For a couple years, I’ve kept track of frequent questions emailed to me by people interested in the program--and of answers I’ve sent back to them. Maybe you will find answers to some of your questions down below.
-- Richard Gebhardt (August 2007)

Can you tell me something about the students in the program?
Students come to the Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program from across the United States, and beyond. For instance, the fall 2007 entering class includes women and men from West Virginia, Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, New Jersey, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, and China. Students have a wide range of scholarly interests and a common interest in writing instruction. You can find brief notes on many current students in the program website. And you can learn a lot about the interests and activities of our students from our web-based newsletter Rhetoric & Writing Notes--especially Fall issues, which feature current students and their activities. Click the Newsletter button on the program’s main page or check here.

Could you tell me something about the program’s faculty?
The Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program has six core faculty members with wide-ranging scholarly and professional interests, including rhetorical history, computer-mediated writing, feminism and composition, rhetorical and critical theory, writing administration, cultural studies, writing assessment, writing in the disciplines, discourse analysis, and the preparation of writing teachers. All of us share a common interest in writing instruction and in helping graduate students develop as the scholars and teachers they need to be in order to have successful careers as college and university faculty members. The program website includes brief notes on program faculty here.

Here are email addresses in case you want to contact faculty members:
Kris Blair <kblair@bgnet.bgsu.edu>, Bruce Edwards <edwards@bgnet.bgsu.edu>, Sue Carter Wood <carters@bgnet.bgsu.edu>, Lance Massey <lmassey@bgnet.bgsu.edu>, Lee Nickoson Massey <leenick@bgnet.bgsu.edu>, Richard Gebhardt <richgeb@bgnet.bgsu.edu>.

What courses will I take in the program?
The Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program requires eight Core Courses: Rhetoric and Composition as a Discipline, Rhetorical Theory, Rhetorical History (2 seminars), Research, Computer-Mediated Writing, Scholarly Publication, and a Special-Topic Seminar. You will also take several Rhetoric & Writing electives (or for those with an MA in rhetoric and composition, optional cognate courses from areas like technical writing, higher education administration, literature, women’s studies, or ethnic studies). And there are a number of general requirements, among them a Language Requirement, Prelim Exam hours, and Dissertation hours. Click the Courses button on the program’s main page. For your quick reference as you consider rhetoric and composition doctoral programs, you might like to print out a two-page description sheet {New Link to 2-page description sheet} about course requirements and other aspects of the program.

How can I develop a strong application?
--One key to applying effectively to any doctoral program is get a good sense of the focus of a program and of the scholarly interests of its faculty so you can send materials that help the review committee see the “fit” of your interests and professional aspirations.
--Don’t wait until a university’s published deadline to apply, since that almost certainly means that the review committee will begin its work for the year before your file is complete. At BGSU, you should make sure your application is as complete as possible by February 1, and preferably earlier.
--Your application letter should go beyond just saying you want to apply. Rather it should give information about your background, your professional goals, and your reasons for applying to the program. The personal statement is another place clarify such matters. It should be compact (a couple pages) since the review committee will be reading lots of files, but it should detailed enough to represent you and your reasons for becoming part of program--and, of course, it should be an example of your best writing.
--It would be good if one or more your reference letters could touch on your fit with the program and if at least one of them could deal with your background in rhetoric and composition and/or your work as a writing teacher. Reference letters can be sent either to the Director of the Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program, or to Dr. Piya Lapinski, the English Department Graduate Coordinator. Either way, they will get to Graduate Secretary Mary Ann Sweeney and into your application file. By the way, don’t worry a great deal if a recommender does not get a letter done as promptly as you might like, but do check with the Graduate Secretary occasionally to see how letters are flowing in.
--In selecting your writing sample, you will naturally want to show you best academic work. As you select it, keep in mind that the review committee will be reading to get a sense of your ability to work with complex scholarly materials, as well as the clarity and overall effectiveness of your writing. Two shorter pieces could work well as a single sample, if they are not long (up to 20 pages total).
--Your official application goes to the Graduate College, and online application is the most efficient way to apply. Graduate College review of applications and transcripts can be time consuming (since transcripts need to get to BGSU from other institutions before review can start). So it is a good idea to apply as soon as possible.
--Lots of materials, such as reference letters, writing samples and personal statements, should be directed to the English Department, and many of them can be sent as email attachments. Either way, send them to the English Department Graduate Secretary, Mary Ann Sweeney (masween@bgnet.bgsu.edu). Please check with Mary Ann about this, as well as other questions you have about the application process.

