Ph.D. in English
Miami University (MU), Ohio
Major Subject: Rhetoric
Minor Subject: Professional Communication

M.A. in English
Santa Clara University (SCU), California
Major Subject: English
Minor Subject: Folklore

B.A. in English
Santa Clara University, California

Dissertation

"A Critical Inquiry into the Gendered Understanding, Interpretation, and Use of Rhetorical Technologies as Inventional Heuristics"

Fields

Rhetorical Theory, Professional Communication Theory and Practice, Feminist Theory and Pedagogy, Rhetorical Histories and Historiography, Composition Theory and Pedagogy, Qualitative Research Methodologies and Methods, Sociolinguistics

ACADEMIC HONORS

Academic Grants and Awards

2005, Michigan Technological University (MTU) Distinguished Teaching Award Finalist.

2004-06, MTU, National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, $330,000. Co-PI with Robert R. Johnson, Humanities, and Charles Wallace, MTU Computer Science. “Speaking of Software: Integrating Communication and Documentation Techniques into an Undergraduate Software Engineering Curriculum.”

2000-01, Building Partnerships for Diversity grant, SCU James Irvine Foundation, $16,000. “Intersections: Enhancing Multicultural Learning in Core Writing Classes.”

2000, Council on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Recognition, “Outstanding Teacher at Your Institution.” Sponsored by CCCC, the organization central to the theoretical and pedagogical work of Composition as a discipline and intended to acknowledge “those who gain recognition for what they do in their classrooms.”

1999, Brutocao Award for Teaching Excellence, SCU, $2,000. The only University award to recognize excellence in teaching; initiated by current students and alumni of Santa Clara.

1995-96. Dissertation Fellowship, MU, full tuition and fees (declined in order to return to teaching responsibilities at SCU). Awarded on the basis of a dissertation proposal
demonstrating the greatest promise for distinguished scholarship to “one of thirteen English Department doctoral students most deserving and best qualified to receive this award.”

1995, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, MU. Membership based upon performance in top ten percent of graduate students nationwide.

1994-95, Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration Grant, MU, partial tuition and course reduction. Awarded to develop writing intensive curricula for faculty teaching in the Proctor and Gamble Communication Facility.

1994, Marjorie Post Farrington Memorial Scholarship, MU, $1,000. Awarded annually to recognize an outstanding graduate student in the Humanities.

1994, Spiro Peterson Memorial Scholarship, MU, $1,000. Awarded annually to a single English Department doctoral student “who has achieved distinction as a scholar and researcher.”

1992-1995, SCU Doctoral Fellowship, $30,000. Awarded to support full-time graduate study leading to the doctoral degree and faculty appointment to the College of Arts and Sciences.

1985-87, National Endowment for the Humanities Grant, $30,000. To design and implement “Writing and the Humanities for SCU Faculty,” a three-year summer program, examining the intersections of writing and learning across the disciplines.

Additional Grants and Awards

2000, “Twenty-Five Years of Distinguished Scholarship and Teaching Award,” Women at SCU: A Legacy for Change. Established to recognize sustained scholarly and pedagogical contributions to the University community.

1999, Arthur Vining Davis Fellowship & Junior Faculty Development Leave, SCU Provost’s Office, research leave with full salary. Awarded to support scholarship for junior faculty.

1999, CCCC James Berlin Memorial Outstanding Dissertation Award nominee. A national award recognizing a graduate whose dissertation “improves the educational process through research or scholarly inquiry or adds to the body of knowledge in composition studies.”

1999, CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication nominee. A national award recognizing a graduate whose dissertation represents original research and critical inquiry into the nature of technical communication.

1997, MU Women's Studies Scholarship. An interdisciplinary award to recognize and support a noteworthy dissertation-in-progress, which takes up issues central to work in the field.

1995, Graduate School Grant, MU. Awarded to support dissertation research.

1995, Almy Fund Grant, MU. Competitive award to support dissertation research.

1995, Center for the Study of Writing Grant, MU. Competitive award to support dissertation research.

1993, Graduate Student Achievement Award, MU.

1992-1993, Graduate School Academic Achievement Assistantship, MU, full tuition and fees.

