The Daily Bulletin Archive

University College is pleased to announce that the author of the 2012 Buffalo State Common Reading, Victor Villanueva, will speak to the campus on Friday, November 2, at 3:00 p.m. in Rockwell Hall. This event is free to all members of the Buffalo State community. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Villanueva is a professor of composition and rhetoric in the English Department at Washington State University. He is the author or editor of five books and more than 40 articles and chapters, and his Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color has been recognized with two national awards. In 1999, he was declared Rhetorician of the Year by the Young Rhetoricians Conference. A past president of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, he received the organization's Exemplar Award in 2009. His body of work revolves around issues of language, racism, and identity. A complete biography is available on the WSU website.

The common reading, "Colonial Memory and the Crime of Rhetoric: Pedro Albizu Campos," will be the focal point of a series of events taking place throughout the fall term. The article, which was originally published in College English in 2009, explores issues of rhetoric, colonization, racism, and cultural identity. Villanueva uses personal narrative and the story of Puerto Rican Nationalist Party leader Pedro Albizu Campos to explore the power of words and the risks and rewards of giving voice.

For more information on the Buffalo State Common Reading or Villanueva’s visit to campus, contact Michele Ninacs, director of the College Writing Program, ext. 5451.