RSA Institute Deadline

Word!

The deadline is fast approaching for RSA Institute and you should sign up now!

On top of the fact that it'll be held at our very own lovely campus (quite the honor in itself), and that you'll save tons in travel/hotel fees (since you probably already live here), there is a huge added bonus for KU students to sign up--there is a phat discount! On a personal note...I went two summers ago and it was an invaluable experience.

So, yeah, if you get a chance, at LEAST do a workshop.

Check out the message below from the lovely director (our very own Dave Tell).
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Dear KU GRAD STUDENTS,

As you know, KU is hosting the Rhetoric Society of America Institute in the Kansas Union and Oread Hotel June 2-9, 2013. This is good news for all of us for a lot of reasons. I want to bring one reason to your immediate attention.

Although it has not been publically advertised, there is a special rate for KU grad students to attend the Institute. You can attend even if you are serving on the "local team" helping to arrange the conference. You SHOULD take advantage of this. It is the cheapest way to be a part of an RSA Institute.

If you haven't taken the time yet to learn about the Institute, check it out here.

Check out the amazing list of leaders we are bringing in (and the amazing topics we will cover). As you will see, we are bringing over 50 senior scholars to campus from across the country (and the world!). About half of them come from English depts, half from COMS depts.

Finally, apply here.

The application deadline is only days away, so act quickly.

The $ Lowdown: How cheap is it? KU grad students may attend a Seminar for $305, that's $210 off the published non-member price. KU grad students may attend a Workshop for $205, that's $110 off the published non-member price.

Do you have questions? Please ask me!

Dave

KUAR Meeting Minutes, 9/11/12

KU Ars Rhetorica Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

4:00-5:00PM, Bird Dog Bar @ The Oread Hotel

Meeting start: 4:15PM

Our meeting began with KUAR Chair Evan Center, initiating round-table introductions. We were delighted to see new faces from both the COMS and ENGL departments.

We then discussed upcoming conferences and deadlines for submitting to conferences. 4Cs is in March next year, and deadlines have passed, but the NCA and CSCA are upcoming, and everyone still has the opportunity to submit to CSCA seeing as the deadline is within the next couple of weeks.

Also, some of our new members announced CFPs from the Pop Culture association - so members may want to look into that opportunity.

Our yearly goals are many. On the forefront of our list is to host social and scholarly events. Our first social is scheduled for Sept. 28 (event details TBA), and we would love suggestions for scholarly events. Currently, ideas are circulating for an academic paper workshop, involving KUAR members and COMS and ENGL faculty. Other ideas would be gladly accepted, as well.

One of our more pressing goals is to bring a guest speaker or two to campus. We passed around a list of speaker nominations at the meeting. Contact KUAR Co-Chair Jennifer Nish or Treasurer Chelsea Graham if you would like to weigh-in on the vote or if you have a suggestion for a speaker you'd like to see visit KU.

KUAR will be applying for two grants this year to help see some of these plans to fruition.

Further, KUAR would like to plan a service project within the year (more than likely Spring). We had discussed perhaps a collaboration with Big Brothers, Big Sisters, but we are open to suggestions.

KU will be host to the RSI (Rhetoric Society of America Institute) in June 2013, and there will be plenty of opportunity for KUAR to have a presence. We strongly urge all who are interested to apply to be a part of the conference. As the institute is hosted at KU, and KUAR members are all graduate students, we can receive a discount for the conference registration fees. A list of visiting scholars is available online at this address: http://associationdatabase.com/aws/RSA/pt/sp/institute_seminars. Dr. Dave Tell in COMS is the contact for RSI for more information.

KUAR wants to emphasize campus expansion. Rhetoric is a highly interdisciplinary subject, so spreading the word to departments cross campus is essential. We want people to get involved and to know about our group so that we can usher in new event ideas and create opportunities for individual and group involvement.

If anyone has any suggestions for or would like to actively rally for KUAR funding, please contact KUAR Chair Evan Center or Treasurer Chelsea Graham.

Meeting end: 5:00PM

Rhetoric, Space, and Postmodernity

Dr. Dave Tell will be offering a fantastic seminar titled "Rhetoric, Space, and Postmodernity." IMHO it'll be one of the best classes in rhetoric offered during my time at KU. It's not too late to sign up and it should be great for both American Studies, Rhet Comp, and Coms Rhetoric. Here is a brief description:

Briefly stated, this course will focus on what is sometimes called "the spatial turn": the accellerated development of spatial theory in the last 30 years (with a couple exceptions, the last 20 years). This "turn" was, unsurprisingly, born in the spatial disciplines (geography, urban planning, etc) but it has since captured the entirety of the humanities by storm. We are going to focus on this diffusion of spatial theory. In particular, I want to focus on the movements/slippages between spatial theory and two additional modes of theory: postmodern theory and rhetorical theory. Consider the slippage between spatial theory and postmodern theory: is it coincidental that a (critical) geographer (David Harvey) wrote The Condition of Postmodernity. Or is it coincidental that a number of pomo theorists (Latour, Foucault, and Lyotard come to mind) rely heavily on spatial theory? I think not.

