ERIC Number: EJ1380353
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: ERIC
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ISSN: ISSN-1522-7502
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Rethinking the Rhet Comp PhD: An Interdisciplinary and Rhetoric-Centered Approach to Graduate Studies at Clemson University
Taylor, Hannah; Swartz, Haley; Richter, Jacob; McDermott, Mary
Composition Forum, v50 Fall 2022
What will future rhetoric, composition, and communication graduate programs value, prioritize, and pursue? How will graduate studies in these disciplines evolve over coming decades in response to "new composition"? One program that explores such questions is the Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design (RCID) PhD program at Clemson University. Since its creation in 2005, the RCID program has prepared doctoral students for innovative research, teaching, professional careers, and creative work. By prioritizing transdisciplinary research, committing to rhetoric as a connection builder, and recruiting diverse student populations through both residential and online options, this program continually updates what graduate study in rhetoric, composition, communication, and information design can do in the world. This article provides a profile of this program, showcasing the value, as well as some of the challenges, of interdisciplinary graduate degrees for the discipline of rhetoric and composition. The authors contend that interdisciplinary training, like that offered in Clemson's Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design PhD (RCID) program, prepares students to respond to both a narrowing job market and an increasingly diverse student population with broad backgrounds. RCID works to answer the call of composition scholars to broaden our definition of composing beyond hands on laptops and pen and paper to account for the needs of more diverse populations of students.
Descriptors: Rhetoric, Writing (Composition), Communication Skills, Graduate Study, Educational Trends, Trend Analysis, Information Systems, Design, Doctoral Students, Interdisciplinary Approach, Program Descriptions, Training
Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition. e-mail: cf@compositionforum.com; Web site: http://compositionforum.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
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Language: English
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Identifiers - Location: South Carolina
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