WRD in the News

Online Courses Enhance WRD Offerings

For students in Dr. Christine Skolnik’s online section of WRD 204: Technical Writing, lectures come in the form of highly visual PowerPoint presentations with audio voice-over and class discussions happen in online forums. While it’s not your traditional classroom, Skolnik explained that it’s not meant to be. Attracted to the idea of online learning because of its potential for accessibility and sustainability, she explained that the course is not only “more accessible to a wider variety of students” but also has its own set of advantages that stem from its unique online identity.  

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First-Year Writing Leads Student to Cubs Hero Santo 

Waiting in an autograph line for six hours at the 2006 Cubs Convention, DePaul alumna Lindsay Vail debated what to do when she reached the front—should she give famed Chicago Cub Ron Santo the research paper she wrote about him or was it a silly idea? “When I reached Ron, I just started spitting out my story,” Vail said. “When Ron heard my shaky voice, he put his pen down, grabbed both my hands, and said he would certainly read it.” Five years after that meeting and after she took WRD Instructor Scott Johnson’s First-Year Writing class, Vail never expected to still be talking about her paper. But when Santo passed away in December, Vail’s work came full circle.

Student, Alumni, & Faculty News

Matthew Abraham (WRD faculty member) received a summer grant from the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences for the project “Race, Rhetoric, Obama, and Pragmatism.” 

Samantha Bohnert (MAWRD 2011) recently began a new position as a senior editor for Luxury Home Canada and Luxury Home Quarterly, quarterly publications based out of Chicago. Samantha assigns stories, edits content, and writes copy for both publications. 

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