Spring 2026
ENG 534
Studies in Literature 1700-1900: Banned Books
McDade, Monique
Section: 1
CRN: 61145
This class positions the current book ban movement within its historical context to investigate the ways books have not only influenced U.S culture and politics but also how they have posed as threats to different regimes of power. We will begin in the seventeenth century, with a Puritan community, spend the majority of our time in the 19th century, but emerge every so often in the 20th and 21st centuries to track the changing rubrics for challenging or banning books.
ENG 545
Studies in Nonfiction: Literary Research
St. Germain, Justin
Section: 1
CRN: 54948
This graduate craft course will focus on literary research. Conducting literary research is a core skill for nonfiction writers, and a useful one for those in any genre. In this class, students will practice two fundamental forms of research: interviewing sources, and performing secondary/archival research. We’ll read extensively about the craft of interviewing and various research methods, and will look at examples from different genres of how authors have incorporated research into published work. Students will be required to create a final project based on both primary and secondary research.
Note: enrollment in this course is limited to graduate students who have been accepted into OSU's MFA in Creative Writing Program.
ENG 570
Studies in Poetry: Ekphrasis
Olson, Rebecca
Section: 1
CRN: 58443
Olson, Rebecca
ENG 585
Studies in American Literature: An Oregon Guide to Literature
Balachander, Surabhi
Section: 1
CRN: 58444
In this course, we’ll work together to create a guide to Oregon literature. We’ll begin by reading several works of Oregon literature as well as theory about literature and place, collectively determining how we want to define and represent “Oregon literature.” Then, we’ll decide on a form for our guide and each of us will be responsible for independently reading a few texts and writing the corresponding entries. We will workshop entries in class and make the final product available to the public.
FILM 580
Studies in Film, Culture, and Society: Horror and Architecture
Schulze, Joshua
Section: 1
CRN: 61298
This course offers a critical overview of the horror genre and its relationship to space and the built environment. It surveys the major architectural shifts and movements of the 20th century and examines how these are reflected across selected horror films. Screenings may include Suspiria (1977), The Shining (1980), Parasite (2019), and others.
WR 506
Letterpress Intensive
Holmberg, Karen
Section: 2
CRN: 51717
This 1 credit, 2-day course introduces students to the basic techniques of letterpress printing. During the intensive (providing 10 hours of instruction), students will learn:
· Basic history and terminology;
· Introductory design skills using typefaces, spacing, and ornaments;
· Hand type-setting;
· Operation of the proofing press and demonstration of the Chandler and Price hand press.
This course is required for students seeking supervised access to the Moreland Letterpress Studio during its open hours for the Winter term.
WR 511
The Teaching of Writing
Kendon Kurzer
Section: 1
CRN: 60558
Introduces current and future teachers of writing to theory and pedagogical approaches in composition studies, helps us become better aware of and strengthen our own writing processes, and enables us to make and express connections between classroom experience and composition theory. We will explore topics like assessment, response, assignment creation, multilingualism, grammar, literacy, multimedia, process, and genre as we explore composition and writing. Students will complete reading assignments/responses, informal and formal writing assignments (such as developing a teaching portfolio and a literature review), and participate in class discussions and activities.
WR 518X
Teaching Practicum: Technical Writing
Bennett, Dennis
Section: 1
CRN: 61442
This one credit course explores pedagogical foundations and practical strategies for teaching technical writing at the university level.
WR 524
Advanced Fiction Writing
Sindya Bhanoo
Section: 1
CRN: 51776
75/25 HybridWR 524 is the graduate-level fiction workshop for MFA students. Our primary text will be student work. This term we will pay close attention to clarity and precision, essential ingredients in the creative endeavor, both of which allow truth and beauty to emerge on the page. What can we dial up or tone down in our work to present the most impactful, precisely distilled versions of our stories? In addition to workshopping student work, we will read and discuss one published short story every week.
WR 540
Advanced Nonfiction Writing
George Estreich
Section: 1
CRN: 54741
75/25 Hybrid
Our class is primarily a workshop, but we will also discuss published essays. I have two main goals: giving you specific, practical help with your own writing projects, and providing a space where you can develop your ideas about contemporary literary nonfiction.
