Rhetoric, Composition, and Language Courses Fall 2026
ENGL 262: Professional Communication
Instructors: Eilidh Strecker
27164 | By appointment | Online (Oct 21-Dec 18)
ENGL 362: Foundations of Technical Writing
Instructors: Sunday Adegbenro
27165 | By appointment | Online (Aug 24-Oct 17)
27166 | By appointment | Online (Oct 21-Dec 18)
ENGL 380: Introduction to Rhetoric & Composition
Instructors: Mary Jo Reiff
26378 | MW 3:30-4:45 PM | Wescoe 4076
This course will introduce you to the field of rhetoric and composition, a subfield of English focused on the study of discursive and communicative interactions within academic, professional, and public contexts. With a focus on how writing is a culturally embedded practice, we will investigate the complexity of writing as a cognitive, expressive, rhetorical, social, cultural, affective/embodied, and material process (shaped by space/place, tools, and technologies). Over the course of the semester, we will explore the key issues, themes, debates, and trends that inform the field of rhetoric and composition (or writing studies). Through the major projects in the course, you will have the opportunity to 1) compose a literacy autoethnography/autobiography that examines your own histories and backgrounds as writers, reflects on your writing processes, and analyzes how your writing (and communication) shapes/has been shaped by your identities and prior experiences; 2) carry out an analysis of rhetoric/discourse or writing within particular contexts, with focus on a text or community of your choosing and with a focus on rhetorical or visual analysis, rhetorical framing analysis, or community analysis; and 3) conduct research an issue in Rhetoric and Composition that relates to your own interests (students in the past have explored topics such as ghostwriting, social media writing/rhetoric, political discourse, second-language writing, translingualism, journaling and diaries, writing and trauma/healing, voice in writing, activist and anti-trans rhetoric/writing, multimodal and digital composing, eco-composition, creative processes, gender/sexuality and writing, feminist writing pedagogies, queer pedagogies, mindfulness and writing, gaming literacies, hip hop literacies, etc.). All readings for the class will be online and available via Canvas.
ENGL 381: Topics in Rhetoric & Composition - Writing for Nonprofits
Instructor: Sean Kamperman
26379 | TuTh 12:30-1:45 PM | Wescoe 4020
This course offers an introduction to the principles of professional communication in nonprofit organizations. Through analyzing the rhetoric of successful nonprofits and investigating case studies, students will learn how to create a range of documents central to the operation of a successful nonprofit—grant proposals, brochures, newsletters, and donor reports, among others. Readings and assignments will emphasize the ethical and rhetorical complexities of nonprofit work and prepare students to engage with a range of audiences, from donors to clients to staff. Students will hone their professional writing and strategic communication skills by undertaking service learning projects on behalf of actual nonprofit organizations. This course is designed equally for students who are interested in nonprofit careers and those who simply want to learn more about how to be an effective communicator in an organizational setting.
ENGL 387: Introduction to the English Language
Instructor: Wen Xin
26380 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 AM | Wescoe 4020
In this course, we will first learn the “language” that we can use to appropriately describe the English language at the pronunciation, word, and sentence levels. Then, we will explore what factors influence how people speak and write in different contexts, where such contextual conventions come from, and how these conventions have changed over time and are still changing. We will also talk about how a principled collection of language use can assist us in understanding how the English language works. Last, we will look at English in the U.S. and around the world, dipping into the history of English as well as predicting its future. By the end of this course, I hope you 1) are able to use appropriate language to talk about the English language, 2) are aware that language variations occur across regions, nations, communicative contexts, and time periods depending on various factors, and 3) are able to employ corpora to explore language-related questions.
ENGL 582: Multimedia & Multimodal Rhetorics
Instructor: Sean Kamperman
26389 | TuTh 9:30-10:45 AM | Wescoe 4019
In this course, we will examine the impact of multimedia/multimodal discourse on ourselves and our culture by rhetorically analyzing and composing a variety of digital media genres in multiple modes, including audio and video. The course will explore how traditional processes of writing and reading texts are challenged by communication across a range of diverse new media genres that employ multiple modes of communication (linguistic, visual, spatial, gestural, and aural ways of making meaning). Through our analysis and production of multimodal texts, we will explore how medium and mode shape the message, work to persuade multiple audiences, and alter the way that we understand, structure, and process knowledge.
