Matt Cox
About
Matt Cox joined the ECU Department of English in 2012 and has a background in Cultural Rhetorics and in technical and professional communication. Currently, Dr. Cox is working on an article length piece on queer identity and mentorship, a co-authored piece on queer identity and anti-DEI sentiment in academia, and a single-author book length project on LGBT professional identity as narrative practice. He has over 12 years of writing and editing experience in the book publishing and technical writing/software documentation industries and has worked extensively as a freelance editor and web content consultant. He remains active in the Queer Caucus of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (4C) and in the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW), the Council for Programs in Scientific and Technical Communication (CPTSC), and the Association for Business Communications (ABC). Dr. Cox is also the Annotated Bibliographies Editor for Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society. In addition to queer and LGBT rhetorics and workplace discourses, Dr. Cox is also interested in and researches Cultural Rhetorics more broadly as well as issues of race, class, gender, (dis)ability, and intersectionality in rhetoric and workplace communication. Dr. Cox was the Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of English from 2020 to 2024.
Education
- B.A. English, Indiana University, Bloomington
- M.S. Technical and Professional Writing, Utah State University
- Ph.D. Rhetoric & Writing, Michigan State University
Research Interests
- Queer rhetorics and LGBT rhetorics
- Cultural Rhetorics
- Technical and professional writing
- Rhetorics of Intersectionality
- Studies in professionalization and identity as narrative
Courses Taught
- ENGL 8780: Special Topics Seminar in Professional and Technical Communication
- ENGL 8630: Community and Cultural Rhetorics
- ENGL 8300: Professional Seminar for Doctoral Students in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication
- ENGL 7070: LGBT & Queer Theory and Literature
- ENGL 7765: Special Topics in Technical & Professional Communication – Cultural Studies in TPC
- ENGL 7705: Ethical Issues in Professional Communication
- ENGL 7701: Research Methods in Technical & Professional Communication
- ENGL 6715: Technical Writing (graduate)
- ENGL 6700: Technical Editing & Production
- ENGL 4780: Technical Writing (undergraduate)
- ENGL 3880: Writing for Business & Industry
- ENGL 3820: Science Writing
- ENGL 3040: Introduction to Professional Writing
Selected Publications and Presentations
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Cox, Matthew B., and Manthey, K. and Novotny, M. “Queering the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine: Bodies, Embodiment, and the Future.” In Jonathan Alexander and Jaqueline Rhodes (Eds), The Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric. London: Routledge Press (2022).
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Cox, Matthew B. “Working Closets: Mapping Queer Professional Discourses and Why Technical Communication Studies Needs Queer Rhetorics.” Journal of Business & Technical Communication (2019).
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Cox, Matthew B. with William P. Banks and Caroline Dadas (Eds.) Re/Orienting Writing Studies: Queer Methods, Queer Projects. Boulder, CO: Utah State University Press/University of Colorado Press (2019).
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Cox, Matthew B. “Shifting Grounds as the New Status Quo: Examining Theoretical Approaches to Diversity and Taxonomy in the Technical Communication Classroom” in Integrating Theoretical Frameworks for Teaching Technical Communication. Eds. Angela Haas and Michelle Eble (2018).
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Cox, Matthew B. and Michael Faris. “An Annotated Bibliography of Literature on LGBT and Queer Rhetoric.” in Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society (2015).
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Cox, Matthew B. with David E. Hailey Jr. and Emily Loader. “The Relationship Between Innovation and Professional Communication in the ‘Creative’ Economy.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication – Volume 40, Number 2, April 2010.