Date: September 10, 2004
Contact: Michael Hopkins
Phone: (708) 534-7090
Fax: (708) 534-8399
Email: m-hopkins@govst.edu
For Immediate Release
University Park, September 10, 2004 – It is one of the most difficult challenges facing educators in today’s college classrooms: the teaching of writing. It is topic mired in age-old concerns about language and identity. It conjures up the most basic questions of legitimacy. What is “proper” English? Where is the line drawn between encouraging expression and the enforcement of “rules”?
Whatever the questions and no matter the controversies, one thing is certain: to succeed in college, right here, right now, college and high school students have to master the complexities of writing. It is the most critical set of skills for conveying thought and expression, and it is fundamental to every topic taught in college.
Teaching writing effectively, however, presents educators with myriad challenges – challenges that Governors State University will address on September 30 in a forum on the subject: “Rhetorical Choices: A Town Hall Meeting on the Teaching of Writing.”
Governors State and Allyn and Bacon/Longman are bringing three top scholars in the teaching of writing to the GSU campus for the “Rhetorical Choices” forum. Leading the discussion - Dr. Keith Gilyard, professor of English at The Pennsylvania State University, and American Book Award-winning author of Voices of the Self: A Study of Language Competence; Dr. Charles Schuster, professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is the general editor of Longman’s Literature and Culture Series; and Dr. Deborah Holdstein, professor of English and Rhetoric at Governors State University, and incoming editor for College Composition and Communication.
“We’ve structured the event as a town hall meeting,” Holdstein explained, “so we can build on a give and take with the audience and really meet the topic head on.”
“Rhetorical Choices” will be held at GSU’s Sherman Music Recital Hall on Thursday, September 30, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Attendance is free and open to educators, students, and the public.
For more information about “Rhetorical Choices” and to RSVP attendance, contact Michael Hopkins at m-hopkins@govst.edu or 708.534.7090.