Note: enrollment in this course is limited to graduate students who have been accepted into OSU's MFA in Creative Writing Program for nonfiction; other MFA students wishing to enroll must have instructor approval in advance.
WR 541
Advanced Poetry Writing
David Biespiel
Section: 1
CRN: 52189
75/25 Hybrid
As a combination seminar, generative workshop, lab study, and peer-feedback experience, we will read poems closely and write poems frequently. We will PRACTICE writing, curious as much about failure as success, knowing that success is not about perfection, but progress. Finished poems mean little to us in 441. Instead, practicing compositional strategies through fundamental and experimental methods mean everything. Advanced Poetry Writing's reading list, provided by the professor, will consist primarily of work by contemporary poets—by that, it is meant, poets of the past 150 years—to deepen your connection to poetry as an art across the generations. All to ask the question: where do you fit in? As we study how poems are made, we will also consider the ways in which, and the reasons why, poets are (sometimes, fatally, other times, liberated'ly) indebted to the poetry of the past. Our four-hour Friday-only sessions will be animated, bold, and celebratory—the ABCs of any good workshop—and include close readings of selected poems, writing in conversation with those poems, experimenting in myriad ways to “find the poem in your poem," and sharing your writing. Critique will not be our first or last job, but just something that comes up as we go about the ABCs. By the time you’ve completed this workshop, you’ll be reading like a writer and, because of that, writing like a poet. You’ll learn more about what a poem is and where your poems might come from—which is the most important thing to you as 441 poets. All of that is more important than brutal forms revision. All of that is more elemental to growing as writers than a circle of critiques. Instead, you’ll have deepened your comprehension of poetic thinking (i.e. making metaphor). And, you will have further developed your roles as writers in service of the art of poetry.
Note: enrollment in this course is limited to graduate students who have been accepted into OSU's MFA in Creative Writing Program for poetry; other MFA students wishing to enroll must have instructor approval in advance.
WR 562
ENVIRONMENTAL WRITING
TBD
Section 1
CRN: 55106
Writing about environmental topics from multiple perspectives. Includes science journalism, research and writing on current scientific issues and controversies, and theories of rhetoric and environmentalism.
WR 573
Thesis and Dissertation Writing
Dennis Bennett
Section: 1
CRN 56567
If you are struggling with writing your thesis or dissertation, this course provides you with a clear roadmap to success. We'll demystify the process by first identifying the expectations for a high-quality thesis/dissertation in your field. Then, we'll analyze how to meet those expectations through effective writing strategies. Leave the drama behind and craft a compelling piece of scholarly work.
WR 575
Rhetorics of Race
Ana Milena Ribero
MA Experience
Section: 1
CRN: 60557
By exploring the interrelated concepts of race, racialization, and racism, Rhetorics of Race problematizes race as a taken-for-granted phenomenon. Through reading, writing, and discussion, we study racial formations as historically specific and analyze contemporary forms of racism in the US. As rhetoricians, we pay close attention to how rhetoric and discourse have the power to reproduce and challenge white supremacy and race-based oppressions. Emphasizing the intersectionality of oppression—that racism necessarily takes place at intersections with other forms of subordination including sexism, homophobia, ableism, etc.—Rhetorics of Race draws from Queer Black Feminism, Chican@ Feminism, and Critical Race Theory.
WR 593
The Rhetorical Tradition and The Teaching of Writing
Pflugfelder, Ehren
Section: 1
CRN: 58999
Pflugfelder, Ehren
Pedagogy, Pre-1800
This graduate-level course focuses on the history of rhetoric and how those rhetoricians – some over two millennia old – impact our teaching practices to this very day. Some of these dialogues, diatribes, poems, and plays are by major figures in rhetorical tradition, including Gorgias, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian. But we’ll also read works by figures not often included in a "classical" rhetorical survey, like the Sumerian Priestess Enheduanna, Confucious, Quechua nobleman Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, and Mohawk storyteller Tehanetorens. Our goal will be to bring their thoughts and ideas about rhetoric into the present-day and consider how we might engage their ideas in our own writing pedagogy. No previous experience reading ancient texts required.