Academic Program

This information is part of the Colgate University catalog, 2025-26.

Faculty
Associate Professors Campbell, LeMesurier (Chair), Worley Assistant Professors Mills, Popli Senior Lecturer Spires Visiting Assistant Professors Ingham, Tanquary Instructor Walden

Rhetoric is the study of language and symbol use in written, oral, and visual communication. With roots in ancient Greece and branches in the most recent media technologies, rhetoric is simultaneously one of the oldest and newest academic disciplines, critically engaging with language, culture, and a broad range of compositional practices. As a discipline, rhetoric demonstrates how discourse generates knowledge, mediates power, and enacts social change.

Courses in Writing and Rhetoric prepare students to become critical language users and effective communicators across cultures. The department offers courses that engage the multiple histories, cultures, theories, and methods of rhetoric, public address, and writing.

Awards

The Joseph '63 and Carol Trimmer Awards for Excellence in Expository Writing — established as prizes to be awarded by the Department of Writing and Rhetoric.

The Trimmer Senior Scholar Award for Outstanding Achievement in Writing and Rhetoric — established as a prize to be awarded by the Writing and Rhetoric department to a senior for being an exceptional scholar and citizen in the discipline of Writing and Rhetoric.

Courses

The courses listed below are offered by the WRIT program. One course taken as part of a study-abroad program may count toward the minor with the approval of the chair.

Majors and Minors

Minor

Writing and Rhetoric Minor