SUNY ESF
Writing, Rhetoric & Communications
In this time of rapid environmental and technological change, we need interdisciplinary scholars to help us repair our fractured relationship with each other and the natural world.
The Environmental Writing Program (EWP) emphasizes the critical and creative approaches of environmental humanists, storytellers, and artists to help ESF students develop into well-rounded scholars.
Through both required SUNY General Education courses and upper division electives, EWP students draw on literature, cultural studies, rhetoric, and the arts to examine how humans understand, represent, and respond to the natural world.
These courses, rooted in the environmental humanities, help us pursue transformational action and environmental justice in ways that facts and figures alone cannot. EWP students develop critical thinking, writing, and presentation skills to help them thoughtfully engage in the academic, professional, and civic discourses that will shape our planet’s future.
The Environmental Writing Program also directs four student-support centers: The Digital Storytelling Studio (DSS), The Center for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL Center), the Public Speaking Lab (PSL), and the Writing Resource Center (WRC). These student centers are free and open to all undergraduate and graduate students.
Our Environmental Writing and Rhetoric Minor gives interested students the time and creative space needed to develop their own stories, and scholarly expertise .
Please address any questions to Jacob Gedetsis, [email protected].
Objectives
- Improve the quality of writing and rhetoric on and off the ESF campus.
- Create student awareness of rhetorical considerations.
- Establish an atmosphere that values effective writing while encouraging creativity and critique, research and reflection.
- Emphasize writing in a context as part of a community.
- Promote critical thinking, critical reading, and critical writing skills.