Now add a third term: rhetorical theory. Or, if you prefer, communication theory. Spatial theory is far more than a fad in the literature of communication studies (although it is that too). Spatial theorists talk about communication relentlessly (Latour and Castells come to mind). And rhetorical theorists (even Aristotle) constantly resort to spatial theory. I'll argue that the two fields feed on each other symbiotically, that it is virtually impossible to define one without the other: to think rhetorically is to think spatially and vice-versa. 

In any case, I hope to focus this course on the curious overlappings b/t these three modalities of theory: rhetorical theory, spatial theory, and postmodern theory... 

For more email Dave Tell at davetell@ku.edu and/or simply enroll (COMS 930 #26541) and contact him about the readings. 

Seriously, it may be life changing...

-E

Spring Scholarly Event: Robert Asen

KU Ars Rhetorica has collaborated to secure the funding to bring in super-scholar Dr. Robert Asen from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Come join as he will be doing several events:

• 7:00pm on Monday March 5th Dr. Asen will deliver a lecture titled "Notes on the Relationship Between Deliberation and Trust." His lecture will be in 100 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
• 1:00pm on Tuesday March 6th Dr. Asen will join the Rhetoric and Counterpublics class being co-taught by Frank Farmer (Dept. of English) and Dave Tell (Dept. of Communication Studies).
• 4:00pm on Tuesday March 6th Ars Rhetorica will be hosting a happy-hour meet-and-greet with Dr. Asen at The Bird Dog in The Oread. Come grab a drink and talk shop with Dr. Asen about anything and everything!

The full press release is posted here.

Beers, Rhetoric, and our Springtime Meeting!

Hello KU Rhetoricians!

Mark your calendars and join us on Thursday, February 23rd 2:30-3:30pm for our first meeting of the semester at the Oread restaurant (/Bird Dog Bar). We will be discussing Dr. Robert Asen's visit March 5-7th, our upcoming social, the 2013 Summer Institute, and other rhetorically-relevant topics!

We hope to see you then!

Rachel Bloom

KUAR Chair

Letter from the Chair: Exciting News

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to take a moment to write about exciting news that your KUAR exec team has been working hard behind the scenes to make happen. Tonight we officially received approval from Student Senate for funding to bring Dr. Rob Asen (UW-Madison) to visit and speak at KU this coming Spring! Dr. Asen is a well-known public sphere theorist and a full professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. (Read more about him here: http://commarts.wisc.edu/directory/?person=rbasen) He will be visiting us for a few days and in that time he will visit Dr. Dave Tell & Dr. Frank Farmer's seminar on Counterpublics, do a meet and greet luncheon, and give a lecture on campus. With Dr. Mary Jo Reiff's "Engaging Publics" seminar finishing up next week and Dr. Tell & Dr. Farmer's seminar on "Counterpublics" next semester, we felt this would be a timely and exciting series of events to host for our organization and any student who might be interested on campus!

Beyond the good news that we've received initial funding for his visit, we also now have sparked interest in the members of Student Senate to learn more about KUAR and public sphere theory. We anticipate having both graduate students and undergraduates attend these events, so this will be a great way for us to make some new connections across disciplines with others interested in learning about some of our research.

With January being the 1 year anniversary of starting this organization, I'm happy to say we've already accomplished quite a bit in only one year. Looking forward to Dr. Asen's visit and our first co-taught COMS-ENGL seminar on Counterpublics are definitely two of many highlights I anticipate us seeing in the 2012 year.

As we finish up the semester, we wanted to get together one last time to celebrate everyone's hard work, so please join us for a gathering at Henry's upstairs this Friday, Dec. 2nd at 5:00pm to drink, mingle, and take a break before our final week of classes. I look forward to seeing everyone there and wish you the best of luck going into finals - whether you're writing papers, grading papers, or just trying to save paper, I hope the end of the semester treats you well.

All my best,
Rachel Bloom
KU Ars Rhetorica Chair

Dr. Jay Childers Colloquium

As many of you may our own Dr. Jay Childers is presenting this Wednesday for Colloquium. His lecture is titled “The Fitness of Patriotic, Productive Workers: Defining Citizenship after the McKinley Assassination.”

The presentation will be Wednesday (11/9) at Alderson Auditorium (in the Student Union) at 4pm.

There will also be some social time afterwards with drinks at 5pm at the Bird Dog Cafe (in the Oread). Come to both if you can!

Dr. Childers classes on Pop Culture and Agency have attracted scholars from both rhetorical departments and he will be teaching another class on Democratic Engagement in the spring. This is a great chance to get key insights into his passionate scholarly pursuit.