Summer 2020 Courses

Undergraduate English Courses
Graduate English Courses
Undergraduate Writing Courses
Graduate Writing Courses

Summer 2020 - Undergraduate English Courses

ENG 300-001 LITERARY FORM AND ANALYSIS
Dr. Bill Knight

English 300 introduces students to the practices of the academic study of literature and to the work of the English major. The section I will offer this summer does this first by slowing down our galloping leap towards interpretation and judgments about literary works. Instead of quickly jumping to theoretical conclusions, in English 300 we are granted permission to think carefully and patiently about how literary form enables our interpretations. Provided this luxury, we can turn our attention to some of the unquestioned assumptions we have about reading and about the nature of literary works themselves. What do we do when we read “literarily”? Is there such a thing? And what kinds of knowledges are specific to acts of reading in this way? What skills and practices make up the study of expressive and narrative writing according to the university discipline of English? And in what ways might we put some of the institutional authority, norms, and requirements of the study of English to question? Our course will encourage self-discovery, mindfulness of the processes of reading and interpretation, and an informed critical engagement with the norms and rules of the discipline this course calls home.

The course will be held asynchronously, online (via Canvas) and will focus on interactions that include robust discussion, shared peer feedback and review, and my own feedback.

Required texts/editions: 
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home. Mariner Books, 2007. ISBN: 978-0618871711
Mays, ed. The Norton Introduction to Literature (Portable Twelfth Edition). W.W. Norton, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-393-93893-7
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein: The 1818 Text. Penguin Classics, 2018. ISBN: 978-0143131847

 

ENG 301U-001 TOP: SHAKESPEARE PROBLEM PLAYS
Keri Behre

In this course, we will undertake a close study of a variety of Shakespeare’s comedies, paying special attention to the “problem plays” and dark comedies: plays which take on corruption, cynicism, gender roles, and other difficult cultural circumstances. We will pay close attention to the complex comic genre, the ways Shakespeare’s comedies evolved throughout the trajectory of his career, how the plays responded to historical context, and how they might be relevant in our current cultural moment. Our text will be The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd Edition as well as some film versions of the plays we’ll study; students will help set the reading list. Course work will include response papers, discussions, some collaborative writing, and a final essay. 

 

ENG 305U-002 TOP: THE CINEMATIC CITY
Josh Epstein

This online course will examine cinematic treatments of the urban metropolis, from silent film to the present. We’ll think about how characteristics of the modern city—hyperstimulus, speed, technology, transportation, infrastructure, noise—are treated in film, thinking in particular about how directors give form to the chaotic shocks and collisions of urban life. We will see social questions—how the city reflects various tensions, relationships, and vulnerabilities of race, gender, class, sexuality, and commerce—collide with aesthetic questions: is the city beautiful or ugly? Does speed energize or exhaust us? Does technology dehumanize us or unleash creative potential and productivity? Do films emphasize the city’s fragmented alienation or its continuity and cohesion? Or is it all of the above? (Hint: it’s all of the above.) And we’ll ask how films use the various techniques at their disposal—use of onscreen and offscreen space, editing and movement, mise-en-scène, lighting, sound and music—to speak to the dimensions of city life.

There will be no required textbook purchases. Films will be made available free of charge. This is not a “theory class” per se, but we will use select film theory readings to flesh out the theoretical, aesthetic, and historical questions related to the course topic.  

The film list is still in flux, but may include some (not all!) of the following. 

King Vidor, The Crowd
Fritz Lang, Metropolis
Charlie Chaplin, Modern Times
Jacques Tatí, Playtime
Godfrey Reggio, Koyaanisqatsi
Agnes Varda, Cléo from 5 to 7
Gillo Pontecorvo, The Battle of Algiers
Richard Linklater, Before Sunrise
Ryan Coogler, Black Panther
Sean Baker, Tangerine

 

ENG 305U-001 TOP: MASTERPIECES OF CINEMA
Michael Clark

Study of film as text, including auteur, formalist, historical, and cultural perspectives. Course may be repeated for credit with different topics. Up to 8 credits of this course number can be applied to the English major.

