The collection, consisting of more than 2,600 artifacts from mid-20th century Florida newspapers, sheds light on the history and experiences of the Seminole Tribe.

Funding for the research is provided by multi-year grants totaling $110,000 from the Sam and Virginia Patz Foundation. The Patz Foundation supports the team to work with archival documents and analyze the narratives surrounding the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida.

The Seminole Tribe descended from the original peoples of the southeastern United States, particularly Florida, and hold a rich cultural legacy and history deeply intertwined with the region. Their vibrant traditions, artistry and connection to the Everglades in south Florida continue to play a vital role in shaping the state’s cultural landscape, honoring their past.

The writing and rhetoric research team includes Chair and Professor Sherry Rankins-Robertson, Associate Professor Jamila Kareem, and postdoctoral scholar Jeremy Carnes, who are working closely with the community on the project. The team researches the artifacts and summarizes the material, including adding captions that challenge problematic narratives and stereotypes about Indigenous peoples.

The work has two distinct parts: Carnes and graduate Rrsearch assistant Kealani Smith are focused on annotating the artifact captions for the museum’s database, and Kareem is developing pedagogical content for Florida college-level writing faculty in collaboration with the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum. The teaching materials are intended to enhance culturally competent teaching related to Indigenous tribes, communities and peoples.

“Our decolonial approach to contextualizing these articles will make some of these issues more immediately clear and will include historical, social and cultural backgrounds specific to the Seminole Tribe,� Kareem says.

As these communities have been often overshadowed by stereotypes, the goal is to provide historical accuracy and context to stereotype-laden newspaper articles for members of the tribe and anyone else who might engage with the museum’s database.

“Some of the writing about the Seminoles is problematic and reinforces some colonial stereotypes about Indigenous peoples,� Carnes says. “So we are researching, summarizing and adding historical contextualized captions to these historical newspaper artifacts.�

The team is committed to promoting an equal and reciprocal partnership with the Seminole Tribe and the museum, ensuring that community members have a voice in the research process, Rankins-Robertson says.

As the research continues, the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum plans to make the decolonized captions public. The Department of Writing and Rhetoric will distribute the teaching guides to writing faculty throughout the state of Florida and beyond so that other universities have a model to partner with local tribal communities.

Carnes will present his research findings at the 2024 Modern Language Association Annual Convention in January. His presentation titled Everyday Life, Everyday Joy: Local Journalism and Indigenous Communities in Florida will highlight the everyday life and joy of Indigenous communities in Florida. The project will be presented at the Past and Present Texts of Joy in Everyday Indigenous Life panel sponsored by the Association for the Study of American Indian Literature.

The Department of Writing and Rhetoric at the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ offered a special topic course on Indigenous Rhetorics in Spring 2023. For more information on the project or writing courses, contact Sherry Rankins-Robertson at sherry.robertson@ucf.edu.

“Very simply, language shapes our world and puts names to objects and behaviors so we can talk about them, and rhetoric is the study of how language shapes behaviors and beliefs,� says Martha Brenckle, professor of writing and rhetoric at the College of Arts and Humanities.

In fifth-century Athens, the study of rhetoric developed alongside democracy and played a central role in the development of Western politics and education. Today, it continues to be taught at universities to train future lawyers, teachers, creative writers, politicians, marketers and effective communicators of all kinds. But even beyond the podium or the courtroom, rhetoric is something we both use and consume every day.

Below, we’ll discuss some basic models of rhetoric and how you can use them to effectively express your ideas in everyday situations.

The Rhetorical Situation

To be effective, a message cannot exist in a vacuum. The rhetorical situation maps out the situational context, genre, purpose and intended audience of your message. This model is also known as kairos, which is ancient Greek for “the right time.� It means choosing the opportune moment to deliver a particular message, or even creating that moment.

Taking the holistic context of a situation into account is essential to create a message that resonates. For example, the way you explain a concept to your boss will be different than how you explain that same concept to your younger nephew.

