Course Spotlights

April 24, 2024 Grace Von Lehman

Updated Course Spotlight – WRD 264: Language, Self, & Society

As a social practice that we engage in each and every day, language holds a great deal of power in how we understand and move about our world. It constructs how we live, function, and relate to other people. In the upcoming Autumn Quarter, Dr. Jason Schnieder’s course, WRD 264: Language, Self, and Society, delves into this dynamic relationship. Read on to learn more and hear about WRD 264 from Dr. Schneider’s perspective. The topics of your class–language, self, and society–can encompass many different relationships. Is there a primary one you are focusing on? Not a primary one, but the

April 23, 2024 Grace Von Lehman

Course Spotlight– WRD 363: Visual Rhetoric

From photojournalism to public art to selfies, how do visual images work persuasively to influence viewers? Read to learn how WRD 363 addresses this question and many others about how images shape our world.

February 15, 2024 Leo Swearingen

Course Spotlight — WRD 281: Writing Censorship

From book burning to academic regulation, censorship is a historic phenomenon with modern reverberations. With controversy around censorship and freedom of speech on DePaul’s own campus in 2016 following the protest of a conservative speaker, it is pertinent to consider our own place in the conversation of regulated expression. This upcoming Spring Quarter, online asynchronous WRD 281 Writing Censorship aims to prompt and answer important questions about how censorship functions. Read on to hear from WRD 281’s own Professor Erin MacKenna-Sandhir and learn more about what WRD 281 Writing Censorship will entail. 1. What are your goals for the course

February 1, 2024 Leo Swearingen

Course Spotlight — WRD 288: Rhetoric and Popular Culture

At the intersection of The Avengers and Aristotle, WRD 288 Rhetoric & Popular Culture emerges to explore how pop culture shapes and is shaped by the art of persuasion. Taught this Spring Quarter by Professor Justin Staley, this course is your ticket to entertainment and enlightenment in one. Read on to hear from Professor Staley and learn more about what the course entails. Are there any artifacts or events in pop culture the class will be taking a look at? What’s fun about this class is the wide range of artifacts and events we examine, or that students can examine

January 31, 2024 Leo Swearingen

Course Spotlight — WRD 283: Environmental Writing

Scheduled intentionally in Spring Quarter as changes in the environment become more easily perceptible, WRD 283 Environmental Writing, taught by Dr. Jason Kalin, offers more than just Social, Cultural, Behavioral Inquiry (SCBI) credit. It offers a chance to grow along with nature into new perspectives. What is Environmental Writing? In this course, environmental writing is writing about the environment and nature, but from the rhetorical perspective that the environment and nature are not just something “out there” or external to humans. The class tries to impart the perspective that we are not separate from our environment. Rather, we are nature

October 26, 2023 Grace Von Lehman

Course Spotlight – WRD 266: Leveling Up: The Social Rhetoric of Video Games

Since the rise of the arcade in the 1980s, the persuasive potential of video games has evolved with the creation of new games and transformation of the medium. With their diverse range of messages and target audiences, video games are fascinating artifacts for rhetorical study. That’s why, this upcoming Winter Quarter, Professor Alan Ackmann will be teaching his third iteration of WRD 266: Leveling Up: The Social Rhetoric of Video Games. Read on for an interview with Professor Ackmann that outlines the class and its relevance to any students interested in media’s persuasive power. What is the main focus of

October 12, 2023 Leo Swearingen

Course Spotlight – WRD 242: Writing with AI

With the emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, professional writers worldwide have been wondering how this technology will affect their field. While AI is certainly controversial, prompting strikes from the likes of the Writer’s Guild of America to protect writers’ jobs and petitions signed by thousands advocating to “Pause Giant AI Experiments,” one thing is certain: new technology is notoriously difficult to stop in its tracks. With a pragmatic view of AI’s continuous march, Margaret Poncin, Professional Lecturer in the WRD department, looks to see how writers can adapt to new AI technologies and remain relevant and competitive in

October 10, 2023 Grace Von Lehman

Course Spotlight – WRD 220: How Language Works

In the upcoming Winter Quarter, Professor Jason Schneider will be teaching WRD 220: How Language Works, which offers an introduction to the study of linguistics. As registration approaches, this course gives students the opportunity to broaden their understanding of language and gain critical knowledge they can apply to their own writing, teaching, and research. Here, Professor Schneider shares more about the upcoming course and its array of topics that students will engage with. How did you decide to teach this class, and how does it relate to your other teaching and scholarship? JS: In addition to counting for WRD elective

May 19, 2023 Grace Von Lehman

Course Spotlight – WRD 285: Truth in Disguise: The Rhetoric of Satire

During the upcoming summer session, Professor Justin Staley will be teaching the online asynchronous course WRD 285-Truth in Disguise: The Rhetoric of Satire. The course will examine satire as a powerful tool for persuasion and change, or, in lieu of that, ridicule. For students planning to take the course, Professor Staley shares, “Likely, you will be entertained, disturbed, pleased, and annoyed. And while the matters we will read about are indeed serious, we will see that it’s not always most effective to take ourselves equally seriously.” Here’s an additional excerpt from course description: “From Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain to

May 5, 2023 Grace Von Lehman

Course Recap – WRD 309: Persuasion in the Age of TikTok

Last year, we chatted with Professor Margaret Poncin Reeves about her upcoming course WRD 309: Persuasion in the Age of TikTok. Now that the course has ended, we wanted to share a recap from students’ perspectives as well. Here two students, education major NIna Odishoo and WRD major Miranda Kincer, share their perspective on this fasicnating course. Why did you decide to take this course? Nina: I decided to take this course to fill a requirement, but I did have the choice to pick a few WRD courses. This one in particular intrigued me due to its title, as I find