 

ENG 306U-001 TOP: AMER NOVEL AND CULTURE
Michael Clark

Literary works are an embodiment of the human. Such works are a time machine – an expression of the spirit, struggles, potentialities, and failures of a society at any given moment.

This course will trace the relationship between the historical, political, economic, and other forces that are expressed in American literature during the 20th century. We will study these forces by reading great novels. We will begin with a survey of the modernist masterpieces of American literature that followed World War I, works that captured the transformation of America from a largely rural and isolationist country to an urban, global power. Two of the central novelists of that period – Hemingway, and Fitzgerald – portrayed the effects of economic, political, and ideological changes that transformed American life. Hemingway captures the spiritual alienation, uncertainty and rebirth that followed World War I, while Fitzgerald addressed the limits of the “American dream” of self-transformation. Both of these remarkable authors offer a magnificent portrayal of a society that was, in a sense, entering young adulthood.

The second half of the twentieth century saw a different kind of transformation in American cultural life. Keroucac’s landmark On the Road describes the restlessness of a growing youth culture, a societal fascination with the automobile and, to a greater or lesser extent, the wonders and limits of westward exploration in American life. Ellison explores the struggles of African Americans in a racist society, while Erdrich describes the struggles of Native American peoples that had been exiled in their own land. Finally, Marilynne Robinson explores the tension between domesticity and errancy (movement) in the lives of three generations of women.

 

ENG 351U-001 AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATUE
Anoop Mirpuri

“Now to talk to me about black studies as if it’s something that concerned black people is utter denial. This is the history of Western Civilization. I can’t see it otherwise.” – C.L.R. James

“It does not follow that if the Negro were better known, he would be better liked or better treated.” – Alain Locke

It’s tempting to read slave narratives as simple “testimony” to the experience of enslavement by formerly enslaved people. While it’s true that slave narratives provide important and valuable testimony, in this class we will examine the slave narrative as a genre—a form of writing—that was shaped by the historical context in which it emerged. In other words, we will read slave narratives as complex cultural products shaped by a variety of social and economic factors, rather than as authentic representations of a “black experience.” What were the historical conditions that gave rise to the slave narrative as a form of writing? What were the intentions of the writers and editors that produced these narratives? Who were they writing for? What were the assumptions and expectations of their audience? How did these assumptions shape what it was possible to write and the form in which it was possible to write it? Were these narratives successful in accomplishing their intended goals? Why did the slave narrative become the dominant form of abolitionist expression in the nineteenth century? How has the slave narrative shaped contemporary discourses on slavery, freedom, race, and blackness?

This course will be conducted remotely and asynchronously.

 

ENG 378U-001 AMERICAN POETRY II
Tom Fisher

This course focuses on American Poetry from the early twentieth century through the decades following WWII. After a brief look at some mid-late nineteenth century writing, we will begin with select Modernist and Harlem Renaissance writers of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, read the New American and Black Arts Movement poets of the 1950s and 1960s, and conclude with various writers from the 1970s and 1980s.

 

ENG 387U-001 WOMEN'S LITERATURE
Susan Reese

BREAKING NEWS! I am now going to be teaching this freshly added course to our summer offerings! I’m very excited. I have considered most literature written by women over centuries, but have finally winnowed the list down to the following:
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (novel)
Original Fire by Louise Erdrich (poetry)
Sula by Toni Morrison (novel)
Krik Krak by Edwidge Danticat (stories)
In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (novel)

I will be posting links to the following on Canvas:
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf (not required reading, but for your reference (although if you haven’t read it, please put it on your list of things to do; I will tell you what I think is particularly important to note, and hope to track down a video) “Yellow Woman” by Leslie Marmon Silko (story). And no doubt more…but I promise to keep it under control, or at least I’ll try.

Our shared journey will be in consideration of women becoming their true selves, the obstacles faced, survival, and triumph. It will be a consideration of gender, race, class, and all the roles assigned and demolished that forward movement has, does, and will require. These are authors I absolutely love, and if you don’t already, I predict you’re going to fall in love with them, too. Their stories will play off one another, and off us in our discussions. We will inform one another as we travel through these pages. I hope you’ll join me!

We will meet together on Zoom, will participate in discussions in Canvas, sharing our thoughts verbally and in writing. This is an 8 week class.

