Ph.D. Dissertations in English (Rhetoric and Composition)
This is a selected list of the most recent dissertation projects. Additional projects can be found under the English Dissertation section of Scholarworks
2024
Collen Ijuin
“The Assignment as Strategic Communication and Heuristic for Operationalizing Multimodal Composition”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Baotong Gu and Dr. Ashley Holmes
Keaton Lamle
“Contested Authority: How Christian Nationalist Cultural Networks Shaped the Covid-19 Vaccination Debate”
Chair—Dr. Michael Harker; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Ashley J. Holmes
Alina Thurman
“Student Perceptions of First-Year Composition Assignment Design and Classroom Policy”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Ashley J. Holmes and Dr. Michael Harker
Jodi Williams
“Expanding Public Writing Circulation and Its Impact on First-Year Composition Classroom”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Ashley J. Holmes and Dr. George Pullman
2023
Jenna Harte
“Identifying with Conspiracy Theorists: Uncovering Rhetorical Questions in the QAnon Movement”
Chair—Dr. Michael Harker; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. George Pullman
Matthew Higgins
“Addressing the Aristotelian Pedagogical Bias: Reassessing Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Its Place in 21st Century Composition Studies”
Chair—Dr. Michael Harker; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Scott Lightsey
Bailey McAlister
“Analyzing the Rhetorics of Wine: Ethnographic Research of Wine Community Rhetorics”
Chairs—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. Baotong Gu
Jessica Eden McCrary
“Oral History, Activism, and Remembrance: the Rhetorical Agency of Georgia Women Activists in and beyond the Equal Rights Amendment”
Chairs—Dr. Ashley Holmes; Readers: Dr. Lynee Gaillet and Dr. Michael Harker
Euguenia Novokshanova
“Meta-Awareness about Multimodal Composition: Identifying Components of Multimodal Writing Development”
Chairs—Dr. Ashley Holmes; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Baotong Gu
Alexandra Sladky
“Lost and Found in Translation: Women Translating the Classics as Rhetorical Acts”
Chairs—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. Michael Harker
2022
Sarah Carter
“Preparing Student Researchers: An Investigation of the Obstacles in the Inclusion of Primary Research Methods in First-Year Composition”
Chair—Dr. Ashley Holmes; Readers: Dr. Lynee Gaillet and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Charles Grimm
“Ghostwriting as a Critical Lens: Authorship and Attribution in Professional and Academic Contexts”
Chair—Dr. Ashley Holmes; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Haris U. Haq
“Secondary and Collegiate English Composition Education in Turkey: A Case Study of History and Present State”
Chairs—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Baotong Gu and Dr. Renee Schatteman
Bernadette A. McAdam
“Inside the Box: A Case Study of How Spatial Rhetoric in High School Computer Science Curricula Inhibited the Acquisition of Technology Competence”
Chairs—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Mary Hocks
Elizabeth Topping
“(Re)Making Frontier: The Ethos of Motherhood, Midwifery, and Public Health in the 1920s Southeastern Kentucky”
Chairs—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. Michael Harker
2021
Meagan E. Malone
“Composing Online: A Case Study of Embodiment, Digitality, and YouTube”
Chair—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. George Pullman
Jessica Rose
“Stories I Have Heard: The Rhetorical Life of an American Song”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks and Dr. George Pullman
2020
Sarah K. Bramblett
“Recollecting Romantic Rhetoric: An Inquiry into Myths, Traps, and Implications”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Mack Curry
“Adopting Home Language and Multimodality in Composition Courses”
Chair—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
William G. Vickery
“Basic Alchemy: Dramatism as a Tool for Progressive Basic Writing”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Ashley Holmes
Ronald J. Walker
“America’s Quandary–Masking Injustice: Ideological Analyses of America’s Moves towards Its Promise: A Primer on Rhetoric”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Elizabeth Lopez and Dr. Baotong Gu
