This binder attempts to capture a snapshot of my work as a scholar, a teacher, and a community member at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. In preparing this collection, compiling evidence of my assorted accomplishments, and reflecting on my work from the last three years, I have come to recognize the ways in which I have grown in all of those various roles. In a letter recommending me for this position, my dissertation co-chair Rich Rice called me an “integrated scholar.” Rather than seeing each activity as legs on a stool, separate from one other, I see all of these areas growing out of the same commitments. My desire for this document is that it shows how I inhabit the connective space between service, teaching, and scholarship, being intentional about each area so I can draw from my interests, passions, and skills.
I joined the English Department faculty as a tenure-line hire in Fall 2016, appointed to teach and research in writing studies, in particular professional and technical writing. When I came here, I didn’t think I had as much to learn as I have ended up having to learn. I was stepping into a new context, a new scale, and though I do feel confident that my thirteen-plus years of teaching experience and my specific graduate training prepared me well for elements of life at TAMUCC. I know now that I had a great deal to learn about program development and administration, online teaching, and scholarship. Ultimately, I strive to be a realist in my teaching and the other areas of my life—meeting students where they are and remaining flexible and responsive to their needs and contexts; doing post-critical scholarship that is pragmatic about writing technologies and aware of the ways scholars and teachers must be critical of their own positions; doing service that complements my particular gifts and still asks me to extend beyond myself.
One of the reasons I wanted to join this program was to be able to teach and develop courses in technical communication and writing studies, and to work with students interested in writing and technical/professional writing programs. This professional goal has been abundantly met in my time at TAMUCC. As the teaching statement and portfolio sections will show, I have been working steadily, both individually and in collaboration with other WS faculty, to rework existing technical and web writing courses, design courses in social media, editing, and digital rhetorics, and develop teaching materials that will meet our students’ specific developmental needs and academic, professional, or personal learning goals. My student evaluations are strong, but I always find things in their feedback to apply in the next iteration of the course. I am strongly committed to “preparing graduates for lifelong learning and responsible citizenship in the global community” (TAMUCC Mission Statement).
I have also worked hard to improve myself as a distance educator—from my first days on campus in ODELT’s training for online education until now, I have been active in professional development and attending workshops. My teaching goal is to develop activities and environments in which students learn the multiliteracies (Selber 2004) they need in order to work as technical or content writers, to go to graduate school in an array of fields, and to succeed in their different majors. I have gone from being a student in online courses to a professor who delivers the greater part of his teaching online. I enjoy teaching online, and am excited to continue developing online courses and programs here.
Since joining the university in 2016, my list of publications has lengthened, and I have expanded my list of ongoing projects. In part because of the resources available at TAMUCC, but more so because of support from my colleagues, I have more than doubled my attendance at academic conferences, presenting a paper or work in progress at every conference I attended over the last three years.
At its core, my research explores how technological ideologies and rhetorics inform teaching and practice in writing studies. I also have been working on a series of projects exploring the changing role of digital social networks in online learning. I am active in following these agendas, and in the last year I have seen one journal article through to publication with another journal article submitted and currently under review. I have a variety of other projects at various writing and planning stages that are starting to push beyond this agenda into other areas of technical communication—as this portfolio will show, my research is motivated by the same concerns as my teaching and service. I have worked off-and-on with a writing group on campus as much as my busy schedule allows for. I benefit from the rich interactions I have with writing studies and other English faculty about scholarship, and while I would still call myself an emerging scholar, I am also definitely in a period of active emergence as a researcher.
The service sections of this portfolio will show that I am deeply committed to being a colleague, to writing and technology on campus beyond my own classrooms, and to serving my profession by mentoring scholars through publication. I am proud to put my expertise in technical writing, online education, and rhetorics of technology into action as I serve my community and my discipline, whether as as advocate, representative, or editor.
As I enter the next phase of my development at TAMUCC, I plan to expand in a few areas, including but certainly not limited to: