Discussions on Writing and Rhetoric

Discussions on Writing and Rhetoric

Greetings and welcome to DWR- Discussions on Writing and Rhetoric. Join your hosts, professors Meeghan Faulconer and Nikolas Gardiakos from the University of Central Florida, for some informal conversations around research and practice in the field at the university level. These discussions are a place inclusive for curious novices, blossoming scholars, and seasoned academics to consider and share their inquiries, experiences, and passions surrounding writing and rhetoric.

Episodes

October 6, 2025 63 mins

Our guest on this episode is UCF Assistant Professor Dr. Kara Taczak. Dr. Taczak is currently co-editor of  College Composition and Communication, and her award winning research examines composition theory and pedagogy, with a focus on teaching for transfer and reflection. Her work has appeared in numerous edited collections as well as in CCC, Writing Spaces, International Journal of Work Integrated Learning, the WAC Journal, Compo...

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In this episode we are joined by Heather Vazquez, a lecturer here at the University of Central Florida in our Department of Writing and Rhetoric. Heather is the Education Coordinator and an instructor with the Florida Prison Education Project, or FPEP, working with incarcerated Central Floridians to achieve an undergraduate degree. Additionally, Heather is one of our designated UCF Global instructors, teaching student populations o...

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In this episode we are joined by colleague Megan Lambert. Professor Lambert is currently an Associate Instructor for the Department of Writing & Rhetoric, where she teaches composition courses 1101 and 1102, , Professional Writing (ENC 3250), and Professional Editing (ENC 4212). She is the new Internship Coordinator for the Department of Writing and Rhetoric here at UCF. She has also been the editor of our first-year writing jo...

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Rebecca Watkins is a Lecturer in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at UCF. She holds a PhD in English from Florida State University, an MA in English from Indiana-University-Purdue-University-Indianapolis (IUPUI), and a BS in Secondary English Education from Indiana University, Bloomington. Her work has appeared in Stoneboat, Touchstone, Pangyrus, and elsewhere. Her essay “Blonde Sugar” was nominated for Best of the Net Anthol...

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For this episode, we are going to switch things up a little- to our very first episode sharing  live recordings of students on a campus event at  UCF. On Monday April 28th 2024 UCF hosted the Not So Total Eclipse event, organized by the Florida Space Institute, Department of Physics, and UCF Libraries in partnership with Office of Research. It was basically an eclipse watch party at the reflecting pond on our main campus.  Attendee...

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In this episode we talk with Dr. Shane Wood, our current Writing Program Administrator (WPA) and Director of First-Year Composition here at UCF. He is also the host of Pedagogue, a podcast about teachers talking writing featuring established and emerging scholars in rhetoric and composition. Dr. Wood’s podcast Pedagogue won the 2021 Kairos John Lovas Award along with the Computers and Composition Outstanding Digital Production Awar...

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The UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric holds an annual event called Knights Write Showcase to celebrate the work of student writers. This event began in 2010 as a place to highlight and share the research and writing occurring in the first-year writing program, and has since become a multi-day event that encompasses work in composition courses, writing across the curriculum, our three departmental publications Stylus, Convergen...

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Joining us for this episode is Natalie Madruga, Instructor in writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida. 

Natalie’s research interests include eulogistic rhetoric, public memory and memorialization, critical race theory, cultural rhetorics, and writing pedagogy, with a pedagogical philosophy centered on a foundation in testimonio. Natalie was published in 2023 in Writers:Craft and Context with the article “ What it’...

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We are joined today by Associate Professor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum in the Center for Writing Excellence both at the University of Central Florida, Dr. Laurie A. Pinkert.  In addition to these positions, Dr. Pinkert also coordinates an interdisciplinary fellowship-writing initiative that is supported by the College of Graduate Studies. 

Dr. Pinkert's research aims to be...

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UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric faculty members Blake Scott and Nathan Holic discuss their project "Strengthening Hospital Nurses’ Mental Health Resilience Through a Peer Support Training Program Using Comic Testimonials" which focused on introducing comic therapy to healthcare professionals. This won the 2021 Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Innovation Award

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March 24, 2023 108 mins

Transcript Episode 11

At UCF, the Department of Writing and Rhetoric holds an annual event called Knights Write Showcase to celebrate the work of student writers. In this special episode we talk with several participants from the poster and panel presentations. The students and work featured in this episode are:

  • Jamie Salter “Learning to Keep Up” (0:00-19:04)
  • Megan Dever “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Theatrical Literacie...
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Transcript Episode 10

Anthony Lince is a Latinx educator and scholar, and is currently a lecturer at University of California San Diego and other local institutions, teaching rhetoric and writing studies courses. His current work is focused on equitable assessment practices in higher education, which is the praxis in his courses where he utilizes labor-based grading. Anthony has published the journals California English and WPA Wri...

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Transcript Episode 9

Dr. Jeremy Carnes is a Postdoctoral Scholar here at UCF specializing in Indigenous rhetorics, particularly visual and material rhetorics. He is working on his first book on comics by Indigenous creators and the rhetorical affordances of comics as a visual medium for considering land-based practices by Indigenous communities. In addition to indigenous rhetorics, Dr Carnes’ research interests include: Comics Stud...

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Transcript Episode 8

In this episode we talk with Jaclyn Gardiakos and Jessica Walters, who work in the field of professional writing and are both UCF Alumni. Jaclyn Gardiakos is the communications and public relations manager for Universal Engineering Sciences, the fastest-growing AEC firm in the US, and previously worked for Tupperware as a communications manager. Jessica Walters is a Content Strategist for Deloitte US, and simil...

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Transcript Episode 7

In this episode, we interrogate writing with Dr. Martha Brenckle, a full professor and the Interim First-Year Writing Program Director at UCF. With the creation of her new class “Queer Rhetorics and Queer Writing,” we break down what it means to disrupt the status quo and question long held rhetorical beliefs. Beyond that, we consider the often overlooked digital rhetorics, the role that professors are meant to...

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Transcript Episode 6

What does writing for social change entail? With Olivia Soloman, a junior at the University of Central Florida and a double major in Writing and Rhetoric and Political Science, we discuss using your writing to effect change, not just inspire awareness. Not only do we touch on courses such as ENC 4353 – Writing for Social Change and ENC 4354 - Writing with Communities and Nonprofits, but we also reflect on strat...

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Transcript Episode 5

Gaining insight from Sebastian Garcia, a senior undergraduate at UCF completing a double major in History and Biomedical Sciences, we explore what it takes to tackle research in ENC 1102. It can be difficult to find a way to transfer high school writing skills to the new challenges placed by college classes, but we cover everything you may need to know beginning with the very first step of finding passion and i...

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Transcript Episode 4

With two University Writing Center, UWC, tutors, Mekenzie McElroy and Lindsey Wright, we discuss everything about the UWC from the process of becoming a tutor to the perceptions of the center itself. We offer a student-oriented perspective of what brought them to their roles and what it means to be a contributing member of the UWC, both in tutoring sessions and research. In this one-stop resource, we provide yo...

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Transcript Episode 3

Revision is an essential part of the writing process, and the first-year composition course is no exception to this rule. With freedom and flexibility in the learning environment, how can professors and students work together to reach specific learning outcomes? To answer this question, we have Dr. Angela R. Rounsaville, Associate Professor and Director of First-Year Composition at UCF, to break do...

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Transcript Episode 2

The theme is “Voices of the Margins” and IMPRINT is providing the mic for all of those voices. From the ways COVID called attention to the under-appreciated efforts of mothers to the distinction between token diversity and actuarial practice, there is so much more to the conversation than you can even imagine. Together with editors of IMPRINT, Jarrett Webster and Kealani Smith, as well as esteemed DWR professor...

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