JMU Writing, Rhetoric & Technical Communication - WRTC

08/29/2026

07/01/2026

Real-world skills in action! Students in Jeremy Rosselot-Merritt's WRTC 350: Foundations of Technical Communication course wrapped up the Spring Semester with informational interview presentations, connecting with professionals in fields they're considering for their future careers. Each student built networking skills by reaching out to and interviewing a professional, then translated their findings into a professional written report before delivering a live presentation to the class. From the realities of freelance editing to communications consulting, from industry trends to career advice, students gained firsthand insight into fields they hope to enter. The assignment gave students hands-on practice with networking, research, professional writing, and presentation skills—all skills they'll carry into their careers in technical and professional communication and beyond. These students did excellent work.

05/19/2026

WRTC faculty Meghalee Das, PhD has published a book titled "Collaborative Writing at Work: A Playbook for Teams" (Parlor Press), co-authored with Jason Tham (Texas Tech University) and Joe Moses (University of Minnesota). The book offers a practical framework that integrates design thinking and Agile methodologies to help teams improve their collaborative writing processes and produce stronger workplace documents. More information and ordering details are available here: https://parlorpress.com/products/collaborative-writing-at-work.

05/14/2026

We are so proud of our students!

05/07/2026

Meghalee Das, Ph.D., was awarded a $5,000 Course Development Grant by the College of Arts and Letters to support the development of a new graduate course, Design Thinking in Technical Communication. Planned as a cornerstone of the evolving WRTC graduate curriculum, it integrates design thinking with technical communication, emphasizing user-centered, ethical, and collaborative approaches to designing across contexts. The course draws on Das’s research in design, collaboration, and communication practices, and also has strong potential for application in upper-level undergraduate courses

05/01/2026

Congratulations Hairat!

04/29/2026

Congratulations Samantha!!

04/27/2026

Hey WRTCers!

Looking for a way to grow your writing skills and your resume and get paid? Consider applying for a student editorial position with JMU's Content Management. This position could also count for an internship to satisfy your WRTC 495 requirement. Contact Jim Heffernan at [email protected] if interested.

And reach out to Jen Almjeld at [email protected] with any questions about this or other internship opportunities.

04/16/2026

Collaboration in action! Students in Dr. Meghalee Das’s WRTC 103: Rhetorical Reading and Writing course partnered with consultants-in-training from Dr. Emily Bouza’s WRTC 336: Writing Consultation course at the University Writing Center for an engaging peer review session. WRTC 336 students provided thoughtful feedback to WRTC 103 students on their annotated bibliography drafts, creating a meaningful exchange between writers and emerging consultants. This cross-course collaboration strengthened students' revision skills while giving consultants-in-training valuable, real-world experience. A great example of learning through community and practice!

04/13/2026

Huge congratulations to faculty member Rodolfo "Rudy" Barrett, whose chapter "The Machine Genie: Instructional Metaphors for LLM Text Production" is out now in Writing Centers and AI: Generating Early Conversations, a new open-access collection from the WAC Clearinghouse!

Drawing on surveys and interviews with writing center practitioners, Rudy's chapter examines the metaphors people use to make sense of large language models—from "shortcut" to "fallible collaborator"—and what those metaphors mean for how we teach and talk about AI.

The full book is free to read at https://wacclearinghouse.org/books/perspectives/generating/. Congratulations, Rudy!