Current Research
Religious Rhetoric & Organizational Communication
The bulk of my work in this area has focused on Peoples Temple, a political-religious group that existed in the United States (Indiana and California) and Guyana. In popular culture, Peoples Temple is known for the group’s end in November 1978. My research focuses not the the group’s end, but on the ways the membership built and maintained a vibrant, activist organization. You can read some of my work at Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. “‘Verbal Orders Don’t Go–Write it!”: Building and Maintaining the Promised Land” can be found in its original context (Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions). My biographical entry of Marceline Jones, one of the founders of Peoples Temple, can be found at the World Religions and Spirituality Project.
Chinese in Kentucky
Along with co-author Dali Zheng, I am working on pieces exploring the rhetorical action of early Chinese immigrants in the United States.
Audio recording and reading aloud
Reading aloud is a practice that fascinates me because of its intimate connection to invention, memory, and delivery. Integrating reading aloud practice, along with recording of polished writing, can improve students’ revising processes and sense of audience. Read about one of my read aloud/recording assignments here: “‘Lend ears!’: Creating audio recordings of final drafts to develop rhetoric awareness“
Past Research
Writing Program Administration
In the past, I have undertaken scholarship on writing program administration, including a co-authored chapter with Dr. Dana Harrington, “Administrating ourselves to death: Historiography and the ethics of WPA narratives,” which appeared in Culture Shock and the Practice of the Profession: Training the Next Wave in Rhetoric & Composition, edited by Virginia Anderson and Susan Romano.
More recently, I have presented at CWPA on cultivating surprising alliances (“Igniting and Sustaining Unlikely Alliances” 2021); creating structures that rejuvenate rather than deplete (“Filling the Well of Empathy: Practical Spiritual Practices for WPAs (even cynics) that Can Sustain People and Programs” 2018); navigating union-management tensions (“Union Maids or Administrative Whores: Negotiating Institutional Alliances” 2016), and instituting professional development opportunities for NTT faculty (“Sustaining Disciplinary Mastery: The Challenges of Re-Professionalizing Non-Tenure Track Faculty” 2015). CWPA conference presentations were developed in collaboration with colleagues on my own campus (Drs. Tanner WouldGo and Kimberly A. Helmer) and elsewhere (incl. Professor Phaye Ploliakoff-Chen).
