Discussions on Writing and Rhetoric

Transcript Episode 24 Many students can get stuck in the idea that college is just time spent waiting between high school and actual adulthood, confined only to completing coursework before heading off into the real world to get actual experience. But what if I told you there are plenty of opportunities already to get your voices heard? Hannah Benton, a UCF Writing & Rhetoric graduate who work...

Transcript Episode 23 Internet comment sections can be a complex space for human interaction, to say the least. We’ve all been tempted by some particularly enraging user to throw on the virtual boxing gloves and engage in some rhetorical fisticuffs. But how can we best engage with the Wild West of the internet and its many algorithms as academic rhetoricians? Dr. Joel Bergholtz, currently teaching...

Transcript Episode 22 As rhetoricians, it’s essential that we recognize and study the traditions of not just the English language, but languages from around the world. UCF professor Dr. Esther Milu, our guest this episode, is working to bring one of the more underserved rhetorical communities to the forefront: Global Black Rhetorics. Through research into African rhetorical traditions, Black langu...

Transcript Episode 21 One of the more unique aspects of our discipline are the many opportunities we’re given to reflect on our work. From revision to feedback and other forms of collaboration, much of the knowledge we gain as writers is from returning to our work to really think about the choices we make, and how that inspires growth and adaptability throughout our education and experiences. Here...

Transcript Episode 20 Education should be a right granted to every person willing to seek it out, regardless of upbringing, background, or situation. This a value that our guest today, UCF lecturer Heather Vazquez, strongly believes in. Working in the UCF Global program, Heather helps international students adjust to life and learning away from home, and as the Education Coordinator for the Florid...

Transcript Episode 19 Two of the most valuable programs offered by DWR are the Writing Internship course and Stylus , a writing journal that publishes first-year UCF student projects. So, it’s incredibly exciting to be joined by the person in charge of both, Professor Megan Lambert, who also teaches Composition I & II, Professional Writing, and Professional Editing. She goes all in on why an i...

Transcript Episode 18 Part of our job as rhetoricians is to continuously investigate and challenge the boundaries of language and communication, and what forms writing can take to engage in radical new forms of knowledge-making. Which is why we’ve brought on Dr. Rebecca Watkins, who’s taught Composition I and II and is preparing to teach ENC 4434 Visual and Material Rhetorics. With her, we discuss...

Transcript Episode 17 What’s rhetorical about a solar eclipse? That’s what we’re discussing today as we look back on the Not So Total Eclipse event from April 28th, 2024, where students and faculty alike gathered to view a partial eclipse from the reflecting pond, with Professor Gardiakos collecting their thoughts and feelings. As we listen back on these interviews, we discuss the importance of co...

Transcript Episode 16 Have you ever found assessment work interesting? If not, then you’ve never met Dr. Shane Wood, the current Writing Program Administrator and Director of First-Year Composition here at UCF, who’s here to break down why teacher responses are so crucial to students’ development, and give a riveting dissection of the reductive history/application of the letter-based grading syste...

Transcript Episode 15 The UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric holds an annual event called Knights Write Showcase to celebrate the work of student writers. This event began in 2010 as a place to highlight and share the research and writing occurring in the first-year writing program, and has since become a multi-day event that encompasses work in composition courses, writing across the curricul...

Transcript Episode 14 Joining us for this episode is Natalie Madruga, Instructor in writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida.  Natalie’s research interests include eulogistic rhetoric, public memory and memorialization, critical race theory, cultural rhetorics, and writing pedagogy, with a pedagogical philosophy centered on a foundation in testimonio. Natalie was published in 2023...

Transcript Episode 13 We are joined today by Associate Professor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum in the Center for Writing Excellence both at the University of Central Florida, Dr. Laurie A. Pinkert.  In addition to these positions, Dr. Pinkert also coordinates an interdisciplinary fellowship-writing initiative that is supported by the Colleg...

