William Banks

Professor
252-328-6674
Joyner Library 1009
banksw@ecu.edu

About

Professor William P. Banks directs the University Writing Program, which coordinates Writing Across the Curriculum/Writing Intensive courses for East Carolina University, and the Tar River Writing Project, a local site of the National Writing Project. Will teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in rhetoric and composition, children’s literature, and women’s and gender studies. Will spends part of his summers leading a study abroad trip to London.

He is currently completing several new book projects: 1) Queer Rhetorics (monograph) explores the discursive work of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans people, and articulates a frame for understanding the rhetorical moves they use across media; 2) Practicing Digital Activisms: On Rhetoric, Writing, and Technical Communication’s Social Justice Obligations (edited collection) is a collection of important essays that explore how individuals and groups use digital/online tools for advocacy work; and 3) and a follow-up to his award-winning Failing Sideways (with Nikki Caswell and Steph West-Puckett) that explores innovative writing assessment practices for faculty across the curriculum and across grade levels.

In his spare time, Will bakes too much, knits too much, and seems never to be able to finish his young adult novel Darkness Like a Dream.

Education

  • B.A. Georgia Southern University
  • M.A. Georgia Southern University
  • Ph.D. Illinois State University

Research Interests

  • Queer Rhetorics
  • Cultural Rhetorics
  • Teaching of Writing
  • Histories of Rhetoric
  • English Education
  • Computers and Composition
  • National Writing Project
  • Children’s and Adolescent Literatures

Courses Taught

  • ENGL 8630: Advanced Cultural Rhetorics & Writing
  • ENGL 8615: Advanced Rhetorical Theory: Queer Rhetorics
  • ENGL 8600: Seminar in Writing Studies & Pedagogy
  • ENGL 7950: Issues in Teaching Comp: WAC Theory & Practice
  • ENGL 7770: New Media and Digital Literacies
  • ENGL 7666: Teaching English in the Two-Year College
  • ENGL 7630: Cultural Rhetorics & Writing
  • ENGL 7620: History and Theory of Rhetoric II
  • ENGL 7600: Research Methods in Rhetoric, Writing, and Prof Comm
  • ENGL 6480: LGBTQ+ Theories and Literatures
  • ENGL 6625: Teaching Composition, Theory and Practice
  • ENGL 6515: Advanced Studies in Children’s Literature
  • ENGL 5000: Women’s Studies Seminar: Gay and Lesbian Drama
  • ENGL 4885: Digital Writing
  • ENGL 3950: Literature for Children
  • ENGL 3890: Critical Writing
  • ENGL 3820: Scientific Writing
  • ENGL 3810: Advanced Composition
  • ENGL 2201: Writing about the Disciplines
  • ENGL 1100: Foundations of College Writing

Selected Publications and Presentations

  • Failing Sideways: Queer Possibilities for Writing Assessment. (Co-authored with Stephanie West-Puckett and Nicole Caswell.) Utah State UP. 2023.
  • English Studies Online: Programs, Practices, and Possibilities. (Edited with Susan Spangler.) Parlor Press. 2021.
  • Re/Orienting Writing Studies: Queer Methods, Queer Projects. (Edited with Matthew B Cox and Caroline Dadas). Utah State UP. 2019.
  • Curricular Innovations: LGBTQ Literature & the New English Studies. (Edited with John Pruitt). Peter Lang. 2019.
  • Approaches to Teaching LGBT Literature. (Edited with John Pruitt). Peter Lang Publishers. 2018.
  • “Toward a Queer Validity: Delighting in the Messy Methods of Writing Research.” (with Stephanie West-Puckett). In Learning from the Mess: Method/ological Praxis in Rhetoric and Writing Studies, edited by Ashley J. Holmes and Elise Verzosa Hurley. WAC Clearinghouse/U of Colorado P. 19-38.
  • “Engaging Assessment Counterstories through a Cultural Rhetorics Framework.” (with Stephanie West-Puckett and Nicole Caswell). College Composition and Communication1 (September 2023): 186-203.
  • “Queering Crisis: Hope for an Alternative Academy.”  Composition Studies 50.3 (Fall 2022): 137-40.
  • “Writing Program Administration: A Queer Symposium.” (with Michael Faris, Collie Fulford, Timothy Oleksiak, Trixie Smith, and GPat Patterson). WPA Journal 43.2 (Spring 2020): 11–43
  • “After Homonormativity: Hope for a (More) Queer Canon of Gay YA Literature” (with Jonathan Alexander). Beyond Borders: Queer Eros and Ethos (Ethics) in LGBTQ Young Adult Literature. Eds. Darla Linville and David Lee Carson. New York: Peter Lang. 2016.
  • “Beyond Modality: Rethinking Transmedia Composition through a Queer/Trans Digital Rhetoric.” Routledge Handbook of Digital Writing & Rhetoric. Eds. Jonathan Alexander and Jaqueline Rhodes. London: Routledge. 2018. 341-351.

      Awards

      • CCCC Lavender Rhetorics Award for Excellence in Queer Scholarship for Failing Sideways: Queer Possibilities for Writing Assessment. 2024
      • ECU 5 Year Research & Creative Activity Award. 2023.
      • CCCC Stonewall Service Award. 2021.
      • CCCC Lavender Rhetorics Award for Excellence in Queer Scholarship for Re/Orienting Writing Studies: Queer Methods, Queer Projects. 2020
      • Distinguished Graduate Alumni Award, Illinois State University English Department.