuals in specific societies. Students study the extent to which tradition continues to enrich and express the dynamics of human behavior throughout the world. Folklore courses examine the historical, cultural, social, and psychological dimensions of such expressive forms as myth, speech, legend, music, dance, art, and architecture. Course content delves into cultures and makes cross-cultural comparisons. Theoretical analysis, research methods, and fieldwork techniques are integral parts of the program's offerings in folklore.
Participating Faculty:
Dianne Dugaw, Lisa Gilman, Sharon Sherman, Daniel Wojcik
Requirements:
- Distribution Courses: Six distribution courses as outlined in the regular PhD program in the English Department
- Individual Plan of Study:
- Folklore 681, History and Theory of Folklore Research
- Folklore 607, Folklore Fieldwork or Video Fieldwork Production
- Three 500- or 600-level Folklore courses, or Folklore-related courses as approved by the Folklore advisor
- Two courses in other departments in areas related to Folklore (e.g. Literature, Music, Anthropology, Art Administration, or Journalism) as approved by the Folklore advisor.
Complete and successfully defend a folklore-oriented dissertation with at least one of the folklore faculty on the committee.
After course work, students will proceed to the oral exam and the dissertaion under the same guidelines as other English department graduate students.
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STRUCTURED EMPHASIS IN LITERATURE AND ENVIRONMENTEnvironmental studies of many kinds flourish at the University of Oregon. The Department of English supports a strong Literature and Environment emphasis within this university-wide interdisciplinary context. With eight faculty members actively engaged in various approaches to this vital new area, the department offers one of the two or three strongest programs in environmental literary study, or ecocriticism, in the United States. Students can range among rhetorical, ecofeminist, and cultural studies approaches to writing about the natural world; they can focus on colonial English, American, and postcolonial writings about natural history and landscape or on nature writing; and they can study environmental philosophy and critical theory; or literature of the American West, to mention only a few possibilities. Ph.D. students may choose the Structured Emphasis in Literature and Environment, a formal specialization that provides a coherent yet flexible structure to coursework, while M.A. students may focus on literature and environment more informally in consultation with an advisor.
Course Work and Exams
All regular Ph.D. program requirements apply.
The Structured Emphasis in Literature and Environment introduces students to the overall shape of this emerging field. The Emphasis includes a seminar in the evolving theoretical grounding of ecocriticism in classical and environmental philosophy, two other seminars in the English Department with a literature and environment focus, and one environmentally focused graduate course in another department. As a capstone, an independent study project allows the student to define interrelationships among these required courses as well as providing a preliminary outline for the Ph.D. Oral Examination.
While only one course at the graduate level in Literature and Environment is listed in the University of Oregon Catalog (English 569, Literature and Environment), many courses on special topics are offered each year, including a graduate seminar on ecocritical theory at least every other year. Because faculty and student interests are rapidly evolving with the growth of the field, course topics change from year to year, with four to six courses taught most years. Students in Literature and Environment also approach more traditional literary subjects from environmental perspectives as they fulfill other graduate course requirements.
Students in the Structured Emphasis Option also complete one area of the Qualifying Examination in the field of literature and environment, based on a reading list prepared by the literature and environment faculty.
The qualifying examination reading list for the structured emphasis can be found at http://uoregon.edu/~engl/graduate/LitEnvGradReadList.pdf .
Environmental Scholarship at the University
Scholars in many traditional fields and interdisciplinary institutes at the U of O are active in environmental scholarship. In addition to the departments of History, Philosophy, Landscape Architecture, Geography, Geology, Political Science, Sociology,Anthropology, Biology, and Psychology, faculty associated with the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, the Institute of Cognitive and Decision Science, and the School of Law regularly offer courses, as does the university's Environmental Studies Program. The range of environmental study at the University of Oregon, and the English Department's participation in it, are virtually visible on the Environmental Studies website.
Each Spring term, the Law School hosts an international conference on Environmental Justice, and a strong, independent Environmental Law Clinic is associated with the university. In 1999 the Center for the Study of Women and Society won a three-year Rockefeller Grant for "Ecological Conversations: Science, Gender, and the Sacred," which brought visiting scholars, U of O faculty, and graduate students together for special seminars and colloquia. Other notable past and future events include an interdisciplinary conference, "Crossing Borders: The Challenge of Ecological Thinking," which hosted such speakers as Carolyn Merchant, YiFu Tuan, Susan Griffin, and Ann Spirn; the Environmental Philosophy Association held its annual meeting here during 1999; and an international conference, "Taking Nature Seriously: Citizens, Science, and the Environment," took place February 25-27, 2001. This conference brought together scientists, community activists, and science studies scholars to explore ways of moving beyond the barriers that have inhibited interaction among scholars in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, and between academics and activists. Keynote speakers included Donna Haraway, Richard Lewontin, Andrew Pickering, and others.