 

ENG 458-001 ADV TOP: ROMANTICISM
Professor W. Tracy Dillon

Nothing will be as it was
a few hours ago, back in the glorious past
before our naps, back in that Golden Age
that drew to a close sometime shortly after lunch.

--Billy Collins

In his poem "Lines Written Over Three Thousand Miles from Tintern Abbey," two-time Poet Laureate Billy Collins satirizes our Father of Romanticism, William Wordsworth, whose “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” incarnates dominant stereotypes of Romantic lit as “nature poetry” that’s all about “feelings.” But oh! that deep, savage, holy and enchanted oversimplification obscures both poets’ fascination with the psychology and science of how sensation, memory, and imagination intertwine to achieve powerful acts of creation. And what did Romantics create?  Well, if you were a person of science in the Romantic era, you might have created enhancements to steam engines or telescopes; if you were a person of politics, you might have created rebellion, revolution, a lurch toward democracy, a relapse into tyranny, or an empire; if you were a social justice activist, you might have created Abolition, a vindication for the rights of women, or legislation to feed the poor or to protect abused children; if you were a writer, you might have created some cool poems or novels about all of these things. 

What a mash up! How will we disentangle such knotty matter in order to emancipate “advanced” topics in Romanticism from the laggards? All in ten short weeks? We could pick a one-trick pony and ride it all quarter—let’s say, the Plastic Imagination, or the Awful Shadow of Unseen Intellectual Beauty. But I’m itching to do topics instead of a topic in order to broaden appeal. What does THE PROFESSOR have in mind? Revolution and the Spirit of the Age; British Empire and Imperial Expansion; the Lure of India and the “Orient”; the Exotification of “New World” Native Americans; War; Romantic Prophecy, Dreams, and Visions; Gothic Lit; the Pastoral and the Sublime; Women and Property; Wealth, Poverty, and Social Class…and the hits keep coming. But right there are ten topics for consideration. 

We can’t possibly cover every topic of interest in our short time together, so we will renew some greatest hits of marvelous memorabilia to talk about the workings of the literary imagination, to acknowledge writers as legislators of culture (or of ontology if you prefer), and to bone up on authors and ideas that make Romanticism the most awesome era in English literature ever.  

Recommended Text

A good anthology of Romantic literature. I recommend either The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th edition, Volume D, The Romantic Period or The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, 3rd edition, Volume 4, The Age of Romanticism. Savvy textbook buyers can find used copies online for cheap, as well as even cheaper earlier editions (for example, Norton edition 9 would work just fine). Get yourself a tome you can leisurely leaf through during summertime hours of splendour in the grass, or in quarantine from global pandemic, whichever comes first. 

Questions? Ask THE PROFESSOR.
dillont@pdx.edu


Summer 2020 - Graduate English Courses

ENG 558-001 ADV TOP: ROMANTICISM
Professor W. Tracy Dillon

Nothing will be as it was
a few hours ago, back in the glorious past
before our naps, back in that Golden Age
that drew to a close sometime shortly after lunch.

--Billy Collins

In his poem "Lines Written Over Three Thousand Miles from Tintern Abbey," two-time Poet Laureate Billy Collins satirizes our Father of Romanticism, William Wordsworth, whose “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” incarnates dominant stereotypes of Romantic lit as “nature poetry” that’s all about “feelings.” But oh! that deep, savage, holy and enchanted oversimplification obscures both poets’ fascination with the psychology and science of how sensation, memory, and imagination intertwine to achieve powerful acts of creation. And what did Romantics create?  Well, if you were a person of science in the Romantic era, you might have created enhancements to steam engines or telescopes; if you were a person of politics, you might have created rebellion, revolution, a lurch toward democracy, a relapse into tyranny, or an empire; if you were a social justice activist, you might have created Abolition, a vindication for the rights of women, or legislation to feed the poor or to protect abused children; if you were a writer, you might have created some cool poems or novels about all of these things. 

