The Sweetland Digital Rhetoric Collaborative (DRC) Graduate Fellows program aims to recognize graduate students currently working in digital rhetoric who want practical experience in online publishing and website development. Fellows are selected on a yearly basis by the directors and board of the DRC, and receive an annual award of $1000 as well as recognition on the DRC website.
DRC Fellows attend monthly online team meetings to plan projects that extend the DRC website and its contributions to the community of computers and writing. In collaboration with DRC colleagues, DRC Fellows will have the opportunity to contribute to two DRC projects during the year. Typical projects include: coordinating a blog carnival, developing the DRC wiki, enhancing the resources section of the website, or taking part in editorial work associated with DRC publishing.
The annual application is open during June-July of each year.
2024-25 DRC Graduate Fellows
Thais Rodrigues Cons is a PhD researcher in Rhetoric, Composition & the Teaching of English at the University of Arizona. With a Master’s in Applied Linguistics and extensive experience in teaching English as an Additional Language, editing, and translating, Thais became acquainted with Writing Studies through her work at one of the first Writing Centers in her home country, Brazil. Her primary research focuses on the rhetorical analysis of technical genres in Brazilian public higher education, connecting her experience in writing centers with her interests in technical and professional communication, translation, and fellowship and grant writing. Having previously received the CPTSC Graduate Student Research Award, IWCA’s Future Leaders Award and Emerging Scholar Award for Pioneering Writing Research in Brazil, Thais aims to contribute to inclusive and accessible writing practices and social justice within Brazilian higher education and to explore how these practices can be transferred and taught to writers in the U.S. and beyond.
Alex Mashny is a PhD student in Rhetoric and Writing at Michigan State University. His research interests include technical communication, digital and cultural rhetorics, embodiment, and circulation studies.
Mehdi Mohammadi is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric & Writing at the University of New Mexico where he also teaches Core Writing as a teaching associate. His research focuses on philosophy of technology and posthumanist rhetoric.
Marie Pruitt (she/her/hers) is a Rhetoric and Composition Ph.D. student at the University of Louisville studying scholarly writing, networks, and writing technologies. Her dissertation explores the networks that support disciplinary knowledge production in writing studies journals. She also currently serves as the President of the English Graduate Organization at UofL and as a Copy Editor for Composition Studies. Before her graduate studies, she worked as a copy writer and editor for marketing companies and news outlets.
Toluwani Odedeyi is a Ph.D. student in the Department of English at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on Technical Communication, Digital Rhetoric, and User Experience. She has a background in Linguistics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and also has good professional experience as a User Experience Writer and Designer.