In 2005, the University of Oregon English Department hosted the biennial international conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment. Scholars, writers, and scientists from 15 countries were among the 650 participants. Keynote speakers included Ursula K. LeGuin, Karl Kroeber, Gary Snyder, Ana Castillo, Robin Kimmerer, and Alan Weisman.
Community among graduate students is fostered by MesaVerde, a student-faculty interest group in the English Department, that includes colleagues from other fields as well. MesaVerde maintains a lively listserve, hosts regular meetings, and once or twice a term organizes a colloquium in which papers are presented. Recent colloquia have featured faculty and students from Biology, Geology, Environmental Studies, Law,and History, as well as from the English Department. Students and faculty are active in the Western Literature Association, the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, and the North American Interdisciplinary Conference on Environment and Community.
Fellowships and Awards
The Jane Campbell Krohn Fellowship provides tuition, a $10,000 stipend, and a $2,500 academic support fund for a first-year graduate student working in literature and environment. The Jane Campbell Krohn Essay Prize awards $300 to the best essay in the field by a second-year graduate student. The department's Ecocritical Fund provides small sums of money for travel and research in this area.
- Elizabeth Bohls
- Suzanne Clark
- James Crosswhite
- John Gage
- Glen Love
- William Rossi
- Gordon Sayre
- Louise Westling
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STRUCTURED EMPHASIS IN MEDIEVAL STUDIESMedieval studies are thriving at the University of Oregon, and students have the opportunity to do work in a variety of fields under some of the best faculty in the nation. Ph.D. students in English may choose the Structured Emphasis in Medieval Studies, a specialization that provides a flexible program and a breadth of study. M.A. students may also choose to specialize in the medieval period. The department is strong in both Old and Middle English, and in cultural and gender studies; medievalists can also make use of the strong university program and holdings in folklore.
The Structured Emphasis offers a well-rounded course of study designed to provide breadth of understanding of the medieval world and medieval culture, as well as depth of knowledge in a studentâs chosen field. In addition to courses in Old and Middle English, students will choose a course of study that may involve medieval history, art history,religious studies, or other medieval vernacular languages. Students will also gain proficiency in Latin, and may choose to work toward the Toronto M.A. or Ph.D. Latin certificate. Study in Europe may be also arranged.
Course Work and Exams
The Structured Emphasis consists of a Medieval Proseminar (an introduction to resources, the discipline and the profession), nine quarter-long courses in Old and Middle English, or other medieval courses as approved; a minor in medieval Latin or a term of advanced Classical Latin; another seminar in a medieval language or a neighboring discipline such as history, art history, paleography, etc.; fulfillment of the department's breadth requirements (five seminars in specified categories); and elective seminars, if needed, to bring the total number to eighteen. Other standard English department requirements for the Ph.D.,.such as the foreign language requirement, also apply. Latin and medieval languages (Old English, Old French, etc.) qualify in filling the language requirements. Introductory Latin courses are available, and a student need have no Latin upon beginning the degree. Another feature of the Medieval Structured Emphasis is that students may concentrate in medieval studies in the Qualifying Exam, narrowing their field of focus at that juncture.
The qualifying examination reading list for the Medieval Studies structured emphasis can be found at http://uoregon.edu/~engl/graduate/MedievalReadList.pdf.
Funding, Support and Awards
The University of Oregon is not wealthy, but we put both resources and effort into finding appropriate funding for our students. Students who have taught undergraduates before or who complete the teacher-training sequence are eligible for Graduate Teaching Fellowships, which come with a tuition waiver and a stipend. Others are eligible for Teaching Assistantships or for work as graders and readers for undergraduate courses.
Both the Department of English and the university sponsor prizes for academic excellence, with cash awards, and medieval students have won a disproportionate number of those awards in recent years. The quality of our students and of their training has also led to a number of awards from external sources, such as the Fulbright. The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs helps students and faculty identify likely sources of funding and reviews and supplies suggestions on applications. The university also offers courses in grant-writing for graduate students.
Libraries and Resources
Library holdings at the university number over 2,300,000 volumes,with a total of over seven million available through the Orbis program, a consortium of fifteen Northwest colleges and universities that share library resources. The university collection includes electronic resources such as Cetedoc (medieval religious texts in a searchable database) and the International Medieval Bibliography CD-ROM. The Rare Books collection also has a small collection of medieval manuscripts, which are available for student study. The medieval community has an additional resource in Mount Angel Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in St. Benedict, Oregon, a little over an hour north of Eugene. The Mount Angel library is strong in medieval holdings (available via interlibrary loan as well as by personal visit), and in addition has a significant collection of medieval manuscripts and early printed books.