1991-94, SCU James Irvine Foundation Grant for Curriculum Development, “Integrating Diversity into the Freshman Writing Sequence.”

1989-90, SCU Faculty Travel Grant. For sabbatical project, “Critical Literacy: Teaching Writing, Reading, and Thinking in SCU’s Freshman Composition Program.”

1986, IBM Grant. To design and establish an SCU personal computer writing laboratory.

SCHOLARLY WORK

Refereed Publications and Proceedings

“Rhetorical Research: Toward a User-Centered Approach.” Rhetoric Review 23:1
(January 2004): 57-74.

“Interrupting Gender as Usual: Metis Goes to Work.” Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 32 (May 2003): 211-33.

“Tinkering With Technological Skill.” Computers and Composition 16 (April 1999): 7-23.

"Risk Communication and Rhetoric: The Ethics of Participation." Center News 11, 3-4 (Spring/Summer 1994): 4-12.

“Classical Theory in Modern Context: One Source of Generative Power for Technical and Scientific Communications Programs.” Proceedings of The 1993 Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication Conference (1994): 73-4.

“Proposal Writing at Atherton Jordan, Inc.: An Ethnographic Study,” with Claudia MonPere McIsaac. Management Communication Quarterly, An International Journal 12, 4 (May 1990): 527-60.

“Reinforcing Successive Gains: Collaborative Projects for Writing Faculty.” Writing Program Administration 12, 3 (1989): 57-61.

“Reinforcing Successive Gains: Collaborative Projects for Writing Faculty.” ERIC Ed 297 328. Bloomington, IN: ERIC/RCS, 1989.

“Towards a Marriage of Two Minds: The Word Processor and Natural Habits of Thought in the ‘Discovery’ Stage of Composing,” with Fred White. ERIC ED. Bloomington, IN: ERIC/RCS, 1985.

“Towards a Marriage of Two Minds: The Word Processor and Natural Habits of Thought in the ‘Discovery’ Stage of Composing,” with Fred White. Proceedings of the Delaware Valley Writing Council’s Conference on “The Written Word and the Word Processor” (1984): 139-48.

Reviews

“Techne Goes Professional: Ancient Knowledge in the Contemporary Workplace.” Technical Communication Quarterly 11 (Spring 2002): 216-219.

“Expanding English Studies to Include Workplace Writing: Imagining Real Change or Re-Inventing the Wheel?” The Journal of Computer Documentation 23 (November 1999): 23-26.

Work Accepted for Publication

“The Intersecting Futures of Technical Communication and Software Engineering:
Forging a Multi-Disciplinary Alliance,” with Robert R. Johnson and Charles Wallace. Special Issue of Technical Communication on Future Development of the Profession (forthcoming, August 2006).

Review of Rhetoric, Innovation, Technology: Case Studies of Technical Communication in Technology Transfers by Stephen Doheny-Farina. Technical Communication Quarterly (forthcoming in the “next available general issue”).

“What We Teach and What They Use: Faculty Teaching and Students Learning in STC Programs and Beyond,” Journal of Business and Technical Communication (forthcoming January 2007).

Work Under Consideration

“Speaking of Software: A Rhetorical Exploration of Issues in Stakeholder
Communication,” with Robert R. Johnson and Charles Wallace.

Work in Progress

“Participating Fully”: Scientific and Technical Communication Programs and Writing Centers Collaborating on International and Cross-Disciplinary Work,” with Sylvia Matthews and Karen Koethe.

“The Power of Productive Knowledge: Using Theory to Build Stronger Technical and
Professional Communication Programs.

Selected Papers

Conference Papers

“New Issues in Diversity for Scientific and Technical Communication.” Fifth Biennial International Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference, Houghton, MI, October 2005.

“Incorporating and Compensating: Some Challenges of Interdisciplinary Research on Programs Inside and Outside of Technical Communication.” Council for Programs of Technical and Scientific Communication (CPTSC) Conference, Texas Technological University, Lubbock, TX, October 2005.

“Facing the Need to Theorize Technical and Professional Communication for the Public.” To be presented at the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW) Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 2005.

“Adding ‘Why’ to ‘What’: The Practice of Teaching Applied Theory.” Association of Business Communication (ABC) Conference at Modern Language Association (MLA) Conference, Philadelphia, PA, December 2004.

