PhD in Rhetoric and Composition

Located in a majority Hispanic, Research 1 university on the U.S.-Mexico border, our program regularly engages with the political, cultural, linguistic, and economic richness and complexity of the borderlands. The PhD program in Rhetoric and Composition at UTEP focuses largely on place-based cultural and digital rhetorics and community-based work.  

Our faculty have expertise in composition pedagogy, community literacies, risk communication, health and environmental rhetorics, translanguaging, and user-experience. We are particularly in border research, but we also work collaboratively with colleagues and organizations worldwide. We invite you to visit our faculty webpage to learn more about our faculty’s specific projects and accomplishments.  

Our graduates have secured tenure-track appointments at a range of institutions, including research-intensive universities, four-year institutions, and community colleges. Several of our most recent graduates work in educational administration. A smaller number of our graduates also take positions with non-profits and industry.

Highlights of the PhD Student Experience 

• Assistant Instructorships are available for full-time students, and we provide funding opportunities for travel and research 

• Assistant instructors take a dedicated pedagogy course and are able to work in the University Writing Center or teach their own first year writing courses. Advanced doctoral students can teach upper division courses. Summer courses are offered to assistant instructors on a rotating basis.  

• As part of our mentoring program, we assistant instructors can apply to work as assistant directors for the University Writing Center, the First Year Writing Program, and the Rhetoric and Writing Studies Program. 

• Our students present and publish in national and international conferences and journals. 

• We have an active student organization, Frontera Retórica, that puts on a symposium with a nationally recognized keynote speaker and monthly professional development workshops. 

Thank you for taking the time to visit our website and for your interest in studying Rhetoric and Composition at UTEP.  If you have any questions or would like more detailed information about our program, please don’t hesitate to contact the Director of RWS, Dr. Lucía Durá, Assistant Director of RWS, Esther Al-Tabaa, or our student assistant directors, Shankar Paudel and Sanjeev Niraula.