“We need to use rhetoric to succeed in everyday situations,� says Brenckle. “Understanding the rhetorical situation (when and where you are and what’s at stake), your audience (the attributes of people you want to persuade) and the rhetor (thinking about what you want to happen) can help you call members to action at a club meeting or persuade admissions counselors to give you a scholarship.�

Below are the parts of a rhetorical situation:

• Audience: The intended readers or listeners of a message.
• Purpose: What the writer or speaker wants the message to accomplish, such as influencing an audience’s actions, thoughts or feelings on a subject.
• Genre: What category does your message belong to? Examples include an academic essay, a commencement speech, a cover letter or a social media post. Each category calls for adjustments to style, content and the conventions of the genre.
• Exigency: This answers the question: why is what you’re saying important to say now? Does it address a current issue? What situation sprung you to begin crafting your message?
• Context: This includes factors that affect the creation of the text, such as timing, news or current events.

Rhetorical Appeals

In 350 B.C., Aristotle wrote On Rhetoric: A Theory of Civic Discourse, where he outlined the three rhetorical appeals that can be used to shape your words into an effective message. Each appeal engages with a different aspect of the human mind. A single message can use all three appeals, or just one or two, depending on the rhetorical situation.

1. Logos: This argument speaks to the logical and reasonable side of the brain, building on facts and data to support its message.
2. Ethos: This appeal emphasizes the credibility and trustworthiness of the person delivering the argument.
3. Pathos: This element relates to your audience using emotion, whether it’s tugging at the heartstrings with an inspiring story or creating a humorous atmosphere.

Five Examples of Rhetoric in Everyday Life

Rhetoric is used in every field of employment, from communicating professionally with coworkers and customers to writing reports. But aside from specific job titles, below are a few examples of situations where anyone can use rhetoric to achieve a goal.

1. Politics and Civic Engagement

Since its ancient inception, the idea of rhetoric has been associated with politics. That’s because, in a democratic society, it’s crucial for politicians to craft timely messages made to complement a deep understanding of their audience’s wants and needs to advance their goal of being elected. As a citizen, analyzing the rhetorical situation and appeals being used in political discourse can help you objectively see the intentions of the speaker and whether you choose to ascribe to their argument.

“When then-Senator Obama gave his ‘Red and Blue’ speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, he thoroughly understood the rhetorical situation; he seized a rhetorical moment (kairos) and his powers of persuasion (logos, ethos and pathos) and gave a compelling speech,� Brenckle says. “Obama used rhetoric and persuaded his audience to think in a certain way. Many historians believe this speech began his ascent to the presidency.�

Rhetorical tools are also necessary for effective civic engagement work. If there’s an issue in your community you feel passionate about, speaking at city council meetings, writing letters to local government or constructing dissent materials are all situations where rhetoric must be carefully taken into consideration. Using each rhetorical appeal is needed to rally individuals, groups and local politicians toward your cause.

2. Job interviews

When preparing for a job interview, you are essentially making an argument to your potential employer about why you’re the perfect fit for the job. To effectively argue this, it’s crucial to consider the genre, context, audience, exigency and purpose.

“Understanding rhetoric comes in handy when you start having job interviews,� Brenckle says. “The rhetorical situation is the company you want to work for (what is the mission statement, what do they do and how do they do it, how successful is the company), the audience would be your supervisor, and you as the rhetor know this is a formal situation, so you dress in a suit and don’t chew gum.�

3. Parenting and Family

Using careful language can encourage good behavior and discourage rudeness and tantrums. It is also essential when negotiating with people you’re close with, to avoid misunderstandings and arguments.

“Parents use rhetoric when they try to shape their children’s behavior and uphold certain values,� Brenckle says. “We all know that when a parent calls you by your full legal name instead of your nickname, you are in a world of trouble. Family members use rhetoric when deciding what movie to [watch]; logically laying out an argument for Avengers over Avatar is using rhetoric.�

4. Friendships

Knowing how rhetoric works can keep someone from using it against you and allow you to fall under the spell of persuasion. On the other hand, wielding rhetorical appeals effectively can help you convince your friends or loved ones from doing something that might hurt them.