2019
Paige Davis Arrington
“Ann Berthoff from the Margins: An Infusion of All-at-once-ness for Contemporary Writing Pedagogy”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Mary Hocks
Thomas Breideband
“Programmed ‘Treasuries of Eloquence’: A Rhetorical Take on Productivity Aids in Audio Engineering Software”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Alfred Hornung, Dr. Mary Hocks, and Dr. Ben McCorkle
Lin Dong
“Rhetoric of Public Crises: Constructing Communication Networks in Transcultural Contexts”
Chair—Dr. Baotong Gu; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Kristen Ruccio
“Integrating Disability Studies into the English Department”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Matthew Sansbury
“First-Year Writers and Intermodality: A Case Study of Educational Experiences with Multimodal Composition”
Chair—Dr. Michael Harker; Readers: Dr. Lynee Gaillet, Dr. Mary Hocks, and Dr. Ben McCorkle
Ryan Strader
“A Comparative Study of Army ROTC Writing Pedagogy”
Chair—Dr. Ashley Holmes; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Mary Hocks
Leslie S. Taylor
“Current-Traditional Rhetoric and the Hodges Harbrace Handbook: A Study in the Disconnect between Theory and Practice”
Chair—Dr. Michael Harker; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Meng Yu
“Through the Funnel of Audiences: How Chinese Audiences Shape Media in the Context of Hegemony”
Chair—Dr. Baotong Gu; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Ashley Holmes
2018
Roger Austin
“The Reifying Center Archive Process: Sustainable Writing Center Archive Practice for Praxis, Research, And Continuity”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Kristeen E. Cherney
“Autism Literacy: A Rhetorical and Social Inquiry Through Archival Research”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Ashley J. Holmes and Dr. Mary Hocks
Nathan Wagner
“Rhetorical Being: A Metaphysics of Freedom and Essence”
Chairs—Dr. Lynee Gaillet and Michael Harker; Reader: Elizabeth Lopez
Yunye Yu
“Re-examining the Indirect Myth of Chinese Rhetoric on Social Media”
Chair—Dr. Baotong Gu; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
2017
Cristine Busser
“First-Year Writers and ‘Student Success’: A Framework for Supporting Multiple Pathways Through Higher Education”
Chair—Dr. Ashley Holmes; Readers: Dr. Lynee Gaillet and Dr. Michael Harker
Helen Cauley
“Influences of the Scottish Enlightenment in the Sherlock Holmes Stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyleh Higher Education”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. Malinda Snow
Jessica Estep
“Take it to the Streets: Archives, Open Records, and Public Rhetoric”
Chair—Dr. Ashley Holmes; Readers: Dr. Lynee Gaillet and Dr. George Pullman
Donald I. Gammill Jr.
“Situating Polemics of Moral Imperative in Shifting Socio-Cultural Paradigms: Exploring Rhetorical Appeals in Two Baptist Archives.”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Steven Sams
“The Tyranny of Custom: Discovering Innovations in Forensic Rhetoric from Classical Athens to Anglo-Saxon England.”
Chair—Dr. Elizabeth Burmester; Readers: Dr. Edward Christie and Dr. George Pullman
Xiaobo Wang
“Transnational Babel Building: Revising Professional and Technical Communication and Writing Textbooks for World Citizens”
Chair—Dr. Baotong Gu; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Ashley Holmes
Laura Williams
“Civic Crowd Funding Under Citizens United: Empowering Counterpublic Activists for a Commoditized Public Sphere”
Chairs: Dr. Mary Hocks and Dr. Ashley Holmes; Reader: Dr. George Pullman
2016
Ann Marie Francis
“Composition Assignments with Workplace Relevance: An Examination of Technical Communication Coursework and the Reading and Writing Demands of Professional Engineers”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. George Pullman
Valerie Robin
“The Value of Scholarly Writing: A Temporal-Material Rhetorical Analysis of Delivery in Google Documents”
Chair—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Ashley Holmes
Lindsey Spring
“Place, Space, and Gender at the State Normal School, Athens, Georgia, 1891-1932: A Narrative of Influences, Identity, and Disruption
Chair—Dr. Lynee Lewis Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Ashley Holmes
2015
Jennifer Forsthoefel
