I'm writing this at Roanoke Airport, on my way home from Virginia Tech. At Diana George's invitation, Bruce Horner, Tom Fox and I got together for a panel and a workshop on language differences. It turned out to be a great combination, all of us representing more or less the same critical perspective but contributing different types of examples in different styles of presentation.
Virigina Tech is about to launch a new Ph.D. Program in Rhetoric and Writing, and there is a growing community of people in the field. I got to see some familiar faces--including Paul Heilker and Katy Powell. I also met some new faculty members: Kelly Pender, a Purdue alum, and Kelly Balanger. I didn't get to see Jim Dubinski because he was on sabbatical. Well, maybe next time.
Both events were well attended, and we discussed a wide range of topics--from highly theoretical to practical. The panel on Friday was mainly for the composition staff. The workshop, organized by Monique Dufour, included two people from engineering and education as well as people from the English Language Institute and the composition program.
For the first two days, all three of us stayed at The Inn at Virigina Tech, a nice hotel located on the edge of campus. On the second day, I woke up extra early to have a big buffet breakfast with Bruce. On Saturday night, Tom and I stayed at Diana's house, where we had a nice dinner with Kelly, Kelly, Matt and Gary.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Virginia Tech Visit
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3 comments:
What do you think about VT's new program?
Thanks for your comment. It would have been helpful if you could contextualize your question a bit.
It's hard to respond when I don't know who you are or where you are coming from, because I can't decide which angle to take: Are you interested as a prospective applicant? Or are you someone involved in the program? Or something else altogether?
Also, the program is just getting started, and I wasn't there to review the program as a consultant, so I don't have enough information to form my opinion about it.
All I can say at this point is that it has assembled a great group of faculty members in the field of rhetoric and composition, and they seem to be making a great deal of effort in creating an environment that is conducive to professional development.
The rest is really up to the graduate students who enter the program.
Sorry about the ambiguity. I am a prospective PhD student considering a few different schools, VT among them.
Just looking for some opinions on the upcoming program from scholars outside of VT.
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