Education
Ph.D. in English (Rhetoric, Composition, and Literacy), Ohio State University
M.A. in English (Language and Literature), University of Missouri-Kansas City
B.S. in Secondary English Education, University of Missouri-Columbia
About
As a specialist in Rhetoric and Composition, I am interested in communication, broadly defined. That communication may be written, oral, visual, or a combination of modes and media; it may take place among humans but is also inherent in objects or environments. This open and flexible understanding of communication defines how I study and perform rhetoric.
I am the author of the boo k Engaging Museums: Rhetorical Education and Social Justice , published by Southern Illinois University Press. This book shares rhetorical case studies of national historical museums, focusing on the ways these sites shape civic engagement and offer new insights to scholars and teachers of rhetoric.
I am also particularly proud to work with the DATW Editorial Collective on Disability, Access, and Teaching of Writing , which was published by NCTE’s Series in Writing and Rhetoric in summer 2026; it is also available open access via the WAC Clearinghouse. We hope this book makes teaching about and with disability–and centering access as a necessary pedagogical practice–more approachable and common.
I have recently published articles on writing program administration, disability studies, public memory of difficult history, and public rhetoric in/about Ferguson, Missouri. I am also an editor and author for the digital collection entitled The Rhetoric of Participation, published by Computers and Composition Digital Press in the spring of 2019.
At the heart of all my work is an ongoing investigation of how rhetoric informs 21st-century practices of engagement, social justice, and pedagogy. My interests in civically engaged rhetoric—especially as it can be used to improve how people listen, speak, and write to (and about) one another—are the uniting thread across my academic roles of teaching, research, and service. As a teacher, scholar, and University citizen, I work to both use and theorize methods and models to move toward equitable and accessible engagement and participation.
Major Projects
Mobilizing Memory: Activist Rhetorics for the Past, Present, and Future (Book-in-Progress)
Disability, Access, and the Teaching of Writing (NCTE SWR 2026)
Engaging Museums: Rhetorical Education and Social Justice (SIUP 2022)
We Are St. Louis Digital Public History & Storytelling Collection (ongoing)
The Rhetoric of Participation (CCDP / USUP 2019)
Research and teaching interests
- Contemporary Rhetorical Theory
- Disability Studies
- Public and Visual Rhetorics
- Museum and Memory Studies
- Composition Theory and Pedagogy
- Engagement and Participation
Selected Publications, Talk, and Other Works
Engaging Museums: Rhetorical Education and Social Justice. Southern Illinois University Press, spring 2022.
The Rhetoric of Participation: Interrogating Commonplaces in and Beyond the Classroom. Edited with Dr. Paige Banaji, Dr. Lisa Blankenship, and Katherine DeLuca, and Ryan Omizo. Logan: Computers and Composition Digital P/Utah State UP, 2019.
“Making Space for the Misfit: Disability and Access in Graduate Education in English.” College English. November 2019.
“ ‘Assurance that the world holds far more good than bad’: The Pedagogy of Memory at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum.” Rhetoric Review. January 2019.
“A Curation of Student Voices on Participation in the Writing Classroom.” The Rhetoric of Participation: Interrogating Commonplaces In and Beyond the Classroom. Eds. Banaji et al. Logan: Computers and Composition Digital P/Utah State UP, 2019.
“Public Rhetoric in the Shadow of Ferguson: Co-Creating Rhetorical Theory in the Community and the Classroom.” Composition Forum (Public Writing Special Issue). Summer/Fall 2017.
“Mad Women on Display: Practices of Public Rhetoric at the Glore Psychiatric Museum.” (Lead author; with Dr. Madeline Walter.) Reflections: A Journal of Public Rhetoric, Civic Writing, and Service Learning (Disability Studies Special Issue). December 2014.