What a mash up! How will we disentangle such knotty matter in order to emancipate “advanced” topics in Romanticism from the laggards? All in ten short weeks? We could pick a one-trick pony and ride it all quarter—let’s say, the Plastic Imagination, or the Awful Shadow of Unseen Intellectual Beauty. But I’m itching to do topics instead of a topic in order to broaden appeal. What does THE PROFESSOR have in mind? Revolution and the Spirit of the Age; British Empire and Imperial Expansion; the Lure of India and the “Orient”; the Exotification of “New World” Native Americans; War; Romantic Prophecy, Dreams, and Visions; Gothic Lit; the Pastoral and the Sublime; Women and Property; Wealth, Poverty, and Social Class…and the hits keep coming. But right there are ten topics for consideration. 

We can’t possibly cover every topic of interest in our short time together, so we will renew some greatest hits of marvelous memorabilia to talk about the workings of the literary imagination, to acknowledge writers as legislators of culture (or of ontology if you prefer), and to bone up on authors and ideas that make Romanticism the most awesome era in English literature ever.  

Recommended Text

A good anthology of Romantic literature. I recommend either The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 10th edition, Volume D, The Romantic Period or The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, 3rd edition, Volume 4, The Age of Romanticism. Savvy textbook buyers can find used copies online for cheap, as well as even cheaper earlier editions (for example, Norton edition 9 would work just fine). Get yourself a tome you can leisurely leaf through during summertime hours of splendour in the grass, or in quarantine from global pandemic, whichever comes first. 

Questions? Ask THE PROFESSOR.
dillont@pdx.edu


Summer 2020 - Undergraduate Writing Courses

WR 121-001 COLLEGE WRITING
STAFF

A writing course for lower-division students, in which they develop critical thinking abilities by reading and writing, increase their rhetorical strategies, practice writing processes, and learn textual conventions. Includes formal and informal writing, responding to a variety of readings, sharing writing with other students, and revising individual pieces for a final portfolio of work.

 

WR 121-002 COLLEGE WRITING
Laura Hobson

This course is focused on preparing you for academic communication. It will challenge you to think critically about the media we consume in our everyday lives, from news articles to Instagram, while also guiding you through a thorough research process.  It will provide you with opportunities to practice academic writing and conventions of academic discourse while emphasizing the independent research and learning you will need for self-guided academic projects as you go on in your field. We’ll be learning collaboratively, using group discussions and workshops to enhance our understanding of a variety of mediums and improve our writing. Your sense of curiosity, your composing process, and your ability to reflect meaningfully on your own experience and thoughts will be challenged and improved.


WR 212-001 INTRO FICTION WRITING
STAFF

Introduces the beginning fiction writer to basic techniques of developing character, point of view, plot, and story idea in fiction. Includes discussion of student work. May be repeated for a total of 8 credits. Expected preparation: Freshman Inquiry. 


WR 213-001 INTRO POETRY WRITING
Mark Guziel

Our primary goal in this course is to become better writers and readers of poems. In order to do so, we’ll engage in a series of writing exercises, read poetry and essays on poetics from a wide range of writers, share poems with each other, and provide feedback for one another.


WR 222-001 WRITING RESEARCH PAPERS
STAFF

An elective course. The techniques for compiling and writing research papers. Attention to available reference materials, use of library, taking notes, critical evaluation of evidence, and conventions for documenting academic papers. Practice in organizing and writing a long expository essay based on use of library resources. Recommended: Wr 121 or Freshman Inquiry. May not be used to fulfill English major requirements. 


WR 227-001 INTRO TECHNICAL WRTG
Jacob Tootalian

Practical experience in forms of technical communication, emphasizing basic organization and presentation of technical information. Focuses on strategies for analyzing the audience and its information needs. Recommended: Wr 121 or Freshman Inquiry. 

 

WR 227-002 INTRO TECHNICAL WRTG
Henry Covey

Introduction: WR 227 introduces the principles and applications of technical, scientific, and professional/workplace communication. 

- Explore the basic elements and writing strategies that define technical communication. 

- Learn how to compose informative, instructive, persuasive, and ethical technical documentation in your discipline. 

- Refine composition skills that emphasize content, organizational format, and meeting the needs of targeted reading audiences. 

- Gather, read, and analyze information while learning a variety of methods for presenting information in appealing, carefully edited documents designed for specific audiences, including the creation and placement of effective visual and graphic elements. 

