Background

Current CV

Bio

picture of Ryan I am an Associate Professor and the Director of First-Year Composition in the Department of English at Northern Illinois University. My research focuses on composition, multimodality, learning transfer, and the connections between them. I am committed to building better writing pedagogy. My research has appeared in Computers & Composition, Composition Studies, Composition Forum, the Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics, and the Journal of Response to Writing. I co-edited a collection, Multimodal Composition and Writing Transfer, that came out in late 2023 and am co-editing a new collection, Multimodal Transfer Pedagogy, with the same team, Kara Poe Alexander, Matthew Davis, and Lilian Mina.

As part of my position as Director of First-Year Writing, I oversee the orientation for new graduate teaching assistants in the program. I am deeply invested in the success of the undergraduate writing program and development of effective curricula and meaningful policy and oversight. In addition, I teach graduate classes in composition pedagogy, multimodality, learning transfer, and writing across contexts. I am a primary faculty member in the rhetoric & composition graduate program, teaching multiple courses and serving on multiple thesis and dissertation committees. I strive to create professional development opportunities for faculty and graduate students to learn more about teaching writing.

I received my PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, & Linguistics from Arizona State University in 2014 and continued on at ASU as a Postdoctoral Scholar for the 2014-2015 school year. I worked closely with Dr. Shirley Rose as Assistant Director of Writing Programs from 2012-2014. In 2014, I helped Dr. Paul Kei Matsuda develop and run writing-across-the-curriculum courses for second language writers.

Before my PhD, I taught English for 6 years in South Korea, including nearly 5 years at Pusan National University. I taught classes such as English writing, conversation, and reading for the English Education Department and general education courses in practical English and business English. In addition to learning Korean while I lived in Busan, I also learned to speak French and learned to scuba dive.

Outside of the academy, I am an active runner. I compete in races from 5Ks to marathons a few times a year. I enjoy hiking and cycling with my wife when time permits. I have loved video games since I was a child and still play regularly. I also enjoy going to movies, finding new restaurants, reading comic books, and cooking.

Education

ASU Crest PhD Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA (September 2014)

IPFW CrestMA Indiana University, Fort Wayne, IN, USA (February 2006)

BA Indiana University, Fort Wayne, IN, USA (May 2002)

Academic Appointments

Associate Professor, Department of English, Northern Illinois University, August 2022-Present

Associate Professor, Department of English, Ohio University, August 2021-July 2022

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Ohio University, August 2016-August 2021

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of English, Ohio University, August 2015-August 2016

Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of English, Arizona State University, August 2014-May 2015

Assistant Director of Writing Programs, Department of English, Arizona State University, August 2012-May 2014

Teaching Associate, Department of English, Arizona State University, August 2010-May 2014

Faculty Associate, Department of English, Arizona State University, June 2011-August 2014

Visiting Professor, Department of English Education, Pusan National University, March 2007-March 2010

English Instructor, Department of Business Management, Pusan National University, March 2008-December 2009

Instructor, International Exchange and Education Center, Pusan National University, September 2005-February 2009

Editor, Department of English Editing, Pusan National University, March 2006-December 2007

Visiting Professor, Department of Practical English, Pusan National University, September 2005-February 2007

Graduate Assistant, Department of English and Linguistics, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, August 2002-May 2004

Consultant, Writing Center, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, August 2002-May 2002