Rhetoric and Composition
Our Rhetoric and Composition program has been a national leader for well over a decade. In addition to gaining state-of-the-art sophistication in rhetorical history, theory, criticism, and pedagogy, students joining the rhetoric group at Penn State enter a lively intellectual environment in which rhetorical studies, composition studies, technology studies, literary studies, women's studies, African American studies, Latino/a studies, science studies, and cultural studies interanimate one another.
Graduate students will find a strong tradition in rhetorical studies, a large and accomplished rhetoric faculty (not only in English but also in Communication Arts and Sciences) with wide-ranging interests, a chance to collaborate with other faculty, a variety of teaching opportunities, and an optimistic and talented community of fellow graduate students who are actively involved in teaching and research. All faculty members are closely involved in the education of all rhetoric students, who invent rich dissertation topics and become professionally active through conference presentations and publications.
In short, students accepted into the program can look forward to strong support and stimulating studies, personal relationships with faculty and students, and opportunities to benefit from other English Department faculty and rhetorically minded faculty in other departments. 97.5% of our graduates have earned tenure-line appointments upon graduation.
Recent Grad Courses
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People specializing in this area
Faculty
Suresh Canagarajah
Ana Cooke
Specifically, genre studies, public controversies, professional writing, argument and deliberation
Cheryl Glenn
Rhetorical histories, historiography, and theories (ancient to contemporary); composition theory and practice; rhetorical delivery systems (speaking, writing, silence, and listening); feminist and gender theories; feminist historiography, pedagogies, and research methods; medieval and Renaissance literatures
Debra Hawhee
Jon Olson
Theories and practices of writing program administration (esp. writing centers and writing-across-the-curriculum programs); peer tutor education; rhetorical theories and histories of one-to-one writing instruction.
Stuart A. Selber
Technical communication, computers and composition, human-computer interaction
Xiaoye You
multilingual writing, comparative rhetoric, world Englishes
Graduate Faculty
Suresh Canagarajah
Ana Cooke
Specifically, genre studies, public controversies, professional writing, argument and deliberation
Cheryl Glenn
Rhetorical histories, historiography, and theories (ancient to contemporary); composition theory and practice; rhetorical delivery systems (speaking, writing, silence, and listening); feminist and gender theories; feminist historiography, pedagogies, and research methods; medieval and Renaissance literatures
Debra Hawhee
Jon Olson
Theories and practices of writing program administration (esp. writing centers and writing-across-the-curriculum programs); peer tutor education; rhetorical theories and histories of one-to-one writing instruction.
Stuart A. Selber
Technical communication, computers and composition, human-computer interaction
Xiaoye You
multilingual writing, comparative rhetoric, world Englishes
Graduate Students
Lauren Beard
Layli Maria Miron
Dissertation:
Reframing Immigration through Religious Advocacy: Rhetoric, Cosmopolitanism, and the Divine
Emeritus Faculty
Susan Merrill Squier, Ph.D.
I also do research and publish on the rhetoric of science, medicine, and disability. My current work on comics and medicine expands the notion of rhetoric to include visual rhetorics.