The PhD program in Rhetoric and
Writing is welcoming applicants for the 2027-2028 academic year.
Our programs offer students a unique academic space
to explore scholarly, intellectual, and pedagogical pathways in/outside the
traditionally understood provenance of rhetoric and composition studies.
Because encouraging these kinds of risks requires a strong supportive network
of colleagues and mentors, we work hard to provide an intellectual community
that seeks out and welcomes all individuals and that openly makes space for the
broadest possible spectrum of diversity across categories of age, life experience,
gender, abilities, race, ethnicity, class, religion, spirituality, sexual
orientation, and geographic identification.
The Rhetoric and Writing
doctoral program aims to prepare the next generation of leaders in the
discipline of Rhetoric and Writing across all areas of a higher-education
career: research, teaching, outreach, and national and institutional service. Our
discipline requires outstanding leaders across the higher education
mission and in many types of institutions. This mission guides our recruitment,
our curriculum, our support packages, and our mentoring philosophy. We ask a
lot of both students and faculty, but our commitments also make the program an
exciting place to be.