The following list is alphabetical, by instructor last name. Check the current Course Schedule.
WRITING AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT, Dr. Laurie Gries
This class counts toward the Writing and Public Engagement minor.
From the Greensboro sit-ins in the 1960s to the 1980s pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing to the recent Black Lives Matter and March for Our Lives protests, young people have long been at the forefront of civic activism. This course explores what it means to be critically engaged in public activism in the 21st century. With full acknowledgment that public activism is a highly contentious and contested struggle about rights, responsibilities, and opportunities, this course asks a number of important questions: What are the most effective means to public engagement? What barriers to civic engagement exist for some rather than others? Depending on one’s positionality and status, what available means are at our disposal to actively participate in collective life? And how can we write and design our way toward meaningful social change?
In this course, we will take up such questions as we consider the relationship between rhetoric, writing, bodies, agency, and public life. For the purposes of this course, we may commonly agree that public engagement refers to actions taken by individuals concerned with the affairs of a community, state, nation, or world. But we may not agree whose voices deserve to be heard, what actions are appropriate for public engagement, and/or how systems impacting collective life (government, economy, etc.) ought to be maintained. This course is your opportunity to weigh in on such discussions, as we engage with various theories, perspectives, and political activities to study how public engagement has been and continues to be enacted, challenged, and transformed both from within and beyond the United States.
One of the goals of this course is to introduce you to a body of diverse rhetorical and critical theories that will provide a strong conceptual foundation for defining, interrogating, and reimagining engaged activism. Therefore, we will read and consider the critical cultural perspectives of diverse scholars stemming from various locations, time periods, and fields of study that will introduce you to competing notions of publics, civic/civil/human rights, persuasion, power, activism, and resistance. In wrestling with such material, you will develop your own working definition of and vision for public engagement, a definition that is grounded in theories from the course but unique to your positionality, experiences, motivations, desires, etc.
After developing your own notions about public engagement during the first part of the semester, you will decide on a pressing social issue to focus on for the rest of the semester. Through analysis, discussion, and formal writing, we will compare and contrast how various people, organizations, and communities have attempted to address pressing social issues through various rhetorical tactics. Then, you will spend the remainder of the semester focused on addressing a social issue of your choice by proposing a speculative idea for public engagement that aligns with your own visions of rhetorical action. Your final project will be a TED Talk with an accompanying multimodal presentation intended for a public audience.
WRITING AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT, Dr. Andrew Wilson
This class counts toward the Writing and Public Engagement minor.
From the Greensboro sit-ins in the 1960s to the 1980s pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing to the recent Black Lives Matter and March for Our Lives protests, young people have long been at the forefront of civic activism. This course explores what it means to be critically engaged in public activism in the 21st century. With full acknowledgment that public activism is a highly contentious and contested struggle about rights, responsibilities, and opportunities, this course asks a number of important questions: What are the most effective means to public engagement? What barriers to civic engagement exist for some rather than others? Depending on one’s positionality and status, what available means are at our disposal to actively participate in collective life? And how can we write and design our way toward meaningful social change?
In this course, we will take up such questions as we consider the relationship between rhetoric, writing, bodies, agency, and public life. For the purposes of this course, we may commonly agree that public engagement refers to actions taken by individuals concerned with the affairs of a community, state, nation, or world. But we may not agree whose voices deserve to be heard, what actions are appropriate for public engagement, and/or how systems impacting collective life (government, economy, etc.) ought to be maintained. This course is your opportunity to weigh in on such discussions, as we engage with various theories, perspectives, and political activities to study how public engagement has been and continues to be enacted, challenged, and transformed both from within and beyond the United States.
One of the goals of this course is to introduce you to a body of diverse rhetorical and critical theories that will provide a strong conceptual foundation for defining, interrogating, and reimagining engaged activism. Therefore, we will read and consider the critical cultural perspectives of diverse scholars stemming from various locations, time periods, and fields of study that will introduce you to competing notions of publics, civic/civil/human rights, persuasion, power, activism, and resistance. In wrestling with such material, you will develop your own working definition of and vision for public engagement, a definition that is grounded in theories from the course but unique to your positionality, experiences, motivations, desires, etc.
After developing your own notions about public engagement during the first part of the semester, you will decide on a pressing social issue to focus on for the rest of the semester. Through analysis, discussion, and formal writing, we will compare and contrast how various people, organizations, and communities have attempted to address pressing social issues through various rhetorical tactics. Then, you will spend the remainder of the semester focused on addressing a social issue of your choice by proposing a speculative idea for public engagement that aligns with your own visions of rhetorical action. Your final project will be a TED Talk with an accompanying multimodal presentation intended for a public audience.
WRITER’S WORKSHOP: PEDAGOGY AND PRACTICE OF THE WRITING CENTER, Eric Klinger, MA
This course is inspired by the philosophy that we learn best when we teach others. You will learn about writing center theory and practice, apply what you’ve learned by tutoring fellow CU students, and become a more confident, knowledgeable, and collaborative writer. Readings and discussions about the writing process, argumentative strategies, and theories of critical thinking and learning will support your development as a writer and tutor. In the second half of the semester, you will participate in a six-week tutoring internship in the Writing Center. Coursework will comprise writing response papers, a cover letter and resume, contributing to class discussions, and presenting a writing tutorial to the class.
This class fulfills a 3-credit writing elective and is open to all undergraduates interested in learning to tutor writing and improve their own skills. Students who successfully complete the course will be eligible to apply for placement as paid peer writing tutors on the CU campus.