Current GSOLE Leaders
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Elected Officers and Board Members
President, Cat MahaffeyTerm of Office: July 2022 to June 2024 <president@gsole.org> | Full Member Profile Cat Mahaffey is a Senior Lecturer in the Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies (WRDS) Department at UNC Charlotte. She teaches first-year writing and courses such as Digital Design Theory and Practice and The Rhetoric of Digital Design. Cat is also a PhD candidate at Texas Tech University in the Technical Communication and Rhetoric (TCR) program. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Global Society of Online Literacy Educators (GSOLE), the Associate Chair of the CCCC’s Online Writing Instruction (OWI) Working Group, and as a Quality Matters Master Reviewer (QMMR). Her research interests include online privacy, accessibility, digital rhetoric, and technical and professional writing. Her work and research are published in Next Steps: New Directions for/in Writing about Writing (2019) and Emerging Technologies in Virtual Learning Environments (2019). | Vice President, Amy CicchinoTerm of Office: July 2022 to June 2024 Bio coming soon |
Treasurer, Theresa M. EvansTerm of Office: July 2020 to June 2023 Dr. Theresa Evans (Tess) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of English at Miami University of Ohio. She teaches in the Professional Writing Program, including face-to-face, hybrid, and online sections of Technical Writing, Professional Communication for Business, and Professional Communication for Data Analytics. She became interested in online writing instruction in 2012, shortly after defending her dissertation at Ball State University. For a year at Ball State she taught online sections of Rhetoric & Writing and Composing Research—both high-school dual-credit sections and collegiate sections. Tess has decades of experience collaborating in virtual environments as a freelance copywriter, working on print, digital, and video projects. In addition to online writing instruction, her research interests include professional and technical writing, commercial rhetoric, and contingency studies. Her work has been published in Rhetoric Review, The Proceedings of the Computers and Writing Conference, and OLOR. | Secretary, Meghan VelezTerm of Office: July 2022 to June 2024 Dr. Meghan Velez is an Assistant Professor of the Practice in Communication at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She directs Embry-Riddle’s Virtual Communication Lab, an online writing, speaking, and multiliteracy center, and teaches online courses in first-year composition, rhetorical theory, and the history of communication technologies. She began teaching online composition courses as a PhD student at Florida State University. Her research interests include writing program administration, writing assessment, WAC/WID faculty development, and digital media policy and law. Her work has appeared in Women’s Studies in Communication and The Routledge Handbook of Comparative World Rhetorics. |
Immediate Past President, Dan SewardTerm of Office: July 2022 to June 2024 | Full Member Profile Dr. Dan Seward is a Senior Lecturer at Ohio State University, where he teaches courses in the Professional Writing Minor, as well as other composition and rhetoric offerings. His interest in online instruction began during graduate school, where he served as Assistant Director of UT Austin’s Computer (now Digital) Writing and Research Lab. There he also worked with John Ruszkiewicz and Maxine Hairston to develop electronic textbooks, including Coretext Online (Addison-Wesley, 1997). Later, Dan collaborated with John and Maxine on five print editions of the Scott, Foresman Writer (1998-2011). In 2010, after dividing his time among software development, textbook authorship, and teaching writing, Dan was hired to oversee the writing program at Franklin University, an open-enrollment, non-profit university offering online courses to non-traditional students. There he served for nearly seven years as Lead Faculty in Writing, before taking on his current role at OSU <https://english.osu.edu/people/seward.65>. | At-Large Board Member, Jen CunninghamTerm of Service: July 2021 to June 2023 Dr. Jennifer M. Cunningham is an associate professor of English and the Writing Program Coordinator at Kent State University, where she teaches composition theory and gender and language online. Her interest in online pedagogy began when she was afforded an opportunity to learn from and work with an instructional designer at Stark State College to create fully online composition courses. Cunningham works with the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Online Writing Instruction (OWI) Standing Group and serves as an editor for Online Literacies Open Resource (OLOR). Currently, she is investigating the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework as it applies to online writing instruction. Along with her research team (Mary K. Stewart, Lyra Hilliard, and Natalie Stillman-Webb), she was awarded a 2018 Conference on College Composition and Communication Emergent Researcher Award for “Cross-Institutional Study of Communities of Inquiry in Blended and Online Composition Courses” and has related forthcoming articles in College Composition and Communication and Composition Forum. Her work has also been published in Online Learning. |