“Contending with (Inter)Disciplinarity Spaces, Identity, and Specializations: A Disciplinary Critique of the Rhetorical Pasts and Futures for Composition Studies, Writing Center Studies, and Women’s Studies”
Chair—Dr. Beth Burmester; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks, Dr. Michael Harker
Michelle Golden
“Speaches Seeming Fitt”: Courtesy and Renaissance Rhetoric in Spenser’s Faerie Queene”
Chair—Dr. Paul Voss; Readers: Dr. Beth Burmester and Dr. Wayne Erikson
Lauri B. Goodling
“Civic Engagement 2.0: A Blended Pedagogy of Multiliteracies and Activism”
Co-Chairs—Dr. Lynée Gaillet and Dr. Ashley Holmes; Reader: Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Laura Howard
“In Their Own Words: A Materialist and Archival Look at Contingency in Composition Studies”
Chair: Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Baotong Gu
Elizabeth Jamison
“1890-1969—Early History of the Advanced Placement Program: An Argument for Reform of the AP Language & Composition Exam”
Chair: Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks and Dr. George Pullman
Anne Melfi
“Understanding Indian Rhetoric on Its Own Terms: Using a Vedic Key to Unlock the Vedic Paradigm”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Beth Burmester and Dr. Keith Lloyd (Kent State University)
Mary Helen O’Connor
“The Rhetoric of Refugees: Literacy, Narrative and Identity for Somali Women”
Co-Chairs: Dr. Lynee Gaillet and Dr. Michael Harker; Reader: Dr. Elizabeth Lopez
Lara Smith Sitton
“Internships in Writing and English Studies Programs: Opportunities, Locations, and Structures”
Chair—Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Ashley Holmes and Dr. Michael Harker
2014
Marcia Bost
“Imagining a Twenty-First Century Strategy”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. George Pullman
Diana Eidson
“Labor, Literacies, and Liberation: A Rhetorical Biography of Stetson Kennedy”
Chair—Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks, Dr. Michael Harker; and Dr. James Darsey (Communication)
Orianna Gatta
“Comic Convergence: Toward a Prismatic Rhetoric for Composition Studies”
Chair—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker, Dr. George Pullman, and Dr. Gregory Smith (Communication)
Bradford Hincher
“Social Media and Freedom: Exploring Human Connections”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks and Dr. Ashley Holmes
Trent Mills
“Using Burke’s Dramatism to Unpack Intractable Conflict: Bush 43 and the Process of Peace in the Middle East”
Chair—Dr. Elizabeth Lopez; Readers: Dr. Michael Harker and Dr. Carol Winkler (Communication)
Laurissa Wolfram-Hvass
“A Rhetoric of Data: How a Technology Company Communicates Research”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Elizabeth Lopez, Dr. May Hocks, and Dr. Beki Grinter (Georgia Tech)
Jin Zhao
“The Shapes of Cultures: A Case Study of Social Network Sites/Services Design in the U.S. and China”
Chair—Dr. Baotong Gu; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Ben Miller
2013
Jeremy Godfrey
“Between Tactics of Hope and Tactics of Power: Liminality, (Re)Invention, and The Atlanta Overlook”
Chair—Dr. Elizabeth Lopez; Readers: Dr. Baotung Gu and Dr. Tomasz Tabako (Department of Communication)
Sarah Higinbotham
“The Violence of the Law: Aesthetics of Justice in Early Modern England”
Chair—Dr. Michael Galchinsky; Readers: Dr. Benjamin Miller and Dr. Austin Sarat (Amherst College, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science; Associate Dean of the Faculty)
Mike Keleher
“Mixed Classes, Mixed Pedagogies: A Study of Intercultural Collaborative Learning in a College Developmental Writing Course”
Chair—Dr. Beth Burmester; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks and Dr. Jennifer Esposito (College of Education)
Chrystal Todd Wright
“Through Her Own Eyes: Environmental Rhetoric in Women’s Autobiographical Frontier Writing”
Chair—Dr. Lynee Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks and Dr. Mary Lamb
2o12
Shae Alexis Anderson
“From the ‘Hood to the Classroom: A Rhetorical Perspective on Teaching Secondary English to the Urban Student”
Chair—Dr. Mary Zeigler; Readers: Dr. Elizbeth Lopez and Dr. Christine Gallant
Juliette Cross Kitchens
“The Postdisciplinarity of Lore: Professional and Pedagogical Development in a Graduate Student Community of Practice”
Chair—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Beth Burmester, Dr. Martha Singer
James Hammond Shimkus
