Hello from RSA Madison!
The UW-Madison chapter of the Rhetoric Society of America invites you to join us for our annual Spring Symposium. This year, our theme is Where Did We Come From/Where Will We Go?: Rhetoric from Past to Present
The practice of rhetoric has offered us a way to understand, construct, and evaluate arguments for thousands of years – and these same tools continue to provide ways for us to understand our contemporary moment. Although the practice has evolved over both time and space, adapting to new forms of communication and incorporating new methods, it offers a common language in which scholars across the disciplines of English and Communication can connect.
In this student-only symposium, the University of Wisconsin Madison RSA Student Chapter invites undergraduate and graduate scholars of rhetoric to submit their work that speaks to, uses theories from, and/or adds to our knowledge about either or both the past and/or the future of the rhetorical discipline. Since students are the future of the discipline, we are all always already engaged in the process of building towards tomorrow’s rhetoric. As our discipline, methods, and objects are diverse, you can interpret our call how you will – if you have a paper or an idea that you’re excited about and you don’t feel like it fits this theme exactly, you are still encouraged to submit.
Once again this year’s symposium will take place entirely online, offering not only UW-Madison’s rhetoricians but also rhetoricians across the RSA’s student chapters, the opportunity to participate without having to travel. This virtual symposium will take place from Thursday, April 3 – Friday, April 4, 2025. There is no fee to submit, present, or attend.
We invite students at both the graduate and advanced undergraduate level to submit:
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Individual papers: Please submit a 250-word abstract, along with 3-5 keywords describing your proposed paper. [LINK TO FORM] or https://forms.gle/b7PcZYFNWHhbfUy5A
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Proposals for collaborative panels. Please include a 400-word abstract and 3-5 keywords describing the panel, plus 1-2 sentence descriptions of each individual speaker’s contributions. [LINK TO FORM] or https://forms.gle/yYZchfue2S9cFvBA7
To further ease your ability to join us at this symposium, we invite those of you who are presenting at the Conference on College Composition and Communication to submit your abstract and use this symposium as an opportunity to prepare and get feedback on your presentation from your graduate student peers. We also recognize that this symposium intersects with the Central States Communication Association conference, but you’re welcome to submit if you would like to present virtually during the conference. Please note any scheduling conflicts in your submission form.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to RSA UW Madison Student Chapter presidents: Alicen Rushevics rushevics or Kai Prins kprins
Please submit your abstracts by February 23, 2025.
Please let us know if you have any questions – and we look forward to reconnecting with you soon!
All the best,
Ali Rushevics (rushevics)
Kai Prins (kprins)
Nick Avery
Alex Chakov
Zhi Luo
Hsuan-I Huang
Miranda Perry
The UW-Madison RSA Student Chapter Executive Board