At-Large Board Member, Barbara D'AngeloTerm of Service: July 2021 to June 2023 Barbara J. D’Angelo is Clinical Professor of Technical Communication at Arizona State University. She teaches courses undergraduate and graduate courses primarily online in technical and professional communication. She is also the graduate student advisor for the online MS in Technical Communication degree. She is co-editor of Information Literacy: Research and Collaboration Across the Disciplines. Her publications include several book chapters and articles on the use of outcomes for curriculum development and assessment, primarily focused on online courses and programs; information literacy; and nursing communication. Her research interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning related to online courses, peer review, threshold concepts, and information literacy. | At-Large Board Member, Meghalee DasTerm of Service: July 2021 to June 2023 Meghalee Das is a PhD student in Technical Communication and Rhetoric at Texas Tech University (TTU). She teaches online and face-to-face first-year composition and technical writing courses and is an assistant director of the first-year writing program at TTU. Her research interests include online pedagogy, user experience, cultural inclusivity, and digital rhetoric. Her research has appeared in Intercom, and she has co-authored a textbook, Guide to Technical Communication. She won the CCCC Scholars for the Dream award in 2021, and the First-Year Writing Outstanding Instructor Award at TTU in 2020. |
At-Large Board Member, Wonderful FaisonTerm of Service: July 2022 to June 2024 Bio coming soon | At-Large Board Member, Kenna GroveTerm of Service: July 2022 to June 2024 Bio coming soon |
At-Large Board Member, Beatrice Mendez NewmanTerm of Service: July 2022 to June 2024 Dr. Beatrice Mendez Newman is Professor in rhetoric/composition/literacy at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, one of the largest Hispanic Serving Institutions in the country. Her scholarship reflects the translingual, bicultural, rhetorically rich environment of the region. Additionally, she has published articles in The English Journal and HETS Online Journal on students’ learning agility in online settings. As a certified teacher in Texas with supplemental certification in ESL, she has written several study guides for teacher certification exams in Texas. In 2019, she received UTRGV’s Excellence in Online and Hybrid Teaching and Learning award. A special strand of Beatrice’s research has been collaboration with a high school history teacher on disciplinary literacy and high school to college intersections of learning, the results published in The English Journal and presented at national and regional conferences. Beatrice is an extremely active member of NCTE, serving as a reviewer in CAEP accreditation and judge in the National Achievement Awards in Writing and REALM—Recognizing Excellence in Art & Literary Magazines. In summer 2020, Beatrice was privileged to be named to The English Journal Editorial Review Board. |
Appointed Officers and Committee Chairs
Digital Platforms ManagerTerm of Office: Unfilled We are looking for a member to volunteer as our new Digital Platforms Manager. If you are interested, please email <info@gsole.org>. | Lead Content Curator, Dan SewardTerm of Office: August 2020 to present See bio above. |
Communication Officer, Justin CaryTerm of Office: July 2021 to present Justin is a Senior Lecturer in the Writing, Rhetoric & Digital Studies Department at The University of North Carolina Charlotte. He teaches a variety of First-Year Writing courses and courses in the WRDS Major/Minor sequence. Outside the classroom, Cary engages in digital composing in a variety of ways from YouTube Content Creation to live Twitch Streaming. Cary's research focuses on digital literacy, multimodal composing practices and ways in which video games, game theory and game design influence and intersect with writing studies practice and pedagogy. From Podcasts to blogs, Cary has work published across a variety of platforms with his most recent video, "Designed to Fail: Embracing Failure as Commonplace Practice", featured as part of a panel at The Conference on College Composition and Communication in Spring 2021. Currently, he is working on investigating the rhetorics