This marks a significant step in Clemson's evolution as it joins the ranks of other top-20 universities across the nation with similar doctoral programs. McArthur states, "The RCID collaborations encompassing art, digital media, communication and writing are on the cutting edge of academic exploration. This type of study is advancing Clemson University as a center for innovative approaches to the study of the humanities."

McArthur successfully defended his dissertation entitled, "Instructional Proxemics: Creating a place for space in instructional communication discourse" on Friday April 11, 2008 and was recommended for graduation by his committee. "Instructional Proxemics" blends the study of theories in instructional communication; space and proxemics; and information/user-experience design to investigate the influence of space on the interactions of students and teachers as mutual learners.

In a message to the Clemson administration, Dr. Andy Billings, chair of this dissertation committee, wrote that this dissertation is "an excellent example of the type of work that can be produced at the doctoral level in this field." Alongside Dr. Billings, Dr. Bryan Denham (Communication Studies), Dr. Bill Havice (College of Health, Education and Human Development) and Dr. Sean Williams (English, Professional Communication) served as members of the dissertation committee.

The defense, held in the Class of 1941 Studio, was attended by more than 25 members of the RCID family who rallied to support their colleague on this momentous day for the program. This success is just the beginning of a bright future for the RCID community at Clemson.

For more information about Clemson's RCID graduate program, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/RCID/index.php.

Hodgson will write/develop his dissertation titled, "Logos of Possibilities: Rhetorical Inventions/Inventional Rhetorics," both in print literacy for the Graduate School and in electronic literacy using Sophie to demonstrate the differences between paper/PDF files and a multimedia dissertation that still meets all the required scholarly conventions of a dissertation.

"Learning to use the multimedia platform of Sophie as another option to my scholarship should allow for a 'historical' examination of the potentialities and limitations of a text-based print dissertation with those of a multimedia/multimodal creation. Engaging in this dualistic approach, and attempting to articulate my ideas in both the 'traditional' dissertation platform and the multimedia platform, will allow me to not only fulfill my requirements here at Clemson (in terms of my dissertation work), but also open a way for engaging the very technologies (and their possibilities) that my research on rhetorical invention is examining," said Hodgson.

"The competition was tough across the country and one of our students-one of two across the entire country-was selected. This says great things about our students and the program itself," said Hodgson's committee chair and RCID program coordinator, Dr. Victor Vitanza.

For more information about Clemson's RCID PhD program, please visit: www.grad.clemson.edu/programs/RCID/index.php.

"Race is a concept studied in fields as diverse as biology, archaeology, philosophy and political science. Because rhetoric intersects these fields, my study will build bridges across disciplines which have historically had little interaction," says Carr.

Initially recruited by Clemson at a graduate school fair, Carr was sold on our University once she met Drs. Summer Taylor, Victor Vitanza and Arthur Young from the English department. "After meeting such great faculty, I knew that I wanted to study and work with them here at Clemson."

The RCID program, she explains, "examines the ancient craft of rhetoric, which Aristotle referred to as 'the art of persuasion.' That art is what my classmates and I study, through an interdisciplinary approach which includes writing and composition, philosophy, technology and digital media, art history and visual rhetorics and communications studies." Graduates of the program will pursue careers in information design, writing, rhetoric and academia.

After she completes her degree, Carr hopes to remain in academia as a department or program chair and establish an entrepreneurial publishing enterprise.