The Ohio State University Department of English

Faculty Expertise in Writing, Rhetoric, and Literacy

Faculty Expertise in Writing, Rhetoric, and Literacy

Ohio State's program in writing, rhetoric, and literacy studies has a proud history as a national leader in scholarship and teaching in these thriving subfields — from the foundational work of Joseph Denney and Edward P.J. Corbett to the award-winning investigations of current students and faculty. 

Rhetoric scholars at Ohio State study how discourse works in the world. In other words, we study how people use texts to persuade, inform and create community as well as how social and material contexts enable and constrain what and how people communicate. Composition scholars concentrate on writing pedagogy — its past, its politics, its current best practices and the empirical research shaping its future. Literacy studies scholars investigate the practices, processes and aims of reading and writing, recognizing that they vary — sometimes widely — depending on language, mode of communication and social, cultural, political and economic context. Intellectual boundaries between writing, rhetoric and literacy may be difficult to detect in our program here at Ohio State, as many faculty draw on theories and methodologies from one field as they research or teach about another. 

Faculty and students who graduate from our program embody intellectual diversity, interdisciplinarity and social justice. We leverage the expertise of our faculty—from human rights to health humanities—to help students cultivate unique identities as scholars, teachers, colleagues and agents of change.

ACTIVE FACULTY

  • Charles Athanasopoulos, The Black radical tradition, rhetorical theory, cultural critique, Black American and diasporic cinema, Afro-Caribbean identity and critique, Greek-Roma Identity and Critique
  • Katie Braun (Marion campus): Digital media studies, composition studies, literacy studies, professional writing, writing across the curriculum, writing centers, film
  • Jonathan Buehl: Rhetoric, professional writing, rhetoric of science, research methods
  • Scott Lloyd DeWitt: Digital media studies; composition studies; writing program and curriculum development; writing analytics
  • Jim Fredal: History of rhetoric; ancient rhetorics; legal rhetoric; rhetoric and narrative; rhetorical theory and criticism
  • Wendy S. Hesford: Rhetoric; human rights; critical pedagogy; critical literacy; critical race studies; women, gender and sexuality studies
  • John Jones: Digital media studies; digital rhetoric; professional and technical communication; visual rhetoric
  • Elena Kalodner-Martin, technical communication, professional communication, rhetoric of health and medicine, medical humanities, social media, feminist rhetoric, disability studies
  • Dan Keller (Newark campus): Literacy studies, digital media studies, composition studies, reading pedagogy, writing center studies
  • Susan Lang: Writing program administration; data and text mining; composition studies; technical communication
  • Ben McCorkle (Marion campus): Digital media studies; history and theory of rhetoric; technologies of writing
  • Beverly Moss: Literacy studies, composition, community literacy
  • Margaret Price: Disability studies, research methods, discourse analysis, digital media studies
  • John Seabloom-Dunne, Technical and professional communication, rhetoric and composition, rhetorics of Technology
  • Carolyn Skinner (Mansfield campus): History and theory of rhetoric; women’s rhetoric; rhetoric of medicine; rhetoric of professionalism; writing centers
  • Lauren Squires: Linguistics, digital media studies
  • Corinne Sugino
  • Christa Teston: Contemporary rhetorical theory; technical and professional writing; rhetorics of science, technology and medicine; research methods; digital media studies; health humanities
  • Elizabeth Weiser (Newark campus): History and theory of rhetoric; Kenneth Burke; museum studies

EMERITUS FACULTY

UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDIES IN WRL

COURSE OFFERINGS