The primary faculty for the Professional Writing major are from an array of rhetoric and writing fields. Information about each faculty member is available on the English Department faculty page and is provided here as well with links to each individual’s page.
Professors
Heidi McKee (PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2005)
Professor, English Department & Co-Director, Professional Writing
Affiliate Faculty, Emerging Technology in Business & Design
Areas: Professional Writing, Business Communication, Digital Writing & Writing with AI, Research Methods & Ethics, Writing Pedagogy, Writing Program Administration
James E. Porter (PhD, University of Detroit, 1982)
Professor, English and Emerging Technology in Business & Design
Areas: Professional Communication, Rhetoric History, Digital Ethics, Philosophy of Technology, Generative AI
Michele Simmons (PhD, Purdue University, 2000)
Professor, English Department & Affiliate, Institute for the Environment and Sustainability & Affiliate, Emerging Technology in Business & Design
Areas: Professional and Technical Writing, Public Rhetorics and Community-Engaged Research, Digital Writing, Environmental Communication, Research Methodologies
John Tassoni (PhD, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Professor, Department of English & Department of Languages, Literature & Writing
Area: First-Year Composition, Basic Writing, Studio Pedagogy
Elizabeth Wardle (PhD, Iowa State University, 2003)
Howe Distinguished Professor of Written Communication
Director, Roger and Joyce Howe Center for Writing Excellence
Areas: Writing Program Administration, Writing Across the Curriculum, Transfer, Threshold Concepts
Associate Professors & Associate Teaching Professors
Gabriele Bechtel (PhD, Rensselaer University, 2009)
Associate Teaching Professor
Assistant Chair and Lead Advisor, English Department
Areas: Rhetoric and Writing, Second Language Writing
Linh Dich (PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 2012)
Associate Professor, Department of English and Department of Languages, Literature & Writing
Areas: Professional & Technical Writing, Digital Writing and Rhetoric, Asian American Rhetoric, New Materialism
Theresa (Tess) Evans (PhD, Ball State University, 2012)
Associate Teaching Professor, English Department
Areas: Professional and Technical Writing, Business Communication, Multimodal Composition, Data Visualization, Writing Pedagogy, Hybrid and Online Writing Instruction, Rhetorical History and Theory.
Emily Legg (PhD, Purdue University, 2016)
Associate Professor of Intercultural Rhetorics, English Department
Co-Director, Professional Writing
Areas: Indigenous Rhetorics, Professional Writing, Intercultural Communication, Digital Writing, Visual Rhetoric, Archival Research, Rhetorical Histories and Theory
Tim Lockridge (PhD, Virginia Tech, 2012)
Associate Professor, English Department
Areas: Writing Technologies, Digital Publishing, Professional Writing, Editing, Writing Pedagogy
Sara Webb-Sunderhaus (PhD, The Ohio State University, 2006)
Association Professor, English Department
Director of Composition
Areas: Composition Theory, History, and Pedagogy; Literacy Studies; Appalachian Studies; Writing Program Administration; Disability Studies
Assistant Professors & Assistant Teaching Professors
Lizzie Hutton (PhD, University of Michigan, 2018)
Assistant Professor, English Department
Director, Howe Writing Center
Areas: Writing Studies, Writing Center Studies, Reading Studies, Poetry
Amanda Stevens (PhD, University of Alabama)
Assistant Teaching Professor
Associate Director, Composition
Areas: Technical Writing; Business Writing; Visual and Digital Rhetoric, Archival Rhetoric
Adam Strantz (PhD, Purdue University, 2016)
Assistant Professor, Department of English and the Department of Emerging Technology in Business & Design
Areas: Professional Writing, Data Visualization, Accessibility, Interaction Design, Visual and Digital Rhetoric
Lecturers
Tony Cimasko (PhD, Purdue University, 2009)
Senior Lecturer, English Department
Areas: Professional and Academic Genres, L2 Writing, Multimodal Composition, TESOL Methods