Scholarly Life at the University
Scholars at the university are active in the field; conferences are held at the university regularly, and the journal Comparative Literature and the Medieval Feminist Forum (formerly the Medieval Feminist Newsletter ) come out of the university. Oregon also has a rich program of visiting scholars. Recent visiting speakers include Seth Lerer (Stanford), Carolyn Dinshaw (Berkeley), Karma Lochrie (Indiana University), Gillian Overing (Wake Forest), Sarah Beckwith (Duke), David Benson (University of Connecticut), Simon Gaunt (King's College, London), Susan Crane (Rutgers) and James Simpson (Cambridge).
Community among medieval students is fostered by OMELS (the Oregon Medieval English Literature Society), a group run by graduate students that meets in the Booth Lounge of the English Department several times per quarter for literary discussion and wine.
Members keep in touch via an online mailing list. For the past few years OMELS has also sponsored a session at the International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo.
Courses and Seminars
Medieval Courses and Seminars recently offered in the English department:
- Medieval Proseminar: Introduction to Research, the Discipline and the Profession
- Old English I: Introduction to Old English
- Old English II: Old English Poetry
- Old English II: Old English Prose (offered alternate years)
- Old English III: Beowulf
- Old English Ill: Christ II (offered alternate years)
- Chaucerian Narrative and Modern Narratology
- Contemporary Debates in Medieval Studies
- The Body in History: Embodied Cultures and Cultured Bodies
- Medieval Cultures: Literature of Conversion
- The End of the World: Literature and Apocalypticism from the Bible to the Middle Ages
- The Pearl Poet
- Medieval Literature: Vision and Form
- Medieval Welsh Literary Traditions
Faculty
English Department medieval faculty:
Other medieval faculty at the University of Oregon:
- Art History:
- Mary-Lyon Dolezal (Western medieval, Byzantine art)
- Richard A. Sundt (Romanesque and Gothic architecture)
- Clark Honors College:
- Heather Tanner (Flemish, French, English history)
- Louise Bishop (Middle English)
- History:
- Jennifer Rondeau (Italian Renaissance, humanism)
- Library:
- Christine L. Sundt (art history)
- Music:
- Susan Boynton (medieval music and liturgy)
- Romance Languages:
- Barbara K. Altmann (medieval French)
- Regina Psaki (medieval and Renaissance Italian)
- Cynthia Vakareliyska (Slavic linguistics and manuscripts)
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STRUCTURED EMPHASIS IN POETRY AND POETICS
PARTICIPATING FACULTY:
- James Crosswhite
- Karen Ford
- Lisa Freinkel
- John Gage
- Warren Ginsberg
- Paul Peppis
- Forest Pyle
- George Rowe
- Ben Saunders
- Steven Shankman
The structured emphasis in Poetry and Poetics offers a theoretically diverse and historically broad study of poetry and poetic theory, which provides students with a rigorous training in the formal, rhetorical, and historical understanding of poetry. The participating faculty is comprised of an open roster of scholars who embrace a wide range of critical approaches and whose research and teaching interests extend from Early Modern to postmodern poetry in a variety of British, North American, and post-colonial Anglophone traditions. This structured emphasis will prepare students to write a dissertation on the topic and in the period of their choosing. It will also train students in the teaching of poetry; and those graduate students pursuing this concentration will be encouraged to teach the department's introductory course in poetry when scheduling and resources make it possible. Finally, a structured emphasis in poetry and poetics provides students a faculty alike with an advanced forum for the collective consideration of the problems and possibilities of poetry.REQUIREMENTS
Distribution courses: Six distribution courses as outlined in the regular PhD program in the English Department.
Six additional courses, preferably at the 600-level, chosen in consultation with a Poetry & Poetics advisor.
Individual plan of study:
- ENG 608: Poetics Colloquium
- Three courses devoted to poetry or poetics, preferably at the 600 level.
- Two courses devoted to poetry or poetics, preferably at the 600 level, in departments other than English.
The qualifying examination reading list for the Poetry structured emphasis can be found at http://www.uoregon.edu/~engl/graduate/PoetryReadList.pdf .
