A Brief History of the Rhetoric and Composition Graduate Program at Florida State University

The graduate programs in rhetoric and composition at Florida State University has a long history, which has developed in three iterations. In the first iteration, scholars like Kellogg H. Hunt and James McCrimmon began to make a place at Florida State for the scholarly work of composition. Their work, and that of their students, focused on the role of language in the growth of student writing and in the rhetoric of the essay. Later, two well-known scholars-Wendy Bishop and Rick Straub-carried the work of the earlier program forward. Wendy-whose work ranged from attention to alt.writing to ethnographic research, and whose leadership included the CCCC Chairship-worked with undergraduates on writing projects and with graduate students on ways we understand and can improve the teaching of writing. Rick Straub's work in the ways that response shapes the development both of writing and of writers continues to influence the field; his Twelve Readers Reading, co-authored with FSU alum Ron Lunsford, is the only study of its kind. The graduate program in rhetoric and composition is today in its third iteration. The program includes five core faculty-Deborah Coxwell-Teague, Kristie Fleckenstein, Ormond Loomis, Michael Neal, and Kathleen Blake Yancey-whose scholarly interests range from pedagogical practices and visual rhetoric to the ways that digital technologies are changing compositional and assessment practices.

A Sample of Research and Professional Activity within the Program