 |
 |
Hi, Roberta -- I started a message to the group this morning, and my computer crashed in the middle! It was in response to a posting about programmes in rhetoric at other institutions. I had a whole stream going at Lethbridge -- a dozen new courses in under 6 years, including things like Rhet and Professional Communication and Rhet and Popular Culture. From 1995 until 1998, when I left there, my students submitted and presented 28 conference papers (these were *undergraduates*) making them the only ones from Uleth to ever do such a thing. We had a 100% acceptance rate at the annual Northwest Comm. Association conference, which is a terrific conference put on by a wonderful group of people. I'm taking the last of my Leth students this year -- we've put in a panel proposal for 5 of us. At U of S I hope to be doing some similar things, and have two former students applying here to do graduate study with me through the U of S's Interdisciplinary Studies graduate programme (there's as yet no communication programme here). My web site has details of the special projects my students did and their conference papers, as well as a page of general information for anyone who's interested in doing graduate study in rhetoric and communication. It was originally written for English majors (I was in English at UL; did I tell you that already?) I guess my point to the group was going to be that there may well be graduate opportunities at U of S in another year or so. I did know about the Laurentian programme, at least a little bit. It does sound intriguing. I am very interested in the practical uses of rhetoric -- I know that some people like to think of it as mainly a body of theory, but I am inclined to think that you can't divorce rhetorical theory from practice if you're going to understand the discipline -- including its theory -- fully, since I see communication as both process and practice. As a result, I've been doing a whole series of practical hands-on "experiential learning" projects with my students for the past few years. They have been really interesting and are part of the reason I was successful in getting this Chairship, I think. Both versions of my textbook heavily emphasize practical application; they have an abundance of models (and weak examples, some of them amusing). The real strength of the book, I'm told, is the job application chapter, which covers resumes, letters, app. forms, and interviews. It pleases me that people find this segment of value, because I've put a lot of effort into getting it "right." When I first began teaching comm courses, I had very little experience with interviews or the job search process, and I wondered on what basis my advice would be of value to my students. I wanted to be sure of what I was saying -- so I proceeded to expand my job search (I was a sessional at that time [early 80s] and actually looking for work) to allow me as much experience in interviewing as I could get. As a result, over the years I've been to more than 80 interviews, have served on committees that interviewed others (as interviewer, I"ve taken part in more than 200 interviews). The stuff in that chapter is based on that experience. I love teaching rhetoric and communication. I am also interested in the connection between rhetoric and culture, both mass culture and national culture. I've done several new courses on this topic -- Rhet of Canadian Identity is one, the only such a one that I know of, in fact. The students loved it too -- I taught it twice at Lethbridge. I love the enthusiasm of my students for the subjectof rhetoric -- it's amazing the way they respond. My web site has some comments from students about studying rhetoric as well. I'll attach it in case you want to have a look. I had originally intended to ask Russ Hunt to add it to his page of links, but the computer crash this morning has put me in a tizzy. I'm rushing around here like crazy trying to finish up my ms for the language reader I'm doing with my former colleague John Moffatt. It's behind deadline because of a severe setback I had in the fall -- I lost my dad suddenly. We were quite close, so it's been hard. I barely go 5 minutes without thinking about him, still. I imagine that will always be the way. I will bow to your greater wisdom and experience with the group as far as sending on my comments. I'm glad to have another rhetoric person to correspond with! I've been to Saint John, but it's been years and years and years (I was only 16 or so -- too long to remember!). I have a clearer impression of Fredericton, since of course you pass through there when driving to Nova Scotia from points west (which I have done far too often -- it's a long drive from here!) ---------------------------------------------- Dr. Jennifer MacLennan ([log in to unmask]) D.K. Seaman Chair, Technical and Professional Communication College of Engineering University of Saskatchewan 57 Campus Drive Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9 (306) 966 5388 FAX: (306) 966 5205 (Dean's Office) ----------------------------------------------