Department of English

Colloquia and Events

Literacy Research Forum

The Literacy Research Forum is a series of lectures sponsored by the Composition Program in which faculty and graduate students present research from their scholarship and teaching on issues of literacy. The aim of the series is to generate cross-programmatic discussions of literacy informed by on-going research in composition, literary studies, film studies, and creative writing. Speakers are invited to share work-in-progress as well as report on work that they have completed and published. Recent speakers include:

  • Mariolina Salvatori, “The Extra-ordinary Literacies of Imaginette”
  • Jean Ferguson Carr and Stephen Carr, “Lost and Found in the Archives”
  • Kathryn Flannery, “Feminist Performance as Literacy Event”
  • Chris Gallagher, “Assessing Writing Assessment: Leave No (Writing) Teacher Behind”

Composition Study Group

The Composition Study Group, open to all members of the English department, hosts a series of monthly brown-bag lunch discussions on issues and practices that are significant for those teaching composition. A central thread in discussions during the 2003–04 academic year concerns the ways in which we evaluate student texts and the values that inform our judgments. Meetings of the Composition Study Group are faciltated by the individual faculty member or graduate student who proposes the subject of discussion or by a small panel convened to address the subject. Proposals for future discussions should be sent to Chris Warnick at chwst27@pitt.edu

Composition Curriculum Committee

The Composition Curriculum Committee is the central governing body of the Composition Program. This committee discusses proposals for change and makes decisions regarding the composition curriculum. Any faculty member or graduate student who teaches composition may serve on the committee, and committee meetings are open to all members of the English department.

Visiting Speakers

The Composition Program at Pitt has a long history of bringing to campus some of the most prominent figures working in composition, literacy, and pedagogy at other intstitutions. Recent speakers include Kay Halasek (Ohio State University), Richard Miller (Rutgers University), James Slevin (Georgetown University), Min-zhan Lu and Bruce Horner (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), and Chris Gallagher (University of Nebraska).

Upcoming events include a symposium on Revisionist Classical Rhetorics with Janet Atwell, James Fredal, Ekaterina Haskins, Debra Hawhee, Susan Jarratt, Michael Leff, John Poulakos, and Jeffrey Walker. The symposium will be held April 1–3.

We will also be fortunate to have Judith Goleman (UMass-Boston) speak with us on April 7.

CCCC Convention

The Composition Program at Pitt sends many faculty and graduate students every year to the annual convention of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). Graduate students at Pitt have opportunities to discuss ideas for conference proposals with faculty before the spring deadline and to receive response to their papers prior to the convention. They may also receive funding from the English department to support their travel.

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