What kind of work does an assistant do?
The most frequent assistantship assignment is teaching in General Studies Writing (Bowling Green’s first-year writing program). Over the four years of funding, assistantship assignments typically give experience in addition to first-year writing classes, for instance: teaching Intermediate Writing, working as a consultant in the Writing Center, serving as a mentor of new teachers in the General Studies Writing Program, working with the web journal Computers and Composition Online, or being an administrative assistant for the R&W PhD Program. Also, each year several Non-Service Fellowships are available to support dissertation work in the final year of funding. By the way, you can be in the program without funding--an option several students are pursuing now because they have positions at nearby colleges.

How do students typically move through the program?
As you would imagine, a lot of variables influence the way different students move through the Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program. But this rough and incomplete time line may be useful in understanding how the program unfolds over four years:
--Students take courses during the first four or five semesters (not counting summers).
--Toward the end of the second year, students set up Prelim Committees and start studying for Preliminary Exams.
--Often, students utilize the summer following the second year to study for General Exams and prepare Specialized Portfolio Exams, and then take Preliminary Exams early in the fall semester of the third year.
--The semester following completion of Preliminary Exams, students give their Graduate Lectures (our approach to dissertation topic approval). Students work with Committee chairs as they develop substantial proposals and working bibliographies. They submit the work to the Committee two or more weeks before the Graduate Lecture. Then they give compact Graduate Lectures based on the proposal, and they interact with Committee members and others who come to the public presentation.
--Following topic approval, students work on dissertation research and writing in close contact with their dissertation advisors (AKA committee chairs). Typically, they share chapters or other segments of the dissertation with the rest of the committee when the chair advises them to.
--When dissertations are complete, students give copies to all Committee members well in advance of the public Dissertation Defense. Following the Defense, students usually have some revision/editing to complete before submitting the dissertation electronically.

What are Preliminary Exams like in the program?
The Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program works to make Prelims functional as preparation for later research and dissertation work. That is why the Specialized Prelim is a Portfolio focused on professional activities and the future dissertation rather than being a second written exam. For more information, click the Prelim button on the program’s main page or go here.

What kind of dissertations do students write?
Rhetoric & Writing PhD students are interested in the range of approaches (rhetorical, cultural, empirical, technological). So while the program stresses writing instruction, students in the Rhetoric & Writing Program pursue a wide range of research approaches and dissertation topics. Here are some representative dissertations by program graduates:
Post-9/11 Rhetorical Theory and Composition Pedagogy; Speaking of Sex: The Rhetorical Strategies of Frances Willard, Victoria Woodhull, and Ira Craddock; Dynamic Criteria Mapping: Rhetorical Values in Writing Placement; A Rhetorical Analysis of Change in the Holocaust Memorial Center; Transitioning Into the Fully Online Writing Classroom; Weblogs, Adolescent Girls, and the Cybermuse Community; Rhetorical Analysis of Framing of Pre-Raphalite Pictures; A Story of Geography and Composition Pedagogy; A Descriptive Taxonomy of Police Reports on Conjugal Violence; The Classical Trivium in Contemporary Contexts; Ethos in the Reflective Voice of James Morris; Portfolio Based Testing and Mandated Assessment; Dramatizing Writing: Reinstating Delivery in the Classroom.

Can I specialize in . . . ?
This is a good question and one that interested students ask so frequently every year that I once did an article about it for our program newsletter, Rhetoric & Writing Notes. Part of my answer to the question is that specializing in any area within the broad field of rhetoric and composition centers in the dissertation and other post-course-work requirements in the last years of doctoral study. Any program is going have its required courses and, naturally, they can’t all match every student’s research interests exactly. But some of those courses may give you a chance to explore a research interest in a seminar paper; on the other hand, you may discover a new research interest while taking core courses. Either way, you will advance your research agenda while preparing for the specialized component of preliminary exams (a Specialized Portfolio, in our program) and in developing your dissertation proposal (what we call the Graduate Lecture). Naturally, you become even more specialized in the research area during a year or more of dissertation work. This evolving sort of specialization is why the previous section lists such a wide range of dissertation topics, very few of which, by the way, align exactly with specific core courses taken in the first couple years of the Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program.

