Rhetorics of the Rust Belt
A curriculum redesign facilitated with support provided by The Teagle Foundation Cornerstone Learning for Living grant
With the support of the Teagle Foundation, The Department of English and the Rust Belt Humanities Lab at Ursuline College have begun to reimagine our composition sequence at Ursuline College as a gateway to our Rust Belt Pathway certificate program through our core curriculum.
“Rhetorics of the Rust Belt: Framing Cleveland through transformative texts”, continues this commitment to the idea that institutions are rooted in regional ecosystems and that the humanities play a vital role in strengthening the civic fabric of our communities. The majority of our undergraduates focus on studying what we call “the healing arts”—vocations such as nursing, social work, and art therapy. These professions require an understanding of the narratives—both painful and hopeful—that underpin so much of our lived experience in this Rust Belt region; the stories that we tell about place have real consequences.
If rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively, then the co-creation of Rust Belt rhetorics within the composition classrooms at Ursuline College guides the citizens of the Rust Belt to speak and write effectively from within and about their region using a language that is both rooted in place and history.
This grant project is funded from Fall 2024-Spring 2027 through the Teagle Foundation.