Matt Rolph's Page

This is my first summer without a Writing Project summer institute for a while! There is, of course, a new TL at the Plymouth Writing Project in Plymouth, NH.

As you likely know, I live in Troy, NY (near Albany) where I'm a year in to my PhD program in Communication and Rhetoric at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ... Rhetoric today has more to do with Human-Computer-Interaction, Visual Literacy, and so on than it does with Greek and Roman oratory. It's an interesting world. My thesis advisor i… Continue

Earth's moon, like so many other things beyond our reach, can stimulate the imagination. I thought there might be a chance you would want to know about this, or to pass it along to someone you know. It could be part of a neat writing prompt.

Yes, NASA is going back to the moon, and you can go along for the ride for free. Sort of.

Here's the story from NASA, and I've put the links you'd need at the bottom.

Send Your Name to the Moon Aboard LRO!

NASA invites people of all ages to join the l… Continue

Hi again.

This isn't a teaching of writing story per se. It's only a tech-related story in that I built a web site in it, and only a tech liaison story in that I was the TL at the time, and engagement with the community is occasionally part of the work.

I'd like to introduce to my friend, Theo Martey, if you haven't met him already.Theo is the director of the Akwaaba Traditional African Drum and Dance Ensemble based in Manchester, NH.

Theo came to the US as a young man, much as I did. Of cour… Continue

My application to enter a Ph.D. program at Rensselaer seems to be going well. The department of Language, Literature, and Communication voted unanimously to support my application for admission and to recommend I be considered for funding (a teaching or research assistantship or fellowship, which would pay for my education and give me a stipend to live on). I should know by mid-April whether that recommendation will be accepted by the higher-ups at RPI.

It’s a four year commitment. I'm excited… Continue

I've been teaching at Plymouth State since 2001, and attended as a student, on and off, from 1988 to 2004. When the writing project chapter formed in 2002, it collected projects I'd already been working on for some years. All that is by way of preface -- my contract is up again in May, and I'll be moving on.

I wish I could spell out my future plans in detail, but I'm not there yet. I'm applying to graduate programs, want to pursue another degree (PhD, EdD, etc.) But my favorite work is… Continue