“Understanding rhetoric can help you from succumbing to peer pressure and maybe talk your friends out of doing something dangerous, like skateboarding in the parking garage,� Brenckle says.

Why is Rhetoric Important?

When you’re writing a college essay, negotiating with a significant other or interviewing for your dream job, the rhetoric you use has the power to shape the course of your life. Language constructs the reality we all operate in — knowing how to use it can help us achieve goals in classrooms, careers and relationships while deconstructing messages used by others.

Learning rhetoric builds a foundation for strong communication skills that are highly desired in almost every field. Graduates of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of Writing and Rhetoric programs receive a comprehensive education that enables them to communicate effectively, persuasively, and ethically across a range of civic, professional, and educational contexts. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of Writing and Rhetoric offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as a minor and certificates, in online and in-person.

Amy Larner Giroux, associate director of the Center for Humanities and Digital Research (CHDR) in the College of Arts and Humanities, has been researching burial sites in St. Augustine National Cemetery through her work with the National Cemetery Administration. She came across two separate graves, each containing a group burial of six warriors marked with a headstone inscribed “Six Unknown Indians.�

“As a historian who works in cemeteries, it bothers me when a headstone has incomplete or unknown information about the person buried there. They deserve to have their names restored,� Giroux says. “They deserve to be recognized for who they were. And you can’t get that from a headstone that says ‘Six Unknown Indians’.�

After five years of digging through U.S. Army records and correspondence dating back more than a century, Giroux discovered the names of 10 chiefs and warriors from the Cheyenne, Kiowa and Comanche tribes who were imprisoned and died in Fort Marion between 1875 and 1878.

The names of the recovered individuals are:

• Chief Grey Beard (Cheyenne), who is buried in Piney Grove Cemetery in Baldwin, Florida
• Chief Co-a-bo-te-ta, or Sun (Kiowa)
• Chief Lean Bear (Cheyenne)
• Chief Mah-mante (Kiowa)
• Ih-pa-yah (Kiowa Warrior)
• Big Moccasin (Cheyenne Warrior)
• Starving Wolf (Cheyenne Warrior)
• Spotted Elk (Cheyenne Warrior)
• Nad-a-with-t (Comanche Warrior)
• Chief Mo-e-yau-hay-ist, or Heap of Birds/Magpie Feathers (Cheyenne)

Based on Giroux’s research, the National Cemetery Administration plans to replace the “Six Unknown Indians� grave markers with headstones that list the names of the fallen warriors, their death dates and their native nation affiliations.

During the Plains Wars, Fort Marion was used as a prison for prominent warriors and chiefs in hopes of demoralizing their nations into surrendering to the U.S. Army. Prisoners were forced to suppress their native heritage and become a military company in order to assimilate, drilling and performing guard duty for themselves. Capt. Richard Henry Pratt instituted and enforced the policies of forced assimilation that started in St. Augustine, and continued through boarding schools like the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, which Pratt founded in 1879.

“It’s important to me to make people understand that all these prisoners had families, it wasn’t just that they died here — their families lost them here,â€� says Giroux. “I’m hoping that the information I’ve found can help give the descendants of the prisoners some understanding and closure about what happened to their kin when they were here in Florida.â€�

“Watching Norene interact with her ancestor’s face on a touch screen and study the family resemblance was powerful.ÌýThat was one of the defining moments of all the work I have done.” — Amy Larner Giroux, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ faculty

The National Park Service put Giroux into contact with Norene Starr, outreach coordinator for the Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples’ executive branch and a direct descendant of Chief Heap of Birds and Big Moccasin.

Part of Giroux’s research resulted in a 3D digital model of the 1877 bust created from Cheyenne Chief Heap of Birds, the great-great-great-grandfather of Starr. The bust was created from a life mask of Heap of Birds’ face, created only three months before his death.