“Teaching Speculative Fiction in College: A Pedagogy for Making English Studies Relevant”
Chair—Dr. Beth Burmester; Readers: Dr. Mary Hocks, and Dr. Scott Lightsey
Jeanne Law Bohannon
“Here in the To-Day, Forgotten in the To-Morrow:” Re-covering and Re-membering the Feminist Rhetorics of 19-Century Actress and Author Adah Menken”
Chair—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Lynée Gaillet and Dr. Michael Harker
Estefania Olid-Pena
“The Art of Future Discourse: Rhetoric, Translation, and an Interdisciplinary Pedagogy for Transglobal Literacy”
Chair—Dr. Beth Burmester; Readers: Dr. Lynée Gaillet, and Dr. Annette Cash (Modern and Classical Languages)
Jeannie Parker Beard
“Composing on the Screen: Student Perceptions of Traditional and Multimodal Composition”
Chair—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Beth Burmester, and Dr. George Pullman
2011
James T. Davis II
“Two New Heuristics in Response to Formulaic Writing: What Lies Beyond Oversimplified Composition Instruction”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Lynée Gaillet, and Dr. Renée Schatteman
Cara Minardi
“Re-Membering Ancient Women: Hypatia of Alexandria and her Communities”
Chair—Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Beth Burmester and Dr. George Pullman
Peter Rorabaugh
“The Sermonic Urge: Postsecular Sermons in Contemporary American Fiction”
Chair—Dr. Chris Kocela; Readers: Dr. Martha Singer, Dr. Randy Malamud, and Dr. Paul Schmidt
Zipora (Tsipi) Wagner
“Secular Understanding and Shattering the Myth of the American Dream: A Chronological Analysis of Changing Attitudes and Depictions of Murder within the Twentieth-Century American Literary Canon”
Chair—Dr. Beth Burmester; Readers: Dr. Matthew Roudané and Dr. Chris Kocela
Victoria E. Willis
“From Orators to Cyborgs: The Evolution of Delivery, Performativity, and Gender”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Martha Singer, and Dr. Calvin Thomas
2010
Cantice G. Green
“Writing and Wellness, Emotion, and Women: Highlighting the Contemporary Uses of Expressive Writing in the Service of Students”
Chair—Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Mary Lamb, and Dr. Nancy Chase
Alice J. Myatt
“Human-Computer Interface Design for Online Tutoring: Visual Rhetoric, Pedagogy, and Writing Center Websites”
Chair—Dr. Mary Hocks; Readers: Dr. Beth Burmester and Dr. George Pullman
Jennifer M. Randall
“Early Medieval Rhetoric: Epideictic Underpinnings in Old English Homilies”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Eddie Christie, and Dr. Scott Lightsey
2009
Timothy R. Blue
“Mentor-Teaching in the English Classroom”
Chair—Dr. Beth Burmester; Readers: Dr. Nancy Chase, Dr. Jeffrey Berman (Distinguished Professor, SUNY-Albany), and Dr. Martha Singer
Tanya R. Cochran
“Toward a Rhetoric of Scholar-Fandom”
Chair—Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Baotung Gu and Dr. Mary Hocks
Letizia Guglielmo
“Feminist Online Writing Courses: Collaboration, Community Action, and Student Engagement”
Chair—Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Baotung Gu and Dr. Beth Burmester
Carola Mattord
“Lay Writers and the Politics of Theology in Medieval England from the Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries”
Chair—Dr. Scott Lightsey; Readers: Dr. Lynée Gaillet and Dr. Malinda Snow
2007
Gordon Alan Harrison
“Communication Strategies as a Basis for Crisis Management Including Use of the Internet as a Delivery Platform”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Thomas McHaney and Dr. Baotong Gu
Marc Pietrzykowski
“Winning, Losing, and Changing the Rules: The Rhetoric of Poetry Contests and Competition”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Martha Singer and Dr. Lynée Gaillet
Sheldon Scott Kohn
“The Literary and Intellectual Impact of Mississippi’s Industrial Institute and College, 1884-1920”
Chair—Dr. Thomas McHaney; Readers: Dr. Pearl McHaney and Dr. Beth Burmester
Elizabeth Tasker
“Low Brows and High Profiles: Rhetoric and Gender in the Restoration and Early Eighteenth Century Theater”
Chair—Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. Beth Burmester and Dr. Tanya Caldwell
2006
Gregory Flail
“The Sexual Politics of Meat Substitutes”
Chair—Dr. George Pullman; Readers: Dr. Murray Brown and Dr. Calvin Thomas
Shannon Warren Wisdom
“Peer Review in the Contemporary Corporation”
Chair—Dr. Lynée Gaillet; Readers: Dr. George Pullman and Dr. Baotong Gu