Poetry and Poetics Examination: The Close Reading
During the final term of course work and following the submission of the oral examination reading list, the student will perform a close reading of a poem before the assembled participating faculty. On the morning of the exam, the student will be given three poems; he or she will choose one poem and will have six hours to prepare. This oral presentation, which will include a recitation of the poem, is designed to reflect the student's understanding of the relevant portions of the reading list in poetry and poetics as well as his or her interpretation of the poem in question. The close reading, which will include questions from the assembled faculty following the presentation by the student, will last two hours. The assembled participating faculty will determine whether the student has passed or failed the examination. In the event of a failed exam, the student will have one opportunity to retake the exam later in the term. After the completion of course work and the close reading, students will proceed to the oral exam and the dissertation under the same guidelines as other graduate students. Students will complete and successfully defend a dissertation which devotes significant attention to poetry and/or poetic theory with at least one of the participating faculty serving on the committee.
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STRUCTURED EMPHASIS IN RHETORIC AND COMPOSITIONThe field of rhetoric and composition thrives at the University of Oregon. Rhetoric provides historically rich and theoretically diverse resources for the study of discourse over a wide range of issues, from the question of how to teach writing to controversies about philosophical and scientific reasoning. The Structured Emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition offers training in the history of rhetoric, in rhetorical theory, and in rhetorical criticism. At the dissertation level, students choose from a wide range of options, including composition theory and practice, community literacy, the philosophy of rhetoric, historical periods, ecological rhetoric, and the rhetorical criticism of literature. A comprehensive training program in the teaching of composition focuses strongly on written reasoning and on argument as inquiry. Graduate students in the field have opportunities to teach a broad spectrum of classes.
Course Work and Exams
All regular PhD program requirements apply.
Students completing the Structured Emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition must meet the following requirements (all course work to be completed with a minimum grade of A-):
- In the first two years of study, complete, for graded credit:
- English 513: Theories of Literacy
- English 592: History of Rhetoric and Composition
- English 593: Modern Rhetorical Criticism
- In the first and second years of study, complete:
- English 611: Composition Graduate Teaching Fellow Seminar I
- English 612: Composition Graduate Teaching Fellow Seminar II
- English 613: Graduate Teaching Fellow Composition Apprenticeship
They must satisfactorily teach Writing 121: College Composition I and either Writing 122: College Composition II or Writing 123: College Composition III.
- Complete one term of English 605: Independent Reading and Conference in a designated internship under faculty supervision. (Internships may be coordinated through the Center for the Teaching of Writing, the Community Literacy Project, the Composition Program, the Oregon Writing Project, or other areas designated by the rhetoric faculty, with the projects to be agreed on by the student and one rhetoric faculty member serving as an internship supervisor.)
- Complete one area of the Qualifying Examination in the field of rhetoric and composition, based on a reading list prepared by rhetoric faculty. The qualifying examination reading list for the structured emphasis can be found at http://uoregon.edu/~engl/graduate/RhetReadList.pdf .
- Participate in a colloquium on professional development in rhetoric and composition in the Spring term of the dissertation year, together with the rhetoric faculty and others in the field.
- Complete and successfully defend a dissertation in the discipline of rhetoric and composition with at least two of the rhetoric faculty on the committee.
Rhetoric and Composition Programs at the University
Graduate students have numerous opportunities to teach a broad spectrum of courses and participate in a number of program and projects. The Composition Program offers writing courses taught by graduate students, and it employs graduate students as assistant directors of composition. The program has also employed graduate students to conduct research on the program, on the teaching of writing, to administer conferences, and to work with other departments and schools in the teaching of writing. In addition, the program directs the comprehensive training program required of all teachers of writing at Oregon. The Center for the Teaching of Writing is dedicated to training teachers of writing, especially in connection with changing writing technologies. It is also the site of Oregon's efforts to cultivate more writing instruction and practice in the disciplines. The Center offers graduate students several ways to participate in its projects, including in some cases employment.
Composition Program publications offer opportunities to gain editorial experience and to help shape our world here at Oregon: Harvest , an annual collection of undergraduate student essays chosen from writing completedfor our College Composition courses, and Componere, an annual publication for teachers of Composition at Oregon. The Center for the Teaching of Writing also produces publications such as On Reading, Reading On, a guide to critical reading and thinking distributed to all Oregon High Schools, and more academic monographs, including "The Five Steps to Rhetorical Heaven," a keynote address delivered by Wayne Booth at an Oregon state conference, and "Ethics and Argumentation," by James Crosswhite. The Community Literacy Project combines course work in "Theories of Literacy" and/or "Youth Literature" with internships in community nonprofit agencies and schools.
Courses and Seminars
Recent and currently scheduled topics include:
- Kenneth Burke
- Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric
- Women and the Essay
- Theories of Literacy
- The Rhetoric of Science
- Figures of Speech
- The Rhetoric of Poetry
- Literary Theory and Pedagogy
- History of Rhetoric and Composition
- Modern Rhetorical Criticism
- Composition Theory
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