As Giroux connected with the National Park Service and the Cheyenne and Arapaho people, several events were conducted in November (which is Native American Heritage Month and National Veterans and Military Families Month) to memorialize the fallen warriors and educate the public. Alison Simpson, command historian of the Florida National Guard, Denny Medicine Bird, Veterans Affairs coordinator and Giroux acted as liaisons to the National Cemetery Administration on events in the cemetery to honor the prisoners’ military service. Through these events, Giroux met more descendants of the prisoners she researched from the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations.

“I’ve been working in cemeteries for most of my career,â€� Giroux says. “But this is the first time, other than my own family work, that I’ve impacted living people. And that emotional impact has been extremely rewarding.â€�

The first of the memorial events was held on the evening of Nov. 15, 2022, in Piney Grove Cemetery in Baldwin, Florida, to honor Cheyenne Chief Grey Beard. In 1877, Chief Grey Beard jumped out of the window of the train bringing prisoners to St. Augustine. “Freedom was more important than living,� Giroux says. The guards were told to recapture him, but he was shot instead.

For Chief Grey Beard’s memorial ceremony, Giroux met with Marcy Galbreath, retired associate lecturer in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric (DWR), and members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations at the cemetery. The members sang for Chief Grey Beard to assist him on his journey to the next life. Giroux and Galbreath were honored to be included in the ceremony.

The next morning, Gordon Yellowman, Peace Chief of the Cheyenne and Arapaho nations, spoke with National Park Service rangers about how they could better educate the public about the experiences of the prisoners at Fort Marion. The exhibit on the imprisonments of 1875 through 1878 is changing based on input from native nations to include stories told from a native perspective. Previously, exhibits were mainly told from the perspective of the U.S. Army.

“Future visitors to the fort will be able to see both sides of the story,� Giroux says.

Throughout Nov. 16-17, 2022, Flagler College presented a series of events entitled, “Hi Vi Mitz Mak a be o ta, Honoring the Historic Footprint of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Warriors at Fort Marion, 1875–1878.� During the events, Giroux gave a presentation, “So Many Miles Towards the Rising Sun: Cheyenne, Kiowa and Comanche Burials in Florida 1875–1877,� in which she spoke of the 10 men who died in Florida.

Throughout early November 2022, flags flew over the Castillo de San Marcos to represent each of the families of the native nation members who died there. On the afternoon of Nov. 17, 2022, a final ceremony was held in the courtyard of the fort to honor them. A riderless horse was brought in wearing the moccasins of Helen Heap of Birds, granddaughter of Chief Heap of Birds. Then, a National Park Service ranger performed a roll call, naming each of the Cheyenne who died during their imprisonment and whose names were discovered. The ceremony concluded with a three-cannon salute.

“He called the name of Chief Grey Beard — silence. And then he went through each of the names of the dead to the end of the roll call. It was very emotional,â€� Giroux says. “People need to know what happened at Fort Marion and understand why it happened. I hope sharing these stories makes people less likely to forget what happened there.”

The events ended with a keynote presentation given by Dorothy Firecloud, the National Park Service Native American Affairs liaison. At the end of the reception, Giroux and others were honored by being wrapped in a Cheyenne blanket.

The findings of the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and Flagler College research teams have left a lasting impact on families and future visitors to the fort, but their work is far from over. Giroux, Galbreath and Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ collaborators Mike Shier, research specialist in CHDR, and Jeremy Carnes, postdoctoral scholar in DWR, are continuing their work with Starr and Yellowman. They continue to search for the names behind the unmarked headstones in St. Augustine National Cemetery, hopefully bringing more indigenous stories to light. Max Bear, director of the Historic Preservation Office of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, has invited Giroux to Oklahoma to speak with the native nation about her research and the experiences of their ancestors.

History is never static or set in stone. The story of America’s past is continuously unfolding; it carries a heavy impact on contemporary life. New research allows us to challenge the ways we have come to understand the world around us. As once-buried stories are unearthed, the dissemination of new perspectives brings the public closer to the truth, and families closer to peace.

