Steve Parks discusses SU Showcase on WERW's The Forum, hosted by Writing Program Professional Writing Instructor Jeremiah Thompson
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Parks in High Gear This Spring
Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric Steve Parks has never been one to sit still, and this semester is no exception. Parks recently published Gravyland: Writing Beyond the Curriculum in the City of Brotherly Love (click here for A&S story). In addition, he has published a recent article with Nick Pollard in College Composition and Communication (Feb 2010) called "Emergent Strategies for an Established Field: The Role of Worker-Writer Collectives in Composition and Rhetoric" and has re-released The Republic of Letters: Working Class Writing and Local Publishing with Dave Morley and Ken Worpole.
But Parks has been doing more than just writing—he's also the vision behind this year's SU Showcase, which will be held on April 19th. Parks' leadership and hard work have brought with them significant changes to Showcase. According to Parks, "The new SU Showcase will focus its efforts on highlighting outstanding academic work by students on sustainability—a term we will use to highlight the debates surrounding topics such as global warming, environmentalism, and 'green jobs.'" The theme, Parks says, really speaks to this generation of students, who have been "leaders in environmentalism—both as a research and civic practice."
Throughout the day SU and ESF students will highlight their scholarly and social commitment to building a "sustainable" future, blending presentations, public debates, poster sessions, and open classrooms. Presentations will be given by SU Showcase Fellows, students whose work was selected by faculty members who serve as Showcase representatives. The event will primarily take place on the Quad, though there will also be events at Hendricks Chapel and open classrooms throughout the day.
Parks hopes that students who present and attend leave the event with a sense of how their generation is essential in the work that has and will be done to create a sustainable planet: "Showcase will be a success if the students presenting their work are able to engage their peers in a discussion of the role of their generation in shaping the economic, political, and cultural framework in which discussion concerning sustainability and environmentalism will take place."
For more details on SU Showcase, visit http://sushowcase.syr.edu.
—story by Emily Dressing
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