Nicole Caswell
About
Nikki Caswell directs the University Writing Center. She enjoys working with graduate and undergraduate writing consultants and helping them work with other students. Nikki also teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Rhetoric and Composition.
Nikki’s first book, The Working Lives of New Writing Center Directors (with Jackie Grutsch McKinney and Rebecca Jackson), was published with Utah State University Press, and it won the 2017 International Writing Center Outstanding Book Award. Nikki’s second book, Failing Sideways: Queer Possibilities for Writing Assessment (with Will Banks and Stephanie West-Puckett), was also published with Utah State University Press, and it won the 2024 CCCC Lavender Rhetorics Award for Excellence in Queer Scholarship, and was an Honorable Mention for the 2024 CCCC Outstanding Book Award and the 2024 CCCC Advancement of Knowledge Award.
Education
- B.S. Kent State University
- M.A. Ball State University
- Ph.D. Kent State University
Research Interests
- Emotion and Affect
- Writing Assessment
- Writing Center Theory
Courses Taught
- ENGL 8600: Seminar in Writing Studies and Pedagogy: Writing Assessment
- ENGL 7600: Research Methods in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication
- ENGL 7601: Research Design in Rhetoric and Composition
- ENGL 6625: Teaching Composition
- ENGL 3875: Peer Tutoring
- ENGL 3810: Advanced Composition
- ENGL 2201: Writing About the Disciplines
- ENGL 1100: Foundations of College Writing
Selected Publications and Presentations
- Stephanie West Puckett, Will Banks and Nicole I. Caswell. Failing Sideways: Queer Possibilities for Writing Assessment. UP of Colorado & Utah State UP. 2023.
- Brianna Johnson, Rebecca Johnson, and Nicole I. Caswell. From Anti-Blackness Professional Development to Pro-Blackness Actions: Educating Faculty on Harmful Writing Practices. Chapter for Writing Centers and Racial Justice: A Guidebook for Critical Praxis by Talisha Haltiwanger Morrison and Deidre Garriott. 2023.
- Nicole I. Caswell “Resisting White, Patriarchal, Emotional Labor within the Writing Center” CounterStories. Editors Wonderful Fasion and Frankie Condon. UP of Colorado & Utah State UP. (2022) 109-119.
- Nicole I. Caswell. “What’s Beneath the Demographics? Writing Center Usage and Inequality” Intersection: Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education Journal. Spring 2020.
- Caswell, Nicole I. “Affective Tensions in Response” Journal of Response to Writing. 4.2 (2018): 69-98.
- Caswell, Nicole I., Jackie Grutsch McKinney and Rebecca Jackson. Working Lives of New Writing Center Directors. Utah State University Press. 2016.
- Caswell, Nicole I. “Dynamic Patterns: Emotional Episodes within Teachers’ Response Practices.” Journal of Writing Assessment. 7.1 (2014) http://journalofwritingassessment.org/article.php?article=76