The winning initiatives are “Creative Approaches to Combat HIV Stigma and Discrimination from Health Providers� and “Project Xavier Hands-free Training Game.�

There were 18 proposals submitted for the two awards. Each team must involve the College of Arts and Humanities and at least one other college, unit or center from the university. Preference is given to initiatives that are interdisciplinary, community-focused and sustainable, and the projects must contain an evaluation framework.

“We are delighted by the quality and quantity of applications proposing a broad range of innovative arts and wellness initiatives between campus and community,� says Margery Pabst-Steinmetz, who with her husband co-founded the foundation supporting the awards.

The awards were founded in 2018 by the Pabst Steinmetz Foundation to build sustainable models for arts and wellness innovation at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and the Central Florida community. The inaugural year’s winning projects focused on the effects of reading on aging populations and of providing multimedia messages about positive parenting in multiple languages.

The 2019 recipients are:

Creative Approaches to Combat HIV Stigma and Discrimination from Health Providers

• Christa L. Cook, associate professor of nursing, College of Nursing
• Blake Scott, professor, Department of Writing and Rhetoric
• Nathan Holic, associate lecturer, Department of Writing and Rhetoric
• Southern HIV and Alcohol Research Consortium (in partnership with the Florida Department of Health and Florida statewide Stigma Task Force)
• Central Florida HIV service providers

The researchers will draw on their qualitative research expertise and community connections to collect and analyze data about stigmatizing interactions between HIV care providers and patients/clients by partnering with local organizations. They will use interview and focus group findings to produce short, scenario-based videos and comics that can quickly and impactfully illustrate specific forms stigma can take in provider-client communication, how stigma affects patients, and alternatives to stigmatizing language. The production process will involve designing video scripts and comic storyboards, and then commissioning Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ student videographers and a professional cartoonist. The partner organizations will assist in the evaluation of the materials from a provider perspective, and the researchers will work with additional partners to incorporate the materials in education and training for Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ students and for area physicians/providers.

Christa Cook, a primary investigator on the project, sees a need for student involvement. “Students often have novel perspectives and contributions…. [They] are looking at a phenomenon with a fresh perspective,â€� she says.

Project Xavier Hands-free Training Game

• Matt Dombrowski, assistant professor of emerging media, School of Visual Arts & Design
• Albert Manero, president, Limbitless Solutions
• Peter Smith, assistant professor of game design, Nicholson School of Communication and Media
• Bjorn Oskarsson, MD, FAAN senior associate consultant neurology, Jacksonville director ALS and MDA clinics
• Angie Carloss, project manager, Limbitless Solutions

Project Xavier brings together a multidisciplinary team of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ artists, game designers and engineers, as well as the Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville, to provide new mobility solutions for a population with limited or no mobility. The placed on the patient’s temporalis muscles (on the sides of the forehead) to control a powered wheelchair. The funding will allow the research team to create a game-like training instrument that patients will use to advance their learning of the mechanics of the wheelchair device and train in a low-stress environment.

“This type of training could be quite instrumental in improving the capability for the next stage of clinical trials for the Xavier system, and will support the community served by these clinical trials,� says Dombrowski, a primary researcher on the project. “The Pabst Steinmetz award plays an instrumental role in the production and testing of this experience. All of our partners are so thankful of receiving this support from the foundation.�

The fair theme was “Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ and the Chamber of Majorsâ€� and several departments ran with the Harry Potter motif. Three booths were awarded with gift certificates for best décor: Theatre Department, Department of Writing and Rhetoric, and College of Education and Human Performance which took top honors with their Hogwarts-themed booth, including wands, owls, and a student representative dressed as Harry Potter.

Continuing with the theme of the event, two tickets to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando were raffled off at the end of the event. To enter the raffle, student attendees had to complete a “passport� with facts learned about different majors or academic programs. Freshman Psychology major Maleah McLean was thrilled to have won the tickets to the Wizarding World. Students also had the opportunity to win “Chamber of Majors� T-shirts by sharing what they had learned at the event.

The department, which was separated from the Department of English in 2010, assists faculty members in their efforts to strengthen student writing and use writing to improve learning in their courses.

