PhD Alumni Showcase

Kimberly Thompson, PhD
Teaching Instructor
Department of English
East Carolina University
Dissertation: “Rhetorical Lifelines: Queer and Feminist Survival in Riyoko Ikeda’s The Rose of Versailles”
Chair: Wendy Sharer, PhD

Suzan Flanagan, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Utah Valley University
Dissertation: “Editorial Peer Review as a Content-Shaping Mechanism in Technical Communication Journal Scholarship”
Chair: Michael Albers, PhD

Carleigh Davis, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Technical Communication
Missouri Institute of Science & Technology
Dissertation: “Memetic Rhetorical Theory in Technical Communication: Re-Constructing Ethos in the Post-Fact Era”
Chair: Michelle Eble, PhD

Gina Kruschek, PhD
Brittain Fellow
Writing and Communication Program
Georgia Institute of Technology
Dissertation: “You Have Herpes: Now What?: Stigma in Healthcare Systems and Disclosure Rhetorics”
Chair: Erin Frost, PhD

Brandon Hardy, PhD
Instructor
Department of English
University of Northern Colorado
Dissertation: “Constellating Identities and Workplace Genres in Writing Center Discourse”
Chair: Nikki Caswell, PhD

Zachary Lundgren, PhD
Instructor
Department of English
University of Northern Colorado
Dissertation: “The Rhetoric of Climate Change: Using Latour to Compose a Nonmodern Approach to our Modern Climate Crisis”
Chair: Brent Henze, PhD

Cecilia Shelton, PhD
Assistant Professor of Writing
CCAS Department of University Writing
George Washington University
Dissertation: “On Edge: a Techné of Marginality”
Chair: Wendy Sharer, PhD

Temptaous Mckoy, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of English & Modern Languages
Bowie State University
Dissertation: “Y’all Call it Technical and Professional Communication, we Call it #FORTHECULTURE: The Use of Amplification Rhetorics in Black Communities and their Implications for Technical and Professional Communication Studies”
Chair: Michelle Eble, PhD

Patrick L. Carr, PhD
Associate University Librarian for Collections & Discovery, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Dissertation: “Extending the Technological, Discursive, and Rhetorical Horizons of Academic Research Libraries’ Information Architectures: An Analysis of North Carolina State University’s James B. Hunt Jr. Library,” 2017.
Chair: Michael Albers, PhD

Stephanie J. West-Puckett, PhD
Assistant Professor of Writing and Rhetoric, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
Dissertation: “Materializing Makerspaces: Queerly Composing Space, Time, and (What) Matters,” 2017.
Chair: William Banks, PhD

Therese Indira Pennell, PhD
Instructor, University of Mount Olive, Mount Olive, NC
Dissertation: “Cross-Cultural Online Learning in Technical Communication Courses: Aiming for Intercultural Competence,” 2017.
Chair: Brent Henze, PhD

Alana F. Baker, PhD
Assistant Professor, Rockingham Community College, Wentworth, NC
Dissertation: “Pragmatic Feminist Empiricism: An Original Analytical Framework for Technical Communication,” 2017.
Chair: Erin A. Frost, PhD

R. Chad Holt, PhD
Vice President Of Admissions and Financial Aid, Brevard College, Brevard, NC
Dissertation: “Reading the Writing of the Wall: The Israeli Security Fence/Palestinian Separation Wall as Semiotic Text,” 2017.
Chair: Donna Kain, PhD

Janine Butler, PhD
Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Dissertation: “Integral Captions and Subtitles: Designing a Space for Embodied Rhetorics and Visual Access,” 2017.
Chair: Tracy Ann Morse, PhD

Randy Marfield, PhD
Lecturer, Belmopan Central Campus of the University of Belize
Dissertation: “A Rhetorical Analysis of the 1981 Belizean Constitution: National Identity in the context of History, Race, and Language,” 2016.
Chair: Kirk St. Amant, PhD

Whitney Larrimore Strickland, PhD
Instructor of English, Methodist University, Fayetteville, NC
Dissertation: “Students’ Attitudes Toward And Valuation of First-Year Composition (Fyc) as Predictors of Students’ English 101 Success,” 2015.
Chair: Wendy Sharer, PhD

Guyla Evans, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC
Dissertation: “Comparison of Documentation Models Used by Emergency Physicians in a Community Hospital Setting,” 2015.
Chair: Donna Kain, PhD

Deborah M. Welsh, PhD
Coordinator for Leadership Studies Assistant Professor of Rhetoric, Composition, and Technical Communication, University of Mount Olive, Mount Olive, NC
Dissertation: “Surprise! You’re Dead!” The Deepwater Horizon Disaster and Opening Statements in the Court of Public Opinion,” 2014.
Chair: Donna Kain, PhD

