Erin Clark
About
Erin A. Clark is a technical communication, rhetoric, and composition specialist. Dr. Clark’s scholarly interests center on issues of gender and feminism in technical communication, most often as they manifest in rhetorics of health and medicine, environmental rhetorics, and risk communication. Her dissertation, “Theorizing an Apparent Feminism in Technical Communication,” won the 2015 Conference on College Composition and Communication Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication, and her book Feminist Technical Communication: Apparent Feminisms, Slow Crisis, and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster won the 2025 CCCC Outstanding Book Award as well as the 2025 CCCC Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication Award. She is director of the grant-funded ECU Zine Lab, which focuses on public information dissemination. Her work has appeared in Computers and Composition, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, Technical Communication Quarterly, Programmatic Perspectives, and Peitho: Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition.
Education
- Ph.D. English Studies, Illinois State University
- M.A. Professional Writing and Rhetorics, Illinois State University
- B.A. Composition, Truman State University
- B.A. Journalism, Truman State University
Research Interests
- Feminisms and Gender Studies
- Rhetorics of Health and Medicine
- Risk Communication
- Teaching with Technology
Courses Taught
- ENGL 8780: Seminar in Technical and Professional Communication: Technology, Communication, and Embodiment
- ENGL 7790: Public Interest Writing
- ENGL 7780: Theory of Professional Communication
- ENGL 7765: Risk Communication
- ENGL 7765: Rhetorics of Health and Medicine
- ENGL 7750: Writing Public Science
- ENGL 7745: Teaching Professional Communication
- ENGL 7721: Managing Editing and Publication Processes
- ENGL 7600: Research Methods in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication
- ENGL 6702: Research Methods in Technical and Professional Communication
- ENGL 6700: Information Design and Production
- ENGL 4999: Professional Seminar
- ENGL 4885: Digital Writing
- ENGL 3885: Writing and Document Design
- ENGL 3880: Writing for Business and Industry
- ENGL 3820: Scientific Writing
- ENGL 3040: Introduction to Information Design
- HNRS 2011: Public Relations and Leadership: Writing Science for/with the Public
- ENGL 1500: Gender in Gamer Culture
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Clark, E. A. (2024). Feminist Technical Communication: Apparent Feminisms, Slow Crisis, and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster. Utah State University Press.
- Frost, E. A. & M. F. Eble (Eds.). (2020). Interrogating Gendered Pathologies. Utah State University Press.
- Novotny, Maria, De Hertogh, Lori Beth, & Frost, E. A.. (2020). Rhetorics of Reproductive Justice in Public and Civic Contexts. [Special issue]. Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric, 20(2).
- Frost, E. A., Gonzales, L., Moeller, M., Patterson, GPat, & Shelton, C. (2021). Unruly Bodies, Intersectionality, and Marginalization in Health and Medical Discourse [Special issue]. Technical Communication Quarterly, 30(2).
- Meloncon, L., & Frost, E. A. (Eds.). (2015). The Rhetoric of Health and Medicine [Special issue]. Communication Design Quarterly, 3(4).
- Frost, E. A. (2021). “Ultrasound, Gender, and Consent: An Apparent Feminist Analysis of Medical Imaging Rhetorics.” Technical Communication Quarterly 30(1): 48-62.
- Frost, E. A. (2016). “Apparent feminism as a methodology for technical communication and rhetoric.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication 30(1): 3-28.