WRAC Research Colloquium 2023

Celebrating the Work of Graduate Students and Faculty

On Friday, September 8th, the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures (WRAC) ushered in a new school year and the latest lineup of research projects from students and faculty.

In partnership with the Writing, Information, and Digital Experience (WIDE) research center and the Rhetoric and Writing graduate program, Dr. Liza Potts hosted the Rhetoric and Writing Research Colloquium: a series of lightning talks by research faculty and graduate students across WRAC. 

While WRAC research varies widely in scope and focus, each project endeavors to create new knowledge about rhetoric and writing, with an eye toward overcoming “wicked problems” and advancing a just future. 

At this year’s colloquium, Ph.D. candidates Floyd Pouncil, Stephie Kang, and Claire Oldham Griffith presented research from their respective dissertations. Pouncil discussed literacy and institutional logics in the context of Black higher education professionals. Kang took an ethnographic approach to transnational translingual Asian woman writing teachers, and Oldham Griffith unpacked the not-so-simple concept of the home. 

Alongside the students, research faculty Dr. Stuart Blythe, Dr. Mike Ristich, Dr. Nancy DeJoy, and Dr. Casey McArdle shared their research initiatives, spanning from melodrama and rhetoric to museum studies, art, and accessibility.

These lightning talks just scratch the surface of possibilities for researchers supported by WRAC and WIDE. As a department, WRAC strives to provide the space, resources, and community that students and faculty need to build their scholarly identities. And as an award-winning lab, WIDE creates opportunities for research across the humanities with innovative, people-focused research groups and community work. 

In the months to come, stay tuned for more information about research events, workshops, and other opportunities for those interested in learning more about the real-world impact of writing and rhetoric.