Year in Review: AY 16-17

In our chapter’s short two years of existence (Est. 5/7/15), we have done a lot. Thanks to your ideas and service, we have had a very successful year. Check it out:

Conferences

Dr. Carly Woods presents to a packed house at Terps Talk Politics.

We held two conferences this past year. In the fall, Terps Talk Politics brought community members together to listen to UMD rhetorical scholars present and lead discussions on their research as it related to the 2016 presidential campaign. We were funded in total by the University of Maryland Pepsi Enhancement Fund. Several active members helped to both coordinate and participate in the event.

In the spring, we hosted our first Graduate Archival Symposium. Fifteen graduate students from UMD, Penn State, Carnegie Mellon, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania attended the symposium.

Graduate Archival Symposium participants enjoying the “Archives in Action” tour led by Hornbake Library Special Collections librarians.

Faculty from UMD’s Communication and English Departments led the plenary and workshop sessions. We were co-sponsored by the University of Maryland Graduate Student Government (GSG), received an RSA Special Event award, and were partially funded through Dr. Michelle Murray Yang’s research and scholarship award.

Professional Development, an awesome undergrad, and swag

Other committees remained active. Our professional and scholarly development committee planned a fall reading group that met to discuss the most recent issues of Rhetoric Society Quarterly. In the spring, Dr. Kristy Maddux invited us to read and discuss materials by/with two visiting scholars, Dr. Jensen and Dr. Terrill.

Ms. Emily Schaefer accepted the 2017 Undergraduate Rhetorical Scholar Award.

Our undergraduate rhetoric committee presented Communication Department graduating senior Emily Schaefer with the Undergraduate Rhetorical Scholar Award for her outstanding essay titled “Breaking Barriers, Building Pipelines: Discussing the Impact of the Dakota Access Pipeline with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI).” The committee was impressed with Emily’s scholarly insight, rigorous research, and writing quality.

The workshops committee booked local conference presentation extraordinaire Thomas McCloskey for a G.I.F.T.S. proposal workshop in March.

And we finally got some sweet, sweet, chapter swag. We have extras in case you missed the ordering window!

Digital Digital Get Down

Beyond these activities, we maintained an active online presence. We continued to provide updated resources such as conference announcements and deadlines on the blog and some featured content written by members. We regularly engaged with the Maryland and broader #teamrhetoric communities through our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Moving forward

There are certainly goals we did not achieve and areas for improvement. For example, we did not plan any fundraisers, fell behind on member spotlights, never finished the pedagogy resource, and did not follow through on undergraduate scholar mentoring. And most of the labor for our successful projects was divided among very few active members.

When we drafted the constitution in 2015, we knew some goals were lofty. For that reason, the next executive board can decide how to prioritize and where to focus. I have proposed some amendments to our constitution and bylaws that may potentially lessen the force of our original vision, but more may need to be done to revise the document to reflect the desires and time constraints of our current members. These amendments and a ballot for the next executive board will be heading your way soon.

I am still hopeful for what is to come with our Maryland graduate student chapter of RSA. Have a restful, productive, and happy summer, #teamrhetoric!

-Becca

 

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