“Technology and Curricular Innovation.” National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference, Indianapolis, IN, November 2004.

“Diversity, Theoretically Speaking.” (CPTSC), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IL, October 2004.

“Re-Negotiating Multicultural Studies in the Composition and Research Classroom.” CCCC Convention, Chicago, IL, March 2002.

“Women Talking Technical.” ATTW Conference, Minneapolis, MN, April 2000.

“Craft, Techne, and Cunning Intelligence: Toward an Art of Techno-Feminism,” with Arthur Ranney, Frances Ranney, and Mary Rose Williams. Second Biennial Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference, Minneapolis, MN, October 1999.

"Solving Problems and Identifying Issues: Classical Theory in Modern Context." CCCC Convention, Milwaukee, WS, March 1996.

"Communication, Technology, and Literacy: Case Studies in the School of Business." MLA Convention, Chicago, IL, December 1995.

"Communication, Technology, and Literacy: A Critical Junction for Business School and English Departments." ABC Midwest Regional Conference, Indianapolis, IN, April 1995.

“Women Engineers and Proposal Writing: A Particular Repertoire.” CCCC Convention, Nashville, TN, and March 1994.

“Placing Technical Writing in the Rhetorical Tradition.” NCTE Convention, Pittsburgh, PA, November 1993.

“Classical Theory in Modern Context: One Source of Generative Power for Technical and Scientific Communications Programs.” CPTSC conference, Charlotte, NC, October 1993.

“Risk Communication and Rhetoric: The Ethics of Participation.” Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, University Park, PA, July 1993.

“Ethnography: New Contributions to an Understanding of Professional Writing,” with Claudia MonPere McIsaac. MLA Convention, San Francisco, CA, December 1991.

“Engineers and Persuasion: An Ethnographic Study,” with Claudia MonPere McIsaac. 53rd National and 15th International Convention of the ABC, Indianapolis, IN, October 1988.

“Reinforcing Successive Gains: Collaborative Projects for Writing Faculty.” CCCC Convention, St. Louis, MO, March 1988.

“Collaborative Learning Projects and Divergent Thinking in the Freshman Composition Classroom.” Pacific Coast Writing Centers Association Conference, UC Davis, CA, October 1987.

“Professional Issues of Writing Program Administration.” Writing Program Administrators (WPA) Conference, Utah State University, Logan, UT, August 1987.

Additional Papers and Presentations

“Feminist Standpoint Theory.” Invited presentation to MTU’s Graduate Seminar, March 2004.

“Colloquium on Multicultural Learning in Core Writing Classes.” Co-presented at an English Department Colloquium, SCU, Santa Clara, CA, May 2001.

“Assimilation, Racelessness, and Cultural Silence.” Discussion Leader at “Memoria Is a Friend of Ours: Rhetoric, History, and Multiculturalism, a Presentation and Workshop with Victor Villanueva, Jr.,” SCU, Santa Clara, CA, February 2001.

“No Time to Waste.” In recognition of the Brutocao Award for Teaching Excellence, invited address to SCU’s Spring 2000 Undergraduate Awards and Honors Convocation, Santa Clara, CA, June 2000.

"Fifth Century Rhetorics and Twentieth Century Technologies." English Department Colloquium, SCU, Santa Clara, CA, October 1996.

"How Written, Oral, & Electronic Communication is Integrated into the Business Curriculum." Presentation to the Advisory Council of the Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration, Oxford, OH, April 1995.

“Risk Communication Reflecting Shifting Views of Audience.” Presentation to the Writing Program Administration Council, Oxford, OH, March 1995.

"Helping Business School Faculty Integrate Writing into Their Courses: A Joint Venture.” Presentation for the Center for the Study of Writing, Oxford, OH, February 1995.

“Developmental Programs: Guided Writing and Other Models.” Invited presentation, Freshman Composition Seminar Series, Santa Clara,
CA, October 1990.

“Contextual Choices: Aristotelian Argument and Rogerian Persuasion.” Invited presentation, Freshman Composition Seminar Series, Santa Clara, CA, 1985.

