Dr Rosemary (Rose) Williamson

Senior Lecturer, Writing and Rhetoric - Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Rosemary (Rose) Williamson

Phone: +61 2 6773 2774

Email: rwilli27@une.edu.au

Biography

Rose Williamson teaches across a range of units in writing and rhetoric. In her research, Rose specialises in Australian magazines (history, genres, content) and political speeches and memoir. She is currently interested in the ways in which popular genres of writing and communication more generally both reflect and influence Australians’ relation to their natural environment, past and present. Rose’s publications reflect these specialisations as well as an ongoing commitment to best pedagogic practice in the writing classroom. Before completing her PhD and joining the academic staff of UNE, Rose worked in university governance and in the public service, where she gained extensive experience in professional writing and editing. She also published short stories (fiction and creative non-fiction).

Qualifications

BA (Hons I and University Medal) Qld
GradCertArts (Creative Writing) QUT
PhD UNE

Teaching Areas

Writing (professional, academic, creative) across various WRIT-coded units offered by the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.

  • Rhetoric and rhetorical criticism - WRIT326/526 Persuading the Public: Rhetoric in Public Affairs
  • Magazines (from 2019) – WRIT327/527 Magazines: Culture, Industry, Practices
  • Professional writing (from 2019) – WRIT306/506 Writing for Work: Styles and Contexts

Research Interests

Stories of natural disaster and the natural environment in popular non-fiction publications and in the news media from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries

Magazine histories, publishing and writing

Australian special-interest magazines

Parliamentary speeches on natural disaster

Stories of natural disaster and the environment in Australian political memoir

Research Grants

2015-16 Fellowship, Australian Prime Ministers Centre, Museum of Australian Democracy (Old Parliament House, Canberra)

School of Arts Excellence in Teaching Award 2015, for innovation, leadership or scholarship

2015 University Research Seed Grant (Early Career Researcher) for the project “The Rhetoric of Resilience and Natural Disaster in Australia”

School of Arts conference travel grants (international and domestic), 2011-2017

Research Supervision Experience

PhD
COMM402H Communication Studies Honours Dissertation
ARTS502 Dissertation
ARTS301, 302 and 501 Arts Research and Professional Practice
WORK300 and WORK500 Professional Skills Development.

Publications

Non-Traditional Research Outcome

2016 “I Had to Come to See for Myself: Prime Ministers, Natural Disaster and the People.” Museum of Australian Democracy, https://primeministers.moadoph.gov.au/topics/i-had-to-come-to-see-for-myself

Edited collections

2014, with R. Johinke. Australasian Magazines: New Perspectives on Writing and Publishing. Spec. issue of TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses 25 (October).

2009, with D.L. Brien. Supervising the Creative Arts Research Higher Degree: Towards Best Practice. Spec. issue of TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses6 (October).

Book chapter

2015 “‘What It Is to Be a Queenslander’: The Australian State Parliamentary Motion of Condolence on Natural Disasters as Epideictic and Regional Rhetoric.’ In A.T. Demo (Ed.) Rhetoric across Borders. Anderson, South Carolina: Parlor Press. pp. 134-145.

Selected peer-reviewed articles

2018 “Natural Disaster and Writing the (Political) Self: The Memoirs of Julia Gillard and Anna Bligh.” New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing DOI: 10.1080/14790726.2017.1418383

2016 “Writing for Transition: The Role of Food Studies in the General Academic Writing Classroom.” TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses 20.1 (April)

2014 “Modelling the Creative and Professional Self: The Magazine Profile as Narrative of Transition and Transformation.” Australasian Magazines: New Perspectives on Writing and Publishing. Spec. issue of TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses 25 (April).

2014 “Australian Special-Interest Magazines: A Case Study in Community Formation and Survival.” Media International Australia 150: 122-29.

2013 “Food for the People: Studying The Australian Women’s WeeklyCookbooks.” Cookbooks: Writing, Reading and Publishing. Spec. issue of TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses 24 (October).

2012 “Breeding Them Tough North of the Border: Resilience and Heroism as Rhetorical Responses to the 2011 Queensland Floods.” Disaster Dialogues: Representations of Catastrophe in Word and Image. Spec. issue of Social Alternatives 31.3: 33-38.

2012 “Home-Grown Heroes: The Use of Narrative in Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s 2011 ‘Motion of Condolence: Natural Disasters’.” The Encounters: Place / Situation / Context Papers – The Refereed Proceedings of the 17th Conference of The Australasian Association of Writing Programs. 25-27 Nov. Deakin U: Australasian Assn. of Writing Programs.

2011 “Proteus as Writer: The Role of the (Academic) Writing Class in Preparing Australian Graduates for Careers in the Creative Arts.” Leadership in Writing and the Creative Arts. Spec. issue of TEXT: Journal of Writing and Writing Courses 12 (October).

2010 “Buying the Creative Life: The Rhetorical Function of Australian Quilters’ Magazines as Advocates for Choice.” Proceedings of the Media, Democracy and Change: Australia and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) Conference. 7-9 July. U of Canberra: ANZCA.

2010 “What’s in a Name? Discipline Nomenclature as Rhetorical Construct.” Proceedings of Strange Bedfellows or Perfect Partners: The Role of Literary Studies in Creative Writing Programs: Australian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) Conference. 25-27 Nov. 2010. RMIT U: AAWP.

2008 “The Case of the Writer, the Academic and the Magazine.” TEXT: The Journal of the Australian Association of Writing Programs 12.1.

2008 “Obsession, Guilt, Subterfuge and Penury: The Rhetoric of Addiction and the Construction of Creative Identity in Australian Quilters’ Magazines.” International Journal of the Humanities 5.11: 163-70.

2007, with D.L. Brien and L. Rutherford. “Hearth and Hotmail: The Domestic Sphere as Commodity and Community in Cyberspace.” M/C Journal10.4.

Other

2017 (with M Le Masurier and R Johinke) “From Pig Hunting to Quilting – Why Magazines Still Matter.” The Conversation (Arts + Culture). 20 March

2015 “Abbott’s Last Speech as Leader – No Tears or Laughs Here” The Conversation(Politics + Society). 17 September.

2010 “Crafting the Creative Life: The Rhetorical Dimensions of Selected Australian Quilters' Magazines 1988-2005” PhD thesis, University of New England, Australia.

Memberships

Member of

Consultancy Interests

Professional writing