Department of Rhetoric and Composition

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Department of Rhetoric and Composition
The Academy of Liberal Arts

Senior Instructors II: R. Byford, A. Elshimi, R. Hoath, D. Jones, Y. Motawy

Senior Instructors: H. Attiah (ACE Director), F. Boutros, A. El Afifi, S. Darwish, G. Elshimi (ALA Dean), M. Carter (Common Reader Director), M. Gibson (Writing Center Director), H. Grant, A. Hamad, M. Henry (Chair), I. Hamam, G. McCullough, K. Saville (Associate Chair), Y. Soheim, W. Wali

Instructors: A. Abdullah, S. Barber, P. Barsoum, M. Brand, B. Comer, A. Dempsey, Y. El Masry, H. El Minyawi, E. El Shimi, N. Fakhr, D. Gomaa, J. Herrick, O. Hesham, M. Hendershot (Associate Dean), J. Keevy, A. Mahmoud, J. Maklad, N. Naga, L. Richardson, A. Young, S. Zaki

The Department of Rhetoric and Composition provides a solid foundation for critical thinking, reading, writing, and promoting excellence in research and rhetoric. As part of this effort, we work to maintain a community where knowledge, research methods, rhetorical skills, and universal human values are cultivated to deepen scholarly practices, personal growth and community engagement.

AUC’s Freshman Program requires students to take 6 credit hours of writing. The Department of Rhetoric and Composition offers the following sequence of courses to fulfill this requirement:

• RHET 110/1010 - Freshman Writing (3 cr.)  
• RHET 120/1020 - Research Writing (3 cr.)  

Placement in Department of Rhetoric and Composition Courses:

• Students sitting for the TOEFL or IELTS exams and achieving scores that place them at RHET 1010 entry level will be placed directly in RHET 1010 in their first semester at AUC.
• Students in the English Language Instruction program who pass their exit exam will be placed in RHET 1010.
• Students with university transfer credits, or certain high school credits (e.g. HL or AP English) may transfer credit or be exempted from RHET courses, depending on their circumstances (as indicated in their letters of acceptance from AUC.)
• The University reserves the right to make changes in student placement during the first two weeks of classes, in the rare event this is deemed necessary by program instructors.

Department of Rhetoric and Composition Course Policies:

• All students need to complete 6 credits of RHET courses - RHET1010 (along with its 3-credit partner course, CORE1010), and RHET1020, as described below:

1. Students who are placed by an external placement exam or the ELI exit exam in RHET 1010 should complete RHET 1010 and RHET 1020 consecutively in their first two semesters as freshmen.
2. Students who have been exempted from RHET 1010 must complete RHET 1020 in their first semester at AUC, then take an upper division course in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition to complete their requirements.
3. Students who have been transferred RHET 1010 credit must complete RHET 1020 in their first semester at AUC. This will complete their RHET requirements.

• Students enrolled in RHET 1010 must be concurrently registered in a CORE 1010 course with the same theme. This creates a student learning community across the two courses, emphasizing the scholarly practices necessary for undergraduate success.
• Both RHET 1010 and CORE 1010 must be completed in the freshman year.
• In the event that the department has accepted transfer credits for CORE1010, the student will be placed in a standalone (non-tandem) section of RHET1010 to complete freshman requirements. In the event that the department has accepted transfer credits for RHET1010, the student will be placed in a standalone (non-tandem) section of CORE1010 to complete freshman requirements
• RHET 1020 must be taken in the semester immediately following the passing of RHET 1010.
• Dropping one of the two courses RHET 1010 or CORE 1010 will result in the other course being automatically dropped.
• Students repeating the tandem course CORE 1010/RHET 1010 must enroll in a different theme, unless approved by the department to repeat in the same theme.
• The passing of one of the tandem courses is not contingent upon the passing of the other. Students may pass or fail one or both.
• Students may take each of RHET 1010 and RHET 1020 up to three times in three consecutive semesters in order to fulfill department or graduation requirements.
• Only students repeating RHET or CORE 1010 will be able to enroll during summer semesters. Enrollment will not be open to students wishing to take the course for the first time in summer.
• As of Fall 2014, students retaking RHET 101 (RHET 1000) will instead take the RHET 1010 along with the matching CORE 1010 course. RHET 1010 will also meet the requirement for RHET 102 (RHET 1100).
• As of fall 2014, students taking or retaking RHET 102 (RHET 1100) will take RHET 1010 with the choice of taking the CORE 1010 partner course.
• As of fall 2014, students taking or retaking RHET 201 (RHET 2010) will instead enroll in RHET 1020 - an equivalent course.
• RHET1010, CORE1010 and RHET1020 are part of the freshman program. They are governed by the Timely Completion of Required Freshman Classes policies, found here.

Department of Rhetoric and Composition required courses: Rhetoric and Composition  

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