JMU Writing, Rhetoric & Technical Communication - WRTC

WRTC faculty Meghalee Das, PhD has published a book titled "Collaborative Writing at Work: A Playbook for Teams" (Parlor Press), co-authored with Jason Tham (Texas Tech University) and Joe Moses (University of Minnesota). The book offers a practical framework that integrates design thinking and Agile methodologies to help teams improve their collaborative writing processes and produce stronger workplace documents. More information and ordering details are available here: https://parlorpress.com/products/collaborative-writing-at-work.

We are so proud of our students!

Meghalee Das, Ph.D., was awarded a $5,000 Course Development Grant by the College of Arts and Letters to support the development of a new graduate course, Design Thinking in Technical Communication. Planned as a cornerstone of the evolving WRTC graduate curriculum, it integrates design thinking with technical communication, emphasizing user-centered, ethical, and collaborative approaches to designing across contexts. The course draws on Das’s research in design, collaboration, and communication practices, and also has strong potential for application in upper-level undergraduate courses

Congratulations Hairat!

Congratulations Samantha!!

Hey WRTCers!

Looking for a way to grow your writing skills and your resume and get paid? Consider applying for a student editorial position with JMU's Content Management. This position could also count for an internship to satisfy your WRTC 495 requirement. Contact Jim Heffernan at [email protected] if interested.

And reach out to Jen Almjeld at [email protected] with any questions about this or other internship opportunities.

Collaboration in action! Students in Dr. Meghalee Das’s WRTC 103: Rhetorical Reading and Writing course partnered with consultants-in-training from Dr. Emily Bouza’s WRTC 336: Writing Consultation course at the University Writing Center for an engaging peer review session. WRTC 336 students provided thoughtful feedback to WRTC 103 students on their annotated bibliography drafts, creating a meaningful exchange between writers and emerging consultants. This cross-course collaboration strengthened students' revision skills while giving consultants-in-training valuable, real-world experience. A great example of learning through community and practice!

Huge congratulations to faculty member Rodolfo "Rudy" Barrett, whose chapter "The Machine Genie: Instructional Metaphors for LLM Text Production" is out now in Writing Centers and AI: Generating Early Conversations, a new open-access collection from the WAC Clearinghouse!

Drawing on surveys and interviews with writing center practitioners, Rudy's chapter examines the metaphors people use to make sense of large language models—from "shortcut" to "fallible collaborator"—and what those metaphors mean for how we teach and talk about AI.

The full book is free to read at https://wacclearinghouse.org/books/perspectives/generating/. Congratulations, Rudy!

We're so proud of Joni Hayward Marcum, whose chapter "Recentering Writing Centers to Address the Hidden GenAI Curriculum" has just been published in Writing Centers and AI: Generating Early Conversations, a new open-access collection from the WAC Clearinghouse!

Co-authored with Lisa Bell of Utah Valley University, Joni's chapter explores how writing centers are uniquely positioned to help students develop AI literacy—not just surface-level use, but the layered literacies and often invisible foundations that make meaningful and ethical use of generative AI possible.

The full book is free to read at https://wacclearinghouse.org/books/perspectives/generating/. Congratulations, Joni!

Spring has sprung on the quad, and it is a beautiful time to visit campus! The School of Writing, Rhetoric & Technical Communication, home of JMU's Writing Major, looks forward to welcoming accepted students and their families to the JMU Admitted Student Open House this Friday! Stop by our info table in Wilson Hall 10:00-2:00 or attend our presentation at 11:15 in Wilson 2001 to learn more about the major and minor in Writing! See you there!