Maria B. Hosmer-Briggs
Writing Program Instructor
Office: 114 Marshall Hall
Phone: (315) 470-6572; x6572
Fax Number: (315) 470-6915
Email: mbhosmer@esf.edu
Education:
- B.Sc., Syracuse University: Speech and Dramatic Art, 1981
- M.A., Syracuse University: Linguistics/TESOL, 1997
ESF Courses Taught:
- CLL 190—Writing and the Environment
- CLL 290—Writing, Humanities, and the Environment: the View From the Field (special section: Perspectives in Environmental Field Writing)
- CLL 390—Introduction to the Literature of Nature
- WID / WAC Consultancy: Specialized Writing Program Module—Writing in the Disciplines / Writing Across the Curriculum
Areas of Interest:
- Composition and rhetoric
- field-based academic writing
- recreational ecology
- land use policy
- environmental communication
- the Adirondacks
Maria’s life has always closely blended academic pursuits with outdoor recreation and stewardship. After several years of teaching First Responder and Winter Mountaineering for the Syracuse section of National Ski Patrol she re-enlisted in academia, completing a graduate degree in Linguistics/TESOL at Syracuse University. She became an Adirondack 46er a month after finishing her M. A. (and a Winter-46er in 2003). She is also a registered NYS guide.
She has taught in the Writing Program and the English Language Institute at S. U., Tompkins Cortland Community College, and Onondaga County BOCES, and has tutored at Manlius Pebble Hill School. She’s also done tenure on the Executive board of the Syracuse chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club.
Maria does have an outside-of-teaching life, too. Two daughters, Julianna (Julie) and Eleanore (Nana), have fledged successfully but keep closely in touch. Her husband, Tom, is a violin dealer, and understandably, music is a large part of their family life. Whatever time is left over is largely devoted to—no surprise here!—hiking, canoeing, mountain travel, and skiing.Course Magazines
- Constructive Wildlife Management
- What's New on ESF's Campus?
- FORESTRY!
- Forest Magazine
- Statues Magazine
- Barry Park Magazine
- Hookway Magazine
- Morningside Park
- Pocket Parks
CLL390
Introduction to the Literature of Nature
WID-WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum / Writing In the Disciplines)
Discipline-specific intensive writing consultancy
For the Spring ’08 term. The Consultancy has three focuses:
- Working in collaboration with faculty members in each department, I will offer a mechanism for supporting faculty as they continue to expand and enhance their coursework incorporating “writing-to-learn” assignments. The objective across the curriculum will be to support writing excellence and improve students’ skills in many aspects of writing specific to each academic discipline. In addition, I offer direct, intensive mini-seminars on writing-related topics, as well as basic tutorials on the use of communication media, software, and services available through the campus computing networks.
- Intensive consultation for referred students in all majors and degree programs in executing discipline-specific writing assignments. I provide support for project development, from interpreting the assignment through accurate document formatting and source citation. Direct consultation may be at the option of the student or at the request of course instructors. Appointments should be made in advance, if possible, though drop-in help is available.
- Specialized help for international students and others for whom English is not their primary (“first”) language. This has proven to be valuable, even for students in these populations who are fluent in English.
CLL190
Writing in the Environment: Writing From the Field
This section of the freshman writing course takes the CLL 190 curriculum in a slightly non-traditional direction. The course is designed to provide students with a good foundation in critical reading and well-constructed analytical and persuasive writing skills. In this section, writing and basic research components of the course support and enhance experiences in the outdoors; and those field experiences likewise enrich the writing. Students learn basic skills for self-reliant travel and work in the outdoor environment, as well as developing and sharpening their skills in effectively communicating their observations. They work from observational data to identify and address the challenging issues that proceed from those observations. Several local field trips and two extended field experiences give students a chance to integrate contrasting environmental themes presented in the readings for the course with their own direct experience.
A final cautionary note: This section is appropriate for students who are eager to learn outdoors skills and do not mind going out into the field. Several students in previous semesters have found they didn't enjoy the fieldwork component, since we pursue it in any weather.
CLL290
Writing, Humanities, and the Environment: Perspectives in Environmental Field Writing
This special section of the CLL 290 approaches academic rhetoric from a non-traditional angle. A substantial component of the class will be work in the field, outside the typical classroom, supporting the academic component.
This section, "Perspectives in Environmental Field Writing," takes the mandated rhetorical objectives of CLL290 out into the field. We will, of course, incorporate plenty of reading, discussion, writing, and revising as the primary learning input students need in order to become critical thinkers and effective communicators. However, this work will be supplemented with and connected to working in the outdoors. In addition to their reading/writing journals, students will keep field journals for collecting observations and data in the field, and that data will in turn be used to enrich the in-class activities.
The fieldwork will include a weekend trip to Huntington Wildlife Forest / Adirondack Ecological Center, local walks, and a daytrip to one of the close-by ESF facilities. In the context of these trips, students will learn basic skills for keeping safe in the field. These include nutrition, clothing, using topographical maps for preliminary planning and for route finding in the field, and moving overland (off-trail, snowshoeing). Participants will relate these skills to the fieldwork that might reasonably be part of the work in their majors at ESF and beyond.
The planned end-product for this class will be a ‘zine in which the class members bring together their own expertise in their various disciplines (their majors) in creating a closer study of a particular locale.
A final cautionary note: This pilot section is appropriate for students who are eager to learn outdoors skills and do not mind going out into the field. Several students every semester have found that they didn't enjoy the fieldwork component, since we pursue it in any weather.