Transcript Episode 12 UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric faculty members Blake Scott and Nathan Holic discuss their project "Strengthening Hospital Nurses’ Mental Health Resilience Through a Peer Support Training Program Using Comic Testimonials" which focused on introducing comic therapy to healthcare professionals. This won the 2021 Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Innovation Award . 

Transcript Episode 11 At UCF, the Department of Writing and Rhetoric holds an annual event called Knights Write Showcase to celebrate the work of student writers. In this special episode we talk with several participants from the poster and panel presentations. The students and work featured in this episode are: Jamie Salter “Learning to Keep Up” (0:00-19:04) Megan Dever “Fabulation, or the Re-Edu...

Transcript Episode 10 Anthony Lince is a Latinx educator and scholar, and is currently a lecturer at University of California San Diego and other local institutions, teaching rhetoric and writing studies courses. His current work is focused on equitable assessment practices in higher education, which is the praxis in his courses where he utilizes labor-based grading . Anthony has published the jou...

Transcript Episode 9 Dr. Jeremy Carnes is a Postdoctoral Scholar here at UCF specializing in Indigenous rhetorics, particularly visual and material rhetorics. He is working on his first book on comics by Indigenous creators and the rhetorical affordances of comics as a visual medium for considering land-based practices by Indigenous communities. In addition to indigenous rhetorics, Dr Carnes’ rese...

Transcript Episode 8 In this episode we talk with Jaclyn Gardiakos and Jessica Walters, who work in the field of professional writing and are both UCF Alumni. Jaclyn Gardiakos is the communications and public relations manager for Universal Engineering Sciences, the fastest-growing AEC firm in the US, and previously worked for Tupperware as a communications manager. Jessica Walters is a Content St...

Transcript Episode 7 In this episode, we interrogate writing with Dr. Martha Brenckle, a full professor and the Interim First-Year Writing Program Director at UCF. With the creation of her new class “Queer Rhetorics and Queer Writing,” we break down what it means to disrupt the status quo and question long held rhetorical beliefs. Beyond that, we consider the often overlooked digital rhetorics, th...

Transcript Episode 6 What does writing for social change entail? With Olivia Soloman, a junior at the University of Central Florida and a double major in Writing and Rhetoric and Political Science, we discuss using your writing to effect change, not just inspire awareness. Not only do we touch on courses such as ENC 4353 – Writing for Social Change and ENC 4354 - Writing with Communities and Nonpr...

Transcript Episode 5 Gaining insight from Sebastian Garcia, a senior undergraduate at UCF completing a double major in History and Biomedical Sciences, we explore what it takes to tackle research in ENC 1102. It can be difficult to find a way to transfer high school writing skills to the new challenges placed by college classes, but we cover everything you may need to know beginning with the very...

Transcript Episode 4 With two University Writing Center, UWC , tutors, Mekenzie McElroy and Lindsey Wright, we discuss everything about the UWC from the process of becoming a tutor to the perceptions of the center itself. We offer a student-oriented perspective of what brought them to their roles and what it means to be a contributing member of the UWC, both in tutoring sessions and research. In t...

Transcript Episode 3 Revision is an essential part of the writing process, and the first-year composition course is no exception to this rule. With freedom and flexibility in the learning environment, how can professors and students work together to reach specific learning outcomes? To answer this question, we have Dr. Angela R. Rounsaville, Associate Professor and Director of First-Year Compositi...

Transcript Episode 2 The theme is “Voices of the Margins” and IMPRINT is providing the mic for all of those voices. From the ways COVID called attention to the under-appreciated efforts of mothers to the distinction between token diversity and actuarial practice, there is so much more to the conversation than you can even imagine. Together with editors of IMPRINT, Jarrett Webster and Kealani Smith...

Transcript Episode 1 Whether you love her or hate her, there’s no denying the impact Lady Gaga has had on pop culture. From The Monster Ball to the infamous meat dress, there is so much to discuss about the deliberate rhetorical choices Gaga has made throughout her prolific career. With us, we have Dr. Stephanie Wheeler, certified girlboss and expert on all things Gaga. So, little monster or not,...