of sound and planning new research into the connections between video game sound design, rhetoric and writing studies. You can connect with Justin on Twitter @justinrcary or check out some of his writing on Medium at: justinrcary. #gsole @gsoleducators | Membership Officer, Nikki ChasteenTerm of Office: July 2021 to present Nikki Chasteen, M.A. is the Assistant Director at Nova Southeastern University’s Writing & Communication Center and a Ph.D. student in Texts and Technology at the University of Central Florida with a focus in composition and rhetoric and women’s and gender studies. Nikki earned her Master’s from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Composition, Rhetoric, and Digital Media. Her research examined best practices for instructors teaching online basic writing courses at four-year institutions. Nikki holds a Bachelor’s in Communication from NSU as well. Before beginning her Ph.D., Nikki taught courses in rhetorical theory and communication. Nikki is currently enrolled in the OLI Certification course GSOLE offers and serves as a GSOLE 2022 conference committee member. |
Webinar Co-Chair, Jennifer Burke ReifmanTerm of Office: July 2021 to present | Full Member Profile Jennifer Burke Reifman is an Associate Instructor in the University Writing Program and Ph.D. student in the School of Education emphasizing in Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition Studies at the University of California, Davis. Before returning for her Ph.D, Jennifer received her Master’s in English Composition from San Francisco State University and taught first-year composition, basic writing, and literature courses at several community colleges. While teaching at these community colleges, she also helped to develop online writing course curriculums, beginning her interest in online writing instruction. Currently, Jennifer’s research is concerned with basic writing legislative reforms, the use of technology in writing classrooms, training teachers for online writing instruction, and writing assessment and placement. Jennifer is also a committee member for the Writing Program Administrators Graduate Organization and has presented her work at the Two Year College Association Conference, the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Association for the Study of Higher Education Conference, and the American Educational Research Association Conference. E-mail: <secretary@gsole.org> | Webinar Co-Chair, Caitlin FieldTerm of Office: July 2021 to present Bio coming soon |
OLOR Effective Practices Editor, Jason SnartTerm of Office: Apr. 2016 to June 2024 Jason Snart is Professor of English at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. He teaches composition, creative writing, and literature courses in a variety of modes, including online, hybrid, and face-to-face. His research and publishing focuses primarily on hybrid teaching, learning, and development. His most recent book, Making Hybrids Work: An Institutional Framework for Blending Online and Face-to-Face Instruction in Higher Education, was published in 2016 by NCTE. | OLOR Reviews Editor, Beatrice NewmanTerm of Office: December 2021 to present See bio above. |
Research Committee Chair, Tony RicksTerm of Office: July 2021 to Present Dr. Antony (Tony) Ricks is an incoming Visiting Faculty member in professional writing at Purdue University for the 2021-22 academic year. Prior to the 2021-22 school year, he taught composition, communication, and literature courses for six years at Alabama A&M University (AAMU). At AAMU, he served as the director of the composition program and helped update the English major and minor for twenty-first century education. He also taught evening courses in Rhetorical Theory, Professional Communication, and other topic for AAMU's master's level Communication Specialist Program. Prior to serving at AAMU, he served as a writing center director at Athens State University in Athens, Alabama for three years. At both AAMU and Athens State, Tony has taught both in-person and online courses. His interests in online literacy relate to teaching and learning in online and hybrid education environments. | ROLE Editor, Ashlyn WaldenTerm of Office: July 2020 to Present Ashlyn Walden is a Senior Lecturer in the Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She teaches a combination of hybrid and online courses in composition and advanced writing and research. Beyond the classroom, Walden actively mentors faculty in digital design and online writing instruction every year. Research interests primarily include: fostering inquiry-based research in the writing classroom, digital composition and design, accessibility, and user-centered design. Her most recent co-authored book chapter with Cat Mahaffey, “#teachingbydesign: Complicating Accessibility in the Tech-Mediated Classroom,” was published in 2019 by IGI Global. |