Conference Panels Organized and Chaired

"The Discourse of the Workplace," MMLA, Applied Linguistics Section, Chicago, IL, November 1995.

Workshops

“Grant Writing for Change.” Half-Day Workshop conducted at the California Students against Sweatshops, Statewide Conference, February 2002.

"Approaching Qualitative Research through Discourse Analysis," with Jennie Dautermann, Lu Ming Mao, and Karen Powers-Stubbs. Full-Day Workshop conducted at the CCCC Convention, Washington, D.C., March 1995.

“Approaching Qualitative Research Data through Discourse Analysis,” with Jennie Dautermann, Lu Ming Mao, and Karen Powers-Stubbs. Half-Day Workshop conducted at the CCCC Convention, Nashville, TN, March 1994.

“Understanding in More than One Way: The Rhetoric of the Page,” with Jim Dubinsky. Workshop conducted at the Society for Technical Communication Currents ‘94 Conference, Atlanta, GA, February 1994.

Roundtables

"Studying Rhetoric and Professional Communication: Spanning Boundaries between the Academy and the Workplace." Roundtable presented at the CCCC Convention, Washington, D.C., March 1995.

Poster Sessions

“Speaking of Software,” with Charles Wallace and Robert R. Johnson. National Science Foundation Grantee Meeting, Engineering and Computing Education, Washington, D.C., February 2005.

TEACHING AND RELATED EXPERIENCE

Assistant Professor, Michigan Technological University (MTU), 2003-:
Designed and teach graduate level “Technical Communication and Technology Studies”
Co-teach graduate level “Practicum in Teaching Technical Communication”
Designed and teach 4000 level course “Advanced Practicum in Technical Communication”
Designed and teach 3000 level course “Special Topics in Professional Writing: Proposal and Grant Writing”
Designed and teach 2000 level courses “Introduction to Scientific and Technical Communication” and “Perspectives”

Senior Lecturer, SCU, 2002-2003:
Designed and taught lower-division course “Rhetoric for Professional Writing”

Assistant Professor, SCU, 1999-2002:
Designed and taught lower-division course “Women and Rhetoric”
Re-designed and taught upper-division course “Advanced Non-Fiction
Writing”
Developed and oversaw hands-on instruction for “Peer Educators in English”
Developed and taught senior seminar for English majors, “Literary Representations of Technology”
Developed and taught upper-division “Business Writing”

Acting Assistant Professor, SCU, 1996-98:
Designed and taught upper-division course “Advanced Non-Fiction Writing”
Re-designed and taught First Year Composition
Re-designed and taught Freshman Residence Community First Year Composition

Research Assistant, Women's Studies Program, MU, 1995-96:
Assisted Director of Women’s Studies in program administration and manuscript preparation of the edited collection, Feminism and Composition Studies: In Other Words

Teaching Assistant, MU, 1992-94:
Designed and taught Technical Writing in the Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Project
Taught first year Miami Plan foundation courses in writing and critical thinking, writing, and literature

Senior Lecturer, SCU, 1986-92:
Taught courses in Critical Composition for English Majors, Guided Writing, Report Writing: lower division Business, Communications, graduate level Communications

Lecturer, SCU, 1971-85:
Taught courses in Composition and Rhetoric, Critical Composition for English Majors, Critical Composition for Honors Students, Guided Writing, Composition and Literature, Intermediate Composition

Other Academic Experience

Editor, College Composition at Miami, MU, 1994-95. Oversaw a three-member staff in the re-design, editing, and production of the English Department publication required and used in all sections of MU’s first-year composition program.

Co-Director, National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Faculty Writing Seminar: Writing and the Humanities, SCU, 1984-88. Responsible for the conceptual development and practical implementation of three consecutive summer seminars for thirty-six faculty members across the disciplines interested in examining the intersections of writing, thinking, and learning.

Director, Freshman Composition Program, SCU, 1978-89. Provided leadership for Program’s conceptual development and implementation as well as for the professional enhancement and administrative support of its faculty.

Relevant Non-Academic Professional Experience

Professional Communication Consultant

Community Counseling and Crisis Center (Oxford, Ohio, 1995). Assessed employees’ educational and professional backgrounds, as well as Center’s goals and philosophy, in order to produce an organizational vision statement and implementation plan.

