Maymester 2012      Summer 2012

English Upper-division and 200-level Courses

Completion of the first-year composition sequence is a prerequisite for all upper-division and 200-level English classes.

English 251 may be taken before English 250; English 261 may be taken before English 260; English 271 may be taken before English 270.

Maymester 2012

498-040                       Social Protest Rhetoric                      MTWRF 10:45-1:45               CRN:  30082
698-040                                                                                                                                          CRN:  30083              
Heidi Huse     
Tea Parties and Occupy Wall Street and Suffragettes and Green Peace and Grandmothers for Peace and Aristotle?
How does the patriarch of traditional rhetoric, the guru of “the study of the available means of persuasion” inform our understanding of the persuasive strategies in social protest movements? 

• Conservative or not, Aristotle might find Tea Party ranting or Wall Street occupation as rhetoric run amok,
• or insist that deliberate acts of environmental vandalism lie well outside of the parameters of artful rhetoric. 
• or dismiss the public protests and persuasive performances of the women protesting war or advocating for full enfranchisement as the hysterical ranting of unrefined women. 

But these persuasive uses of words, bodies, and action are all worthy of rhetorical examination.  In this intense 3-week course, we’ll explore the varieties of “available means” drawn upon in the act of social protest historically and currently. 
Our textbook: Readings on the Rhetoric of Social Protest, 2nd edition, by Morris and Brown, supplemented by film, websites, and online library reserve readings.   Students will lead classroom discussions of rhetorical analysis from the readings, engage each other in Blackboard discussions, and produce their own in-depth rhetorical analysis papers.   

Summer 2012—First Term

260-010                       American Literary Tradition I                      MTWRF 11-12:30                  CRN:  30067
Roy Neil Graves
During the centuries from the Renaissance up to the final shot of the American Civil War in 1865, the literary history of our nation evolved implausibly through periods of settlement, colonialism, revolution and federalism, and Romanticism. The oral narratives of indigenous peoples, the first Americans, antedate the array of literary artifacts in English that soon poured forth; skilled writers such as Wheatley and Irving, Emerson and Thoreau, Hawthorne and Poe, Whitman and Dickinson added stories, essays, and poems to the range of literary expression during the American Renaissance, a flowering of culture that voiced the spirit of an energetic nation. Through your readings of artful texts, this course offers to acquaint you with the meandering narrative of our democratic republic. Expect a reading-based survey with lecture and discussion, a mid-term and a final test, two short papers dealing respectively with an artwork and an American novel of your choosing, and two oral reports on those written projects that will let the class broaden its investigations. As a core elective, this survey takes into account the varied interests and personal objectives of undergraduate students. Still, English majors and minors will find the course useful as a chronological overview of American literary styles and genres.

325-010                       Technical Communication                  MTWRF 1-2:30                                CRN:  30068  
525-010                                                                                                                                                     CRN:  30071
Heidi Huse
When asked what is the most important workplace skill and what is the skill many new graduates lack, most employers will say “communication.” In this era of outsourcing and markets flooded with graduates who have high levels of technical expertise, it is becoming increasingly important to develop excellent written, oral, and technical communication skills so that a prospective employee can set him/herself apart from his or her peers. The primary goal of this course, then, is to help students develop, practice, and hone these skills. Though the course includes readings, many written by professionals with years of experience communicating in business and industry settings, the focus of the course will be on practical application of the theories in those readings. Thus, students will have the opportunity to compose a variety of genres—such as workplace correspondence, fact sheets, websites, and reports—as a way to develop a clear understanding of and strong skills in visual design, clear and concise writing, and effective oral communication.

Summer 2012—Second Term

261-020                       American Literary Tradition II         MTWRF 1-2:30                                  CRN:  30080
Tim Hacker
English 261 is the study of American literature from the Realistic period to the present.