Tabitha R. Miller, PhD
Director of the Title III Grant project, Pitt Community College, Greenville, NC
Dissertation: “The Students’ Voices in Developmental Education,” 2014.
Chair: William Banks, PhD

Joseph Dawson, PhD
Global Internal Communications Manager, The AES Corporation, Washington, DC
Dissertation: “Corporate Advocacy Discourse: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Corporate Political Action Language,” 2014.
Chair: Kirk St. Amant, PhD

Elizabeth Dennis, PhD
Associate Professor, Barton College, Wilson, NC 
Dissertation: “Advanced Placement English and First-Year Composition: An Analysis Using Activity Theory with Implications for Transfer,” 2014.
Chair: William Banks, PhD

Katrina Layton Hinson, PhD
Assistant Professor, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX 
Dissertation: “Chronic Illness Narratives Through Facebook,” 2014.
Chair: Donna Kain, PhD

Robert Buchko, PhD
VP, Product & Marketing, NRTC Raleigh, NC
Dissertation: “Hierarchies and Communication: Analyzing Negotiated Power Relationships within a Small Software Organization,” 2013.
Chair: Michelle F. Eble, PhD

Guy Douglas Solomon, PhD
Dissertation: “Altruism, Discourse, and Blood Donation: The Rhetoric of ‘The Gift of Life’,” 2013.
Chair: Donna Kain, PhD

Christine Cranford, PhD
Lecturer, Department of English, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 
Dissertation: “Branding the North Carolina Museum of Art: Planning and Implementing a Public Identity,” 2013.
Chair: Michelle F. Eble, PhD

Mary-Lynn Chambers, PhD
Assistant Professor, Language, Literature, and Communication, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, NC 
Dissertation: “The Rhetorical Challenge of Whiteness within Blackboard for African American Bidialectic Students at Elizabeth City State University,” 2013.
Chair: Wendy Sharer, PhD

Frank Hurley, PhD
PhD Business Communications Faculty, College of Business, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 
Dissertation: “Visualizing Images in Writing: Pedagogical Implications of Critical Visual Analysis,” 2013.
Chair: William Banks, PhD

Jeanette W. Morris, PhD
Assistant Professor, Language, Literature, and Communication, Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, NC 
Dissertation: “Shifting the Atmosphere: An Examination of Relationships among Womanist Discourse, Culturally Competent Education, and Social Action Through The Black Church Against Domestic Violence,” 2013.
Chair: Wendy Sharer, PhD

Melissa Place Hisle, PhD
English Instructor, Carteret Community College, Morehead City, NC
Dissertation: “Cultural Targeting of Breastfeeding Discourse for African American Women,” 2012.
Chair: Sherry Southard, PhD

Amber Rach, PhD
Assistant Professor of Writing, Methodist University, Fayetteville, NC 
Dissertation: “Narrative, Identity, and Sense of Place Discourse: Woman’s Club of Fayetteville, North Carolina, 1906-1912,” 2012.
Chair: Sherry Southard, PhD

Michael Cavanagh, PhD
Instructor, School of Communication, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 
Dissertation: “The Rhetorical Construction of Legal Culture: Ideographs and Relationships in Appellate Opinions Addressing Same-Sex Marriage and English-Only Legislation,” 2012.
Chair: Wendy Sharer, PhD

Kimberly Harper, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Albany State University, Albany, GA 
Dissertation: “Decolonizing Education: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Post-Secondary Humanities Textbooks,” 2012.
Chair: Brent Henze, PhD

Trisha Capansky, PhD
Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee at Martin, Martin, TN 
Dissertation: “The Declaration of Independence: A New Genre in Political Discourse or Mixed Genres in an Unlikely Medium?,” 2011.
Chair: Tom Shields, PhD

Pamela Hopkins, PhD
Teaching Assistant Professor, School of Communication, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 
Dissertation: “Using Narrative Analysis and Discourse Analysis to Determine Patterns of Meaning in the Sermon Language of Women Preachers,” 2010.
Chair: Donna Lillian, PhD

Alexis Poe Davis, PhD
Assistant Professor of English, Mount Olive College, Mount Olive, NC 
Dissertation: “Ethos and Cooperative Behavior: An Exploration of the Relationships between an Organization’s Identity and its Collaborative Review Processes,” 2010.
Chair: Wendy Sharer, PhD

Carolyn K. Dunn, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Technology Systems, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 
Dissertation: “Power and Place: A Case Study Approach to Rethinking Crisis Communication,” 2010.
Chair: Michelle F. Eble, PhD