Richard T. Farmer School of Business (MU, Oxford, Ohio, 1993-95). Consulted with select Business School faculty to assess field specific classes with the goal of redesigning them to make writing central to enhancing learning and securing disciplinary knowledge.

Apple Computer (Cupertino, California, 1988). Designed and delivered Professional Writing Workshops, focusing on report and proposal writing, for sales managers and field representatives.

Leavey Graduate School of Business (SCU, Santa Clara, California, 1986-89). In collaboration with English Department colleagues, consulted with select Business School faculty in order to identify programmatic goals and students’ needs for writing instruction; based on assessment, designed and taught subsequent writing classes.

SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION

Service to University

Member, Enterprise Governing Board, MTU, 2005-.

Search Committee for Executive Director of Marketing and Communication, MTU, 2005-.

Conference Co-coordinator, 2003-05. Fifth Biennial International Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference, MTU.

Curriculum Committee, 1998-02. Charged with preparing departmental assessment for WASC, SCU.

Graduate Student Representative, Graduate Student Committee, Association of Business Communication, National Organization, MU 1994-96.

Graduate Student Representative, Search Committee, Howe Professorship in Written Communication, MU, 1994-96.

Chair, College of Arts and Science University Curriculum Committee, Composition and Literature, SCU, 1987-89. Responsible for examining the Composition and Literature sequence in preparation for University-wide curricular revision and reform.

MBA Written Communication Consultant Group, SCU, 1986-89. Collaborated with MBA faculty to design a writing course for graduate students.

English-Engineering Committee, SCU, 1985-88. Consulted with Engineering faculty to explore the possibilities of a writing course for engineering students.

National Endowment for the Humanities Grant Committee, SCU, 1984-88. Worked with four English Department colleagues to propose, design, and deliver SCU’s NEH Summer Faculty Workshop.

Service to Department

Search Committee for Assistant Professor of Culture and Communication, MTU, 2005.

Director, Scientific and Technical Communication (STC) Program, MTU, 2004-. Responsible for curricular review and design, student development, and outreach to the wider university, business, and industrial communities.

Chair, Scientific and Technical Communication (STC) Committee, MTU, 2004-. Responsible for identifying and helping to carry out yearlong initiatives focusing on programmatic development and student life.

Co-Director, Scientific and Technical Communication (STC) Program, MTU, 2003-04.

Co-Chair, Scientific and Technical Communication (STC) Committee, MTU, 2003-04.

Steering Committee, MTU, 2003-

Interim Co-Director, Professional Communication Minor, SCU, 2001-03. Responsible for collaborating on new course design and implementation, establishing programmatic evaluative procedures, and planning for programmatic expansion.

Interim Director, Professional Communication Internship Program, SCU, 2001-03. Responsible for establishing internship application procedures, developing evaluative criteria for student interns, and reaching out more aggressively to industry contacts who might be interested in working with internship program.

Chair, Working Group, English Department Curriculum Committee, charged with assisting in Departmental curriculum assessment, SCU, 2001-02.

Presenter, Brown Bag Pedagogy Lunch, Winter SCU, 2000. Discussed ways to integrate theory and pedagogy across writing classes

Mentor for Peer Educators, SCU, 1999-02. Worked with upper-division students to develop pedagogy, which locates peers as integral parts of the learning experience for first-year composition students. Collaborated with Peer Educators to submit a successful panel proposal to national conference.

Graduate Student Representative, Subcommittee of Graduate Committee, Graduate Student Assessment of Experience in M.A., Ph.D., and M.A.T. Programs, MU, 1995.

Composition Committee, SCU, 1977-90. Took up issues of faculty enhancement, support, and assessment, as well as programmatic design and development.

Service to Profession

Reviewer, College English, 1999-2003.

Graduate Student Representative, Graduate Student Committee, Association of Business Communication, National Organization, MU, 1994-96.

Chair, Applied Linguistics Section of the Midwest Modern Language Association (MMLA), 1995-96

Secretary, Applied Linguistics Section of the MMLA, 1994-95.

Current Memberships in Professional Organizations

National Council of Teachers of English
Society for Technical Communication
Modern Language Association
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society