The Department of Rhetoric is a leading center for interdisciplinary research and teaching in the humanities and social sciences, committed to the study of rhetorical traditions from the classical to the contemporary eras.
All News
March 12, 2024
February 20, 2024
2024 Rhetoric Commencement Ceremony*
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
2PM | Zellerbach Auditorium
Basic Department Commencement FAQs for students*
How long is the ceremony?
The ceremony starts promptly at 2pm and lasts approximately 2 hours.
Is regalia required?
No, regalia is not required. We do suggest wearing business casual attire for the event. Regalia will be available for purchase or rent at the Cal Student Store.
Is there a reception?
Yes!
May 10, 2023
Congratulations to our newest cohort of Rhetoric Ph.D. students starting this fall! We are delighted to welcome you to our active and vibrant intellectual community at Cal!
Chiara Bercugot her BA in Sociology from Wesleyan University. She will be pursuing a project about the carceral uptake of machine learning tech and the colonial imperatives that structure epistemological networks, with a special interest in psychoanalytic and cybernetic conceptions of the subject.
April 24, 2023
Summer Session A (May 22-June 30)
Rhetoric R1A | Class #14989
Tue Wed Thurs 10am-12:30pm
Instructor: Osarugue Otebele
April 19, 2023
In(ter)vention and the Rhetorical Tradition
Rhetoric 103A explores what is called rhetorical tradition from its Western historical origins in Greece and Rome. The rhetorical tradition refers to the multiple and divergent ways that people throughout time have thought about the effects of language, both in theory and practice. Rhetorical study and practice today continues the tradition’s interest in varied, artful acts of invention and intervention that shape our worlds—for better and worse.
March 6, 2023
The Department of Gender & Women’s Studies at UC Berkeley presents:
Force-Feeding and the Suspended Animation of Torture
Wednesday, March 8 | 12:10-2 p.m. | 602 Social Sciences Building
Speaker: Michelle C. Velasquez-Potts, Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in History of Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz
December 19, 2022
The Rhetoric Commencement Ceremony
Tuesday, May 16 at 2pm
Zellerbach Auditorium
Tickets will go on sale on April 25 at 12pm.
Due to logistics, each ticket is now $5. (Graduates do not need to purchase tickets for themselves. Children and babies require tickets. Limit of 10 tickets per student.)
October 20, 2022
240G 004 | CCN: 33130
Teaching Writing: History, Theory and Practice
Nathan S Atkinson
Dwinelle 7415
Wednesdays, 3-6pm
August 2, 2022
The requirements for the Rhetoric minor have recently been revised. The Rhetoric minor now consists of 5 courses in total:
May 12, 2022
Rhetoric PhD candidate Linda Kinstler was named one of the 22 fellows selected as The Institute for Citizens & Scholars’ 2022 class of Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellows.
The Newcombe Fellowship, funded by the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation, is the largest and most prestigious award for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences addressing questions of ethical and religious values in interesting, original, or significant ways.
March 30, 2022
HUM 196
Mentored Research Lab
3 units, Class #24594
Unlocatable: Seeing Hong Kong and its Arts
Instructor: Prof. Winnie Wong
Thursday, 2-5pm
Wheeler 212
Mentored Research courses are designed to introduce upper-division students to the research culture on campus in a small group format. You will work closely with faculty members and graduate-student mentors in both seminar-style cohorts and more focused groups.
March 7, 2022
We continue to be a small department with a great reputation—the best graduate students and liveliest undergraduates on campus! We hope you are in a position to help us sustain the excitement of learning here!
The Big Give is just around the corner: Thursday, March 10. #CalBigGive
February 28, 2022
Save the Date!
The Rhetoric Department Commencement Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, May 18, 2022 at 2PM in Zellerbach Hall.
More info to follow.
February 15, 2022
Axelle Karera
Thursday, March 3
5-7PM
188 Dwinelle Hall
November 12, 2021
Rhetoric 198: Supervised Group Study: 1-unit
Mondays, 3-4pm (Bi-weekly)
7415 Dwinelle
Class #29821
Supervised Group Study: Junior Proseminar