Kathryn Swacha
Assistant Professor of English
317 Neville Hall
University of Maine
Orono Maine 04469-5752 U.S.A.
Office Telephone: 207.581.3820
E-mail: kathryn.swacha@maine.edu
Office Hours – by appointment
Education: Ph.D., Purdue University
Specialty: Rhetoric and communication as well as rhetoric of health and medicine, rhetorical theory, institutional rhetorics, professional and technical writing
International/National Awards:
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Outstanding Dissertation Award
in Technical Communication (2018)
Fulbright Commission Teaching Fellowship, Berlin, Germany (2009-2010)
Publications:
Peer-reviewed articles
“Living Photovoice’ as a Social Justice Research Method in Technical and Professional Communication.” Technical Communication Quarterly. Forthcoming.
“Community-Engaged Research as Enmeshed Practice.” Michigan Journal for Community Service Learning 26.1 (Winter 2020): 121-142. With Jennifer Bay.
“‘Bridging the Gap between Food Pantries and the Kitchen Table:’ Teaching Embodied Literacy in the Technical Communication Classroom.” Technical Communication Quarterly 27.3 (July-September 2018): 261-282. DOI: 10.1080/10572252.2018.1476589
“Service-learning in the Second Language Writing Classroom: Future Research Directions.” TESOL Journal 9.2 (June 2018): 278-298. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.321
“Older Adults as Rhetorical Agents: A Rhetorical Critique of Metaphors for Aging in Public Health Discourse.” Rhetoric Review 36.1 (2017): 60-72.
“Towards Productive Disagreement: Deliberative, Democratic Processes in Community Engagement and Service learning.” Partnerships: A Journal of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement 6.3 (2015): 29-53.
Book Reviews
Review of Civic Work Civic Lessons: Two Generations Reflect on Public Service by Thomas Ehrlich and Ernestine Fu. Reflections: A Journal of Public Rhetoric, Civic Writing, and Service Learning 17.1 (2017):189-193. .
Review of Rhetoric of a Global Epidemic: Transcultural Communication about SARS by Huiling Ding. With Dan Liddle. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2016): 1-6.
Selected Conference Presentations:
“Everyday Feminist Resistance on Fertility Apps.” Feminisms and Rhetorics. James Madison University, November 2019.
“In the Liminal Spaces of Health: Theorizing the Co-Constructed Agency of Doulas and Laboring Women.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine Symposium. Orlando, Florida, September 2019.
“Accountable Pedagogies: Does Plain Language Help Students Understand TPC’s Ethics?” Association of Teachers of Technical Writing Conference. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 2019.
“Kairotic Conception: The Rhetoric of Mothering.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 2019. (panel chair)
Professional Memberships:
Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW)
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
Rhetoric Society of America (RSA)
