Associate Professor
I teach in the English Department's program in Rhetoric and Professional Communication and conduct research in the rhetoric of energy politics, the use of computers in composition classrooms, and the relevance of classical rhetorical theory to today's world.
I am currently researching a book analyzing the speeches and public statements of six presidents—Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton—in their efforts to deal with energy issues during their administrations. The book weaves together succinct narratives of administration energy policies with rhetorical analyses of how each president framed energy issues during his time in office. This project was the focus of my spring 2009 research sabbatical, during which I conducted archival research at the Ford, Carter, and Clinton presidential libraries. I am planning a trip to the Nixon and Reagan libraries in California during summer 2010.
In addition to this project, I am working with colleagues in the Rhetoric of Science and Technology on a research project mapping the rhetorical terrain of the biofuels economy here in Iowa, and I have also conducted a rhetorical analysis of the ongoing debate over corn-based ethanol's energy balance. My research on energy politics stems from my advocacy of renewable energies; I am a former member of the Board of Directors of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association, and I fill my Volkswagen Jetta with 50% biodiesel during the warmer months.
My past research on computer pedagogy has focused on web design and information architecture, online student interaction, the uses of voice recognition writing software, and the rhetoric of digital cinema. This work has appeared in such journals as Written Communication and Computers and Composition and has helped to identify key variables in the adoption and use of new communication technologies.
In terms of teaching, I regularly teach undergraduate courses in website design, print publications, and the critique of communication technologies. As a result, I'm a pretty good information designer and technical communicator who occasionally takes on outside design projects to remain current with the technology. On the graduate level, I teach courses that examine technology from both philosophical and rhetorical perspectives, including a new seminar course called Critical Theories of Technology.
During the past five years, my service to the department and university has included helping design a new technical communication undergraduate program; serving on the graduate exams committee as it revamped the comprehensive exams process; and serving as portfolio director for ISUComm, a grass-roots curriculum development movement seeking to integrate written, oral, visual, and electronic communication across all four years of the undergraduate experience.
Like everyone else, I'm fascinated with the number of Web 2.0 technologies that are proliferating like fleas across the Internet, but I remain a little concerned as to where all this connectivity is taking us. If we're Facebooking and Twittering out our lives with coffeespoons, what is to happen to our "meatspace" selves, as one student recently put it? Are there not limits to our habitual digital interactions? Perhaps, but in the meantime, check out my shallow forays into the 2.0 revolution via the icons on the right. I'm engaged just enough to be a knowledgeable critic.
