Academics
Communicate. Engage. Activate.
Undergraduate
PWR’s undergraduate curriculum is grounded in three core educational tenets:
A healthy democracy requires critically-informed citizens, and a strong rhetorical education in applied public writing can well prepare students to develop the diverse critical literacies needed to envision and cultivate an inclusive and equitable society.
Student voices matter to public life, and learning to develop that voice happens best through small class sizes in which students can get to know their professors, dialogue with peers, practice writing in various genres and media, get extensive feedback on their writing, and apply their writing to real world situations.
Effective communication is foundational to success in personal, professional, and civic contexts, and effective communication is best learned through creative and intentional practice and experiential learning in which students gain experience applying their learning to real-world situations
With these three tenets in mind, PWR offers a wide range of lower and upper division courses in which students can expect to enhance their ability to:
critically read and interpret circulating documents, information, and data to best determine what counts as truth, fact, and credible evidence
analyze contemporary arguments made in various spheres of influence and interrogate how people, technologies, and organizations deploy discourse to gain power in various contexts
research, consider, and engage with diverse perspectives and learn various rhetorical strategies to develop well-reasoned arguments
develop a unique voice and style through practice generating creative and persuasive content via diverse modes, media, and platforms
communicate effectively in a wide variety of genres that are central not only to students’ individual lives but also to diverse communities and to public life at large.
Whether students are interested in improving their ability to communicate within a desired career domain; publishing their own and others’ creative nonfiction; or impacting social change through public advocacy projects, we offer a number of innovative courses and curricular paths, including Writing Certificates, Minors, and Micro-credentials to assist students’ educational aims.
PWR is especially committed to helping CU Â鶹ӰԺ students meet their general educational requirements that align with CU Â鶹ӰԺ’s common curriculum learning outcomes. Toward these aims, we also administer an extensive first-year writing program to help students earn their lower division writing requirements, and we offer a wide variety of 3000 and 4000 level courses through which students can fulfill their upper division writing requirements.
Graduate
PWR conceives of writing as an act of learning, discovery, creative expression, and communication with deeply civic, political, educational, and social ramifications. As such, PWR holds that writing, as a practice, should be central to higher education and all disciplines of academic learning. Unfortunately, the practice of writing is underemphasized in many academic courses, and the teaching of writing is often relegated to a few professors in English departments, stand alone writing programs, and the humanities. PWR pushes against such notion, arguing that no matter the discipline, foregrounding writing can be an invaluable means of enhancing student learning, self-expression, and communication.
With this educational philosophy in mind, PWR regularly offers graduate courses in theories and practices of writing education, as well as workshops about best practices of writing pedagogy for students and faculty at CU Â鶹ӰԺ.