Honored were:

But then, that is the purpose of this course that teaches how to use the art of persuasion and effective writing to shape outcomes.

“I didn’t know that I’d be capable of doing this much,� Goolsby, a junior public relations/advertising major, said about her final project to benefit homeless people in Brevard County. “I can’t believe I actually accomplished this.�

Students in the course were required to identify a problem to which they wanted to respond and then implement a civic-engagement campaign. Goolsby’s project included raising money and supplies for groups that provide aid to the homeless, rallying other students to support the cause, and organizing a volunteer day to help feed the homeless.Ìý

Results of about a dozen projects were showcased Thursday at The Burnett Honors College.Ìý 

Johanna Anda-Bellorin’s campaign calls for voters this November to approve the sale of medical marijuana because it could help her 80-year-old grandmother who has painful rheumatoid arthritis and her 11-year-old cousin who has autism and epilepsy.

“A lot of people don’t understand what it is or how it can be used,� the junior said.

Sophomore Danielle Saff created a Homeless Bill of Rights that she is pushing the Florida Legislature to pass. The 10 points in the bill include guarantees such as the right to travel freely in public areas and the right not to be subject to unreasonable search.

“The purpose of this bill is to minimize discrimination against the homeless by ensuring that the homeless are not deprived of the rights and privileges that all other citizens receive,� she wrote in her project.

Other campaigns raised awareness of Indian River Lagoon pollution, worked to establish a Seminole County counseling program for victims of school bullying, pushed to keep the arts in schools, and promoted other topics.

Elizabeth Wardle, the class professor and chair of the Writing and Rhetoric Department, said she was pleased with the campaigns by the students, who were “to see themselves as active citizens who can use rhetoric to make change in their communities.

“I’m never surprised by what students can do, but I was impressed. Once they got into it, they were really motivated.�

The course will be one of the core classes of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s recently approved Bachelor of Arts in Writing and Rhetoric, housed in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric. The department is part of the College of Arts & Humanities.

The new major scheduled to start this fall is the first of its kind in Florida and is an extension of Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ President John C. Hitt’s vision for students to learn to write more effectively.

When the Department of Writing and Rhetoric was separated from the Department of English in 2010, part of the new department’s mission was to improve the writing of all graduates from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, Wardle said.

“This is the final piece of the mission Dr. Hitt gave us. We’re trying to respond so that when students graduate they’re career-ready,� she said.

Degree courses will include writing in digital environments, writing for nonprofits, marketing your writing, and other topics.

The program is designed to produce graduates proficient in analyzing, creating and editing, and to prepare them to be “more effective and ethical citizen-communicators,� according to the degree’s outline. They’ll also have opportunities to work with community and business partners in publishing, education, healthcare, marketing, public relations and other industries.

Several of the students who showcased their projects Thursday said they plan to switch their major to the new Writing and Rhetoric degree instead of just completing the requirements for a minor. All of the courses in the current minor in Writing & Rhetoric can be applied toward the new major.

For more information about the new degree, go to .Ìý

The Schell Award for Implementing Innovative Writing Instruction in the Disciplines will be given annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated commitment to and success in improving student learning through writing instruction in his or her courses. The award commemorates Schell’s enduring commitment to improving student writing at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½.

For the past two years, Murphree’s American History survey courses have included 10 “writing Fridays.� His students fill blue books with what he calls “their history�—writing the “themes and legacies� of the historical period they have read about and discussed that week in class.

Accepting the award, Murphree told this year’s audience of Writing Across the Curriculum Fellows that his experience as a fellow “transformed� his teaching practice.

Murphree will receive $500 in travel funds to present Writing across the Curriculum topic at an academic conference in his discipline.

Established in 2010, the Writing Across the Curriculum program is an interdisciplinary program coordinated by the Department of Writing and Rhetoric that assists faculty in all disciplines in their efforts to strengthen student writing and use writing to improve learning in their courses and programs.

Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study of extremely small things — detectable only with very strong microscopes — and how they can be used in a variety of fields from biology to engineering.

