Since I joined the faculty at Kent State I have continued to study the nature and function of language practices. As a researcher in the Center for Research in Workplace Literacy (CRWL), I studied the linguistic interactions between a nurse practitioner and her patients, with specific attention to how she discursively managed the temporal constraints of those interactions. More recently, I have turned my attention to the deliberative character of political discourse. Specifically, I am interested in the ways the future is represented in political discourse and the ideological and material implications of those representations. I am currently studying various Bush Administration documents (e.g., President Bush’s speeches and the National Security Strategy) produced during the months leading up to the current U.S. war against Iraq.
This focus on the politics of futurity has lead me to considering the potential and limits of rhetoric as a tool for affecting social change. I am currently collaborating with a graduate student on a project that examines the ways social change is conceptualized in classical and contemporary theories of rhetoric and the ways it is manifested in specific political documents and treatises.
In the past few years, I have become active in various peace and justice issues and campaigns. My main point of action is Pittsburgh, where I live with my husband, Joel, and our cat, Abbey, and dog, Alex. My hope is that my work as an academic will be informed by, as well as help inform, my work as an activist. I have served as a member of my local neighborhood community council (The East Allegheny Community Council), which addresses local business development and historic preservation issues. I am currently a member of the board of directors of the Thomas Merton Center, whose mission is to bring about a more peaceful and just world through nonviolent struggle.
My teaching at the undergraduate level includes Argumentative and Expository Prose, College English I & II, and a Senior Seminar. These courses have explored a range of issues concerning rhetoric, literacy, and society: literacy practices in workplace settings, the role of the media in society and culture, and the rhetorical nature of language practices in politics and the media. My teaching in the Rhetoric and Composition graduate major (“LRSP”) includes Rhetoric in the Human Sciences, Discourse Analysis, Introduction to the Field, and The Rhetorical Nature and Function of Extended Discourse.
Areas of Interest
Rhetorical Studies, Political Discourse, Critical Discourse Analysis
Selected Recent Publications- With D. S. Kaufer. “Integrating Cultural Reflection and Production in College Writing Curricula.” In Reconceiving Writing, Rethinking Writing Instruction. Ed. J. Petraglia-Bahri. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1995. 215-48.
- With D. S. Kaufer. “Irony.” In Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Ed. T. Enos. New York: Garland, 1996. 355-57.
- “Naturalizing the Future in Factual Discourse: A Critical Linguistic Analysis of a Projected Event.” Written Communication 14 (1997): 221-63.
- “Genre as a Temporally Situated Social Action: A Study of Temporality and Genre Activity.” Written Communication 17 (2000): 93-138.
- “Preempting the Future: Rhetoric and Ideology of the Future in Political Discourse.” Discourse and Society,16 (2005): 481-513.