Textbook: The primary textbook for this course will be a FREE copy of the 'IEEE Guide to Writing in the Engineering and Technical Fields' by David Kmiec and Bernadette Longo. As you can tell from its title, the IEEE Guide is not just for engineers but anyone in the technical fields, i.e., STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, which of course also includes medicine/public health and finance/business admin). You read that correctly; even the arts has technical writing. 

Notes: WR121 or Freshman Inquiry recommended for this class but not required. Lectures on course content will be digitally recorded and posted online. Weekly Zoom meetings are recommended and will be regularly scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10-11 AM PT, but synchronous meetings are not required, unless your grade and/or engagement with coursework becomes an issue. 

 

WR 301-001 WIC: CRITICAL WRTING ENGLISH
Dr. Sarah Lincoln

There is no document of culture that is not at the same time a document of barbarism
    —Walter Benjamin, 1940

The course provides a rigorous introduction to the methods, approaches and questions necessary for advanced scholarly work in English, including close reading, historicism, research and argument: consider it boot camp for English majors! This is not a survey of theoretical perspectives, though we will read and discuss some important examples of literary theory along the way. Rather, the class prepares you for upper-division scholarship by asking what it is that we “do” as readers and critics—what English is “for,” why literature matters, and how encounters with the strangeness of literary language reflect and model other sorts of strange encounters.
 
A careful reading of J.M. Coetzee’s 1980 novel Waiting for the Barbarians serves as a basis for our broader consideration of the ethical and political significance of reading, interpretation, and translation; we will also put the novel in dialogue with other works of literature, including Camus’s “The Guest”; Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden; Kafka’s In the Penal Colony; DH Lawrence, “Snake”; and Cavafy’s “Waiting for the Barbarians"; along with theoretical perspectives from Derek Attridge, Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault and others. 

As a Writing Intensive Class (WIC), the course will also focus on the strategies, conventions and techniques of scholarly writing. Reading and responding to other students’ work; drafting, revising and polishing written assignments in response to feedback; and improving grammar, style, clarity and argument will all form part of your work in the class. 

Note: though the class is conducted online, you will be asked to participate in occasional synchronous small-group draft workshop sessions via Zoom or Google Meet; you will, however, be able to choose your meeting time, and these are not scheduled every week.

Required Texts:

J.M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians (Penguin Ink)
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden (Penguin)
The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition (MLA)
Graff and Birkenstein, They Say/I Say, 3rd Edition

*This course requires some synchronous online participation

 

WR 323-001/003/004/005 WRITING AS CRITICAL INQUIRY
STAFF

A writing course for upper-division students, which offers sophisticated approaches to writing and reading. Students enhance critical thinking abilities by reading and writing challenging material, refine their rhetorical strategies, practice writing processes with special attention to revision and style, and write and read in a variety of genres. Includes formal and informal writing, sharing writing with other students, and preparing a final portfolio of work. Recommended: satisfactory completion of Wr 121 or Freshman Inquiry. 


WR 323-002 WRITING AS CRITICAL INQUIRY
Hildy Miller

In this online upper division writing course we will focus on developing a more sophisticated understanding of our own writing processes, reflect on the concept of how to reach consensus rather than strictly to argue, and explore how, as you leave the university, the writing tasks that lie ahead will require other conventions.  Includes formal writing, responding to a variety of readings, sharing writing with other students, and reflecting on writing. Our class will run as a workshop in which you’ll be collaborating with other students throughout phases of both your and their writing processes.

Questions?  Contact Hildy Miller at milleh@pdx.edu

 

WR 327-001 TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING
Aaron Bannister

Strategies for presenting technical information from the technician, management, and lay person's perspectives; rhetorical theory and techniques for adapting technical prose to nontechnical audiences; and techniques for emphasizing and de-emphasizing information. Recommended: Wr 323.

 

WR 327-002 TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING
Dr. Lezlie Hall

The outcomes of this course place a particular focus on practices related to writing about and with data, which are writing practices common to all technical careers.  In addition, the outcomes place a focus on language practices at the sentence, paragraph and document levels with a focus on writing to minimize bias and promote universally accessible documentation.