Will my interest in writing and technology fit the program?
Lots of Rhetoric & Writing PhD students share your interest, and I would say that there is a strong computer culture among the students and faculty here. One of our seven program goals (and student learning outcomes) is to prepare students theoretically and practically to work in computer environments. Throughout their time here, students develop online portfolios demonstrating work relevant to the program goals, and they later develop professional online portfolios for use in their job searches. ENG 728,Computer Mediated Writing: Theory and Practice” is a required course taught by Dr. Kris Blair, a specialist in technology in writing instruction who edits Computers and Composition Online here at BGSU and who was the winner of the 2007 Technology Innovator Award from 7Cs (the CCCC Committee on Computers). Other faculty are interested in this area, too. Dr. Bruce Edwards and I were setting up campus computer labs and publishing about computers and writing in the early 1980s. Bruce helped Bowling Green evolve its whole program of web-based learning and currently serves as Associate Dean for Continuing and Extended studies. All core faculty use Blackboard and/or other web-based enhancements in their teaching, and most of us have taught fully online courses. Some students do dissertation work emphasizing computer mediated writing and/or web-based issues in rhetoric and composition. Some teaching assistantship assignments fall in this area, too--for instance, teaching computer-lab sections of first-year writing or web-based intermediate writing, and doing web-site development or maintenance--and some students get involved with Computers and Composition Online.

Is an MA required for application?
Most applicants to Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program have MA degrees, but under BGSU’s Continuing PhD Option we occasionally admit extremely capable BA graduates who have strong backgrounds and/or interest in rhetoric and composition and the teaching of writing. Continuing PhD Program students complete a non-thesis MA in which they take introductory courses in linguistics and literary theory, several Rhetoric & Writing courses, and a selection of courses from technical writing and other areas (e.g., speech-communication, women’s studies, literature). Since students take some R&W PhD courses in their first two years, the Continuing PhD Program tends to be more time-efficient than doing an unrelated MA and then starting a doctoral program. If you are thinking about this option, please be clear about your intentions and check for more information.

Are there options for the language requirement?
There are quite a few options, ranging from taking an exam from an appropriate language department, to taking a course in computer programming or American Sign Language. Lots of students take language brush-up courses in the summer, with the grade satisfying the requirement. Some students have found a summer study in France program run by the Romance Languages Department a very interesting way to satisfy the requirement.

Is the Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program well established or fairly recent?
Among the six dozen or so universities with doctorates in rhetoric and composition, Bowling Green has one of the longest-running programs. A listing of programs published a few years ago, for instance, shows that just a few PhD programs in the field were founded earlier than ours was--1980--and that a large number were founded later (for instance, Penn State 4 years later, Ohio State 5, Arizona 9, Illinois 10, Washington 12, and Minnesota 13). Our graduates--about eighty, now--have faculty and administrative positions in colleges and universities across the United States and beyond (see the next question). Our online newsletter Rhetoric & Writing Notes gives a good deal of information about the activities our alumni, especially in Spring issues. Look for Newsletter button on the Rhetoric & Writing Program home page or go here .

What sort of job-placement rate does the program have?
The placement rate for graduates of the Rhetoric & Writing PhD Program is virtually 100%. And graduates usually get tenure-line and other stable career positions, except when they must limit their job searches (for instance, to a small geographical region). In the last ten years or so, graduates have taken positions at such institutions as these: Augusta State University (Georgia), East Central University (Oklahoma), University of Denver, Southwest Missouri State University, Buena Vista University (Iowa), Louisiana Tech, Penn State University-Harrisburg, Georgia Institute of Technology, Savannah State University, Lorraine Community College (Ohio), University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, James Madison University (Virginia), University of Findlay (Ohio), University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Yakima Community College (Washington), Minnesota State University, and Western Michigan University.