Writing and Rhetoric Program

Vila is a good human and kind professor. Take a look at his substack writing to get a sense of the intellectual he is. This intellect comes through very well in the course, with his analysis of course texts filtered through his own highly analytical mind. He is interesting to listen to and keeps the class updated on current events and class member's accomplishments (usually in sports) by interweaving it in his textual analysis. He is also very accommodating and hosts office hours often that are very worthwhile. That said, I was not blown away by the course. Here are some of the things that I did not like: Hardly anyone participated in class, so I got very little out of my peers all trying to get a CW for cheap. I also really wanted to improve my writing in this class. While Vila spent a lot of time reading my work, he only gave positive feedback, which was a bit disappointing. He didn't really stick to the syllabus which meant that I had less incentive to actually read the assigned texts, which was too bad since what I did read of them was really good. The biggest thing that I did not like about the class is that while this class is titled Writing to HEAL, as someone with significant trauma, the readings and assignments did more to stir up old trauma than actually work towards healing in my writing.

Vila is a good human and kind professor. Take a look at his substack writing to get a sense of the intellectual he is. This intellect comes through very well in the course, with his analysis of course texts filtered through his own highly analytical mind. He is interesting to listen to and keeps the class updated on current events an …Read more

Quite simply the best Prof at this college. Prof Vila assigned work and readings in a way that was meaningful and not overwhelming. He also was very intriguing in his lectures and is very easy going. I highly recommend.

I took this course as a CW requirement and assumed that it would be a lot of analytical work relating to the readings, however it was not. We had three assignments that were focused on our own creative process and writing that applied techniques discussed within the readings. Readings were very manageable as he often only asked us to read short essays. Class oftentimes felt like a podcast, where Vila would interject a lot of his own experience which was a positive not a negative.

I took this course as a CW requirement and assumed that it would be a lot of analytical work relating to the readings, however it was not. We had three assignments that were focused on our own creative process and writing that applied techniques discussed within the readings. Readings were very manageable as he often only asked us to …Read more