UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric

Writing and Rhetoric major, Kayden Peets, started an essay in ENC3453 Writing About Health and Medicine with Professor Baker and continued editing her work in ENG3833 Marketing Your Writing with Professor Holic and has resulted in her first publication!

Kayden had this to say to Professor Baker, "I want to say thank you so much for all that you taught me in Writing in Health and Medicine and for giving me the opportunity to make this story come to life. You and your career are a big inspiration to me that I can do both medicine and writing. The essay has gone through many rounds of revisions from when I first turned it in for the assignment, and I'm really proud of the final product."

Check out the essay in Issue 6 of The Calendula Review, starting on page 24:

Issue 6: Spring 2026 | Calendula Review

DWR Assistant Professor, Dr. Joel Schneier, presented a paper along with fellow co-authors at the Earli SIG Writing Conference in Winterthur, Switzerland yesterday! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

DWR two-time alumnus, Mekenzie McElroy, turned her MA non thesis into her very first journal article publication! We're so proud of you and all the work you're doing, Mekenzie! Check out the article here:

23.3 McElroy — Praxis Faculty attitudes and teaching practices significantly influence how students understand and engage with writing centers. This project uses oral history interviews with three first-year composition instructors to explore how their experiences, knowledge, and attitudes inform the ways they incorporat...

Congratulations to Matthew Bryan, Amy Cicchino, Kara Taczak, and Meghan Velez, all of whom have pieces in the latest issue of Computers and Composition! You can find all of these pieces and the rest of Volume 80 here:

www.sciencedirect.com

McKenna Slaughter, ⁠Nghi Chau, and UCF University Writing Center - UWC Director, Amy Cicchino were invited to join the Create.Share.Engage podcast to talk about ePortfolios in our writing center. McKenna and Nghi did an amazing job sharing their experience as ePortfolio creators and tutors who support ePortfolios in our center and our online writing groups. ✨✨

You can listen to the podcast episode here: https://podcast.mahara.org/2018360/episodes/18913570

Congratulations to Meeghan Faulconer being promoted to Associate Instructor! 💫⚔🎉

UCF Recognizes Faculty Excellence with 2026 Promotion and Tenure Awards One hundred faculty members are recognized for excellence in teaching, research and service.

We're so thrilled to announce DWR MA student, McKenna Slaughter, has been awarded the Delores Auzenne Fellowship for next year! This fellowship will provide additional stipend support to McKenna as she enters her second year of graduate education with us and prepares to begin work on her thesis.

Congratulations, McKenna!! 💫💫💫

Last spring, Professor Nathan Holic's Graphic Medicine course explored the intersection of comics and health/medicine, studying how artists and healthcare professionals have used the comics form to educate the broader public about important health issues, and how both patients and medical providers have used comics to better understand illness. As part of students from a variety of academic fields from across the university - including Biology, Forensic Science, and Writing & Rhetoric - shared how they became, for one semester, comics artists!

Congratulations to the DWR faculty receiving honors today at Founder's Day! 🎉🎉🎉