Welcome
Questions/Concerns arising during Web Registration.
If you have a question or concern about registration (Writing course selection, Writing program requirements, and related matters), please read the document "Course Selection Guide". If your questions are not answered by the information in that document, please feel free to contact the Undergraduate Program Director, Mr. Brock Eayrs, directly by email at beayrs@uwo.ca. You will receive a response within 36 hours.
Writing Program Fall/Winter Main Office Hours:
Monday - Thursday: 8:00-4:00 p.m. & Friday - 8:00-3:30 p.m.
Lunch: 12:00-1:00 p.m.
Administrative Duties: 1:00-1:15 p.m.
Mission statement
The Program in Writing, Rhetoric, & Professional Communication aims to provide students with the ability to affect the world, both inside and outside the university, by facilitating their becoming self-directed, creative, and intellectual agents able to engage effectively with and contribute to the resolution of problems through the use of language both written and spoken. Writing studies comprise the core activities of our contemporary social, political, and cultural world, and the study and mastery of the constitutive and social dynamics of writing, rhetorical theory, and texts will provide pragmatic and intellectual tools for our graduates throughout their professional, intellectual, and social lives.
News and Events
New!
Honors Specialization in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature
We are pleased to announce the availability of a new Honors Specialization in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature beginning September 2012. Offered jointly with the Department of English, the new module is open to all students meeting the admission requirements, which include a portfolio submission. Admission, portfolio, and module requirements are detailed in a comprehensive Worksheet, which you can link to here.
Interested students entering their first year at Western should register in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and choose courses for 2012-2013 to meet the module admission requirements. You will submit your portfolio in April, 2013.
Interested Students currently completing their first or a later year:
Step 1: check the Worksheet to see whether you meet the admission requirements. If you do not, or are unsure, contact Prof. Brock Eayrs (Writing; beayrs@uwo.ca) for advice; equivalencies may be possible in this first year of the module.
Step 2: submit your portfolio. Refer to the Worksheet for details/criteria (pasted in below for convenience); please note that the ‘due date’ for portfolios for this year has been extended to May 15, 2012.
Step 3: if your portfolio is accepted, and you meet the admission requirements, choose courses to meet the new module requirements. Your academic program will be switched to the new module as soon as it is available in the Registrar’s system.
The Portfolio Requirement (2012-2013 academic year)
Portfolio Submission Deadline: 15 May 2012
Portfolio Length: 20 pages maximum
Portfolio Contents and Format:
- Cover should indicate name and Western ID
- Table of Contents
- Personal Statement
- Statement should not exceed 250 keyboarded words
- Statement should include creative interests, influences, and goals
- Four works demonstrating a range of genres. If the work is an excerpt of a longer work, please provide a brief written context for the excerpt.
- Digital .doc file or PDF
Portfolio Evaluation Criteria
The focus of the Honors Specialization in Creative Writing and English Language and Literature is on creative and critical approaches to contemporary creative writing practices in a variety of literary genres such as poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, literary journalism, screenwriting, and playwriting. Academic essays will not be considered.
The adjudicators will be looking for writing that demonstrates an ability to communicate original creative ideas both technically and conceptually in relation to the genre in which the work is situated.
For the 2012-13 academic year, please send (from your Western University e-mail account) Portfolios to The Program in Writing, Rhetoric, & Professional Communication at writing@uwo.ca . If you have not received e-mail confirmation of receipt of Portfolio within two working days, it is likely your Portfolio was not received. Portfolios received beyond 15th May 2012 might not be considered.
Part-time teaching positions: to view our current list please click here.
The Rusty Toque is an online literary journal published twice yearly showcasing the best creative writing from the students in the Program in Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication at The University of Western Ontario.
special permission procedures for 2011-2012
please refer to FAQ