 

WR 327-003 TECHNICAL REPORT WRITING
Julie Kares

Sharing your ideas can be challenging!  When those ideas convey complex, technical information, it can seem overwhelming!  Building skills that allow you to speak to varied audiences on any number of technical topics will ensure that you successfully express your great concepts!  In WR 327, we’ll explore technical writing across career fields, exploring the “how” of technical writing versus the “what.”  While we will focus on particular kinds of reports to familiarize you with the possibilities, the emphasis will be on the process.  Using the core skills you learn in this class, you will be able to recognize and apply the effective components of report writing to create strong documents in diverse situations.

 

WR 410-002 BOOK PUBLISHING IN SCOTLAND
Rachel Noorda

First four weeks of summer, starting June 22, 2020

This course offers a comprehensive view of the book publishing industry in the UK, particularly in Scotland. Various parts of the publishing process (editorial, marketing, design) and ecosystem (writers, publishers, distributors, retailers, etc.) in Scotland will be covered.

This course aims to address the following topics:

- The history of book publishing, printing, and authorship in Scotland
- Literary festivals and award culture in Scotland
- Different style guide rules for copyediting in the UK
- Distribution and retail environments in the UK
- Scottish government involvement in the creative industries
- Scottish book publishing trade organizations
- Scottish writers and literary agents

As the world grows increasingly globalized and interconnected, so does the publishing world, so that to be an informed and experienced publishing professionals in the United States, it is even more important to know how the publishing industry operates in international contexts like the UK. It is an excellent opportunity to get experience with the Scottish book publishing industry.


Students sign up here: https://vikingsabroad.pdx.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=10643 

 

WR 411-001/002/003/004 INTERNSHIP
Susan Reese

This summer, for the first time, we are offering the WR 411/511 Internship course, so if you have an internship lined up or want to do an internship (go online to Career Services and Internships if you need help locating an internship, as they can provide that), please join me. We will meet in Canvas and have discussions and share work as you participate in your internship. 

You can sign up as an undergrad (411) or grad (511) and for 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. Please contact me with questions and for my approval to join the class!

Summer is a great time to accomplish the extra work of an internship, and there are online internships out there. I know Sarah Read, Director of Tech Writing; Rachel Noorda, Director of Publishing, and Susan Kirtley Director of Writing and Comics Studies help connect students with internships regularly, as do other of my colleagues.

Remember: Please let me know what your internship will be. You must have one already agreed upon with a specific company or concern, as the class doesn’t provide that. Then I absolutely give you permission to register. It must be related to Writing or Publishing. When you sign up, you have the option for WR 411-001 (one credit), WR 400-002(2 credits), WR 411-003(3 credits), or WR 411-004 (4 credits). The same options are available for the WR 511 course.

 

WR 474-001 PUBLISHING STUDIO
Abbey Gaterud

Perform the work of a real publishing house, from acquiring manuscripts to selling books. Gain publishing experience by participating in the various departments of a student-staffed publishing house, Ooligan Press. Departments include Acquisitions, Editing, Design and Sustainable Production, Marketing, External Promotions, Sales, Digital Content, Social Media, and Project Management and Operations. Course may be repeated multiple times. Also offered for graduate-level credit as Wr 574. Prerequisite: Wr 475.

 

WR 475-001 PUBLISHING LAB
Abbey Gaterud

Perform the work of a real publishing house, from acquiring manuscripts to selling books. Gain publishing experience by participating in the various departments of a student-staffed publishing house, Ooligan Press. Departments include Acquisitions, Editorial, Design, Marketing and Sales, Digital, and Social Media. Course may be taken multiple times for credit. Also offered for graduate-level credit as Wr 575.. Prerequisite: Wr 300 or Wr 312 or Wr 313 or Wr 323 or Wr 324 or Wr 327 or Wr 328 or Wr 330 or Wr 331 or Wr 333 or Wr 394 or Wr 399.


Summer 2020 - Graduate Writing Courses

WR 510-001 SUMMER TECHNOLOGY TRAINING aka “Coding Bootcamp”    
Dr. Sarah Read

What: a 2-credit, 8-week summer online introduction to coding for graduate students and advanced undergraduates in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Students will be starting from different levels.