Examples include micro cameras used in surgery, liquids used to repair scratches on cars, stain-resistant clothes and stealth technology that cloaks planes from radar.

Thursday’s approval comes nearly 10 years after Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ opened the , which will run the new program. Students will develop the scientific knowledge necessary to make discoveries, along with the business and entrepreneurial skills they need to take those discoveries to the market.

Government agencies and academic researchers have been working hard to unravel how the nano world works. It’s one of the hottest growth industries with a worldwide market estimated at $1.2 trillion by 2020, according to Global Industry Analysts.

Students will work closely with industry partners, and the NanoScience Technology Center is interested in recruiting additional partners. The center’s faculty members already work with 21 companies. Interested companies can contact center director Sudipta Seal at sudipta.seal@ucf.edu.

The new program is expected to begin this fall with 10 students.

In other action Thursday, the Board of Trustees:

Approved a new bachelor’s degree in Writing and Rhetoric housed in the , which Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ established in 2010. The program, the only one of its kind in Florida, will address employers’ needs by producing graduates who are proficient in analyzing, creating, editing and adapting text. Students will have opportunities to work with community and business partners. The program is expected to begin this fall.

Participated in a demonstration of , which improves teacher practice and student learning by giving educators the opportunity to instruct a virtual classroom full of avatar students. The experience allows teachers-in-training to perfect their skills without impacting any real students and helps veteran teachers hone their expertise or try out new techniques. Mike Hynes, a professor in Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s College of Education and Human Performance, created the program with education professor Lisa Dieker, College of Engineering & Computer Science professor Charles Hughes, and an interdisciplinary team that included members of the Synthetic Reality Lab at Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Institute for Simulation & Training. About 40 universities around the country now use TLE TeachLivE to train future educators, and the program has been nationally recognized by both education and simulation and training associations.

Thanked student body president Melissa Westbrook for her service as a trustee during the past year. Westbrook’s term as president ends in early May. She will be replaced on the board by newly elected student body president Weston Bayes.

Approved changes to four student fees beginning in the fall. Following the recommendations of a committee made up of a majority of students, trustees voted to increase the activity and service fee and athletic fee each by 88 cents per credit hour, to reduce the Health fee by 5 cents per credit hour, and to increase the Capital Improvement Trust Fund fee by $2 per credit hour to help pay for Library renovations. The proposed CITF fee increase will take effect only with the approval of the Florida Board of Governors.

Agreed to host the the 10th annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge Presented by Disney at Bright House Networks Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 31. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ was asked to host the game to keep it in Orlando while the Citrus Bowl is being renovated.

The program was awarded the Writing Program Certificate of Excellence, which is given to up to 20 programs a year that imaginatively address the needs of those they serve while using best practices and effective assessment. Since 1949, the Conference on College Composition and Communication has been the world’s largest professional organization for researching and teaching composition.

Faculty and staff from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s Department of Writing and Rhetoric, which oversees the first-year composition program, will accept the award at the conference’s annual convention in March.

“Our department is honored to be recognized in this way,” said Elizabeth Wardle, department chair and interim director of first-year composition. “Our first-year composition program has undergone extensive and very positive changes over the past three years, and we are pleased to see that these changes have been noticed nationally.â€�

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½â€™s first-year program is exemplary because of its experienced faculty, small class sizes, nationally known pedagogy and peer-reviewed student publication, Stylus. The program also hosts the annual Knights Write Showcase  to highlight the exceptional works produced by first-year writers.

Launched in 2010, the Department of Writing and Rhetoric also provides writing opportunities for students beyond the first year through its writing and rhetoric undergraduate programs, which include a degree in writing and rhetoric and certificate in public and professional writing, and writing graduate programs, which include a master’s degree in rhetoric and composition and graduate certificate in professional writing.

The department also offers writing-related assistance, training and research opportunities to students and faculty from all disciplines. That assistance has been offered through the writing-across-the-curriculum program and the University Writing Center, which since October have been housed in the new Center for Writing Excellence on the first floor of Colbourn Hall.