A Consequential Period for a Groundbreaking Program
Between 1975 and 1995, the writing program at the University of Texas at Austin hosted many groundbreaking and historical events:
- an innovative writing-in-the-disciplines program;
- an experiment with non-tenure track labor;
- one of the first graduate concentrations in rhetoric and composition;
- a first-year writing curriculum centered around race and social justice;
- a successful writing center;
- and a center dedicated to studying digital technologies and their application in composition studies/pedagogy.
Finally, after being featured in national newspapers and talked about on television programs, the UT writing program gained autonomy from the English Department, becoming the Division of Rhetoric and Composition (1993). All of these events altered the disciplines of rhetoric and writing and English studies.
An Innovative Archive for a Developing Discipline
Forty years ago, the University of Texas blazed a trail towards a new discipline. With this site, we document the institutional history leading to the scholarly field of Rhetoric and Composition.
RhetcompUTX hosts an online archive of documents that relate to this tumultuous, interesting, and consequential period. Visitors can browse the exhibit by year, by topic, or by exhibit. They can also search all the items for items, keywords, or topics of particular interest.
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