How: We will use a so-called “flipped classroom” approach to work through the material covered by Harvard’s CS50x, an open-source platform for teaching and learning computer science. Students will watch the video lectures on their own and then work on the problem sets  both independently and collaboratively with classmates and the instructor. .

Topics covered: Students will be able to choose their own topics after moving through the two foundational units on Scratch and C together. Additional topics include, algorithms, data structures, resource management, security, software engineering, and web development. Optional Languages include: Python, SQL, and JavaScript, CSS and HTML.

See: https://www.edx.org/course/cs50s-introduction-computer-science-harvardx-...
for full materials. 

Students are required to finish a minimum of 3 problem sets to get credit for the course.

What the instructor will do: The instructor will help students work through the problem sets, noting that different students might be at different parts in the course. The instructor will have familiarity with the problem sets and their solutions and will help the students use the temporary GitHub “sandbox” and write and test their code. The instructor will also help define the final projects and grade them. 

For more information, reach out to Sarah Read (English) read3@pdx.edu or Jay Nadeau (Physics) nadeau@pdx.edu

 

WR 510-002 BOOK PUBLISHING IN SCOTLAND
Rachel Noorda

First four weeks of summer, starting June 22, 2020

This course offers a comprehensive view of the book publishing industry in the UK, particularly in Scotland. Various parts of the publishing process (editorial, marketing, design) and ecosystem (writers, publishers, distributors, retailers, etc.) in Scotland will be covered.

This course aims to address the following topics:

- The history of book publishing, printing, and authorship in Scotland
- Literary festivals and award culture in Scotland
- Different style guide rules for copyediting in the UK
- Distribution and retail environments in the UK
- Scottish government involvement in the creative industries
- Scottish book publishing trade organizations
- Scottish writers and literary agents

As the world grows increasingly globalized and interconnected, so does the publishing world, so that to be an informed and experienced publishing professionals in the United States, it is even more important to know how the publishing industry operates in international contexts like the UK. It is an excellent opportunity to get experience with the Scottish book publishing industry.


Students sign up here: https://vikingsabroad.pdx.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.ViewProgram&Program_ID=10643 

 

WR 511-001/002/003/004 INTERNSHIP
Susan Reese

This summer, for the first time, we are offering the WR 411/511 Internship course, so if you have an internship lined up or want to do an internship (go online to Career Services and Internships if you need help locating an internship, as they can provide that), please join me. We will meet in Canvas and have discussions and share work as you participate in your internship. 

You can sign up as an undergrad (411) or grad (511) and for 1, 2, 3, or 4 credits. Please contact me with questions and for my approval to join the class!

Summer is a great time to accomplish the extra work of an internship, and there are online internships out there. I know Sarah Read, Director of Tech Writing; Rachel Noorda, Director of Publishing, and Susan Kirtley Director of Writing and Comics Studies help connect students with internships regularly, as do other of my colleagues.

Remember: Please let me know what your internship will be. You must have one already agreed upon with a specific company or concern, as the class doesn’t provide that. Then I absolutely give you permission to register. It must be related to Writing or Publishing. When you sign up, you have the option for WR 411-001 (one credit), WR 400-002(2 credits), WR 411-003(3 credits), or WR 411-004 (4 credits). The same options are available for the WR 511 course.

 

WR 574-001 PUBLISHING STUDIO 
Abbey Gaterud

Perform the work of a real publishing house, from acquiring manuscripts to selling books. Gain publishing experience by participating in the various departments of a student-staffed publishing house, Ooligan Press. Departments include Acquisitions, Editing, Design and Sustainable Production, Marketing, External Promotions, Sales, Digital Content, Social Media, and Project Management and Operations. May be taken multiple times for credit. Also offered for undergraduate level credit as Wr 474. Prerequisite: Wr 575.

 

WR 575-001 PUBLISHING LAB
Abbey Gaterud

Perform the work of a real publishing house, from acquiring manuscripts to selling books. Gain publishing experience by participating in the various departments of a student-staffed publishing house, Ooligan Press. Departments include Acquisitions, Editorial, Design, Marketing and Sales, Digital, and Social Media. May be taken multiple times for credit. Also offered for undergraduate level credit as Wr 475.