Rhetoric & Writing Studies Candidate Matthew Vetter
Thank you for inviting me to the campus visit stage of your search. I am excited to be a candidate for the Assistant Professor position in Rhetoric and Writing Studies. I am currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of English at Ohio University Zanesville and a section editor at Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology and Pedagogy. As a scholar in digital rhetorics and humanities, I am primarily interested in the ways that technologies shape writing and writing pedagogy. I am drawn toward investigations of the the ideological and epistemological functions of specific (communicative) technologies and communities and the possibilities for human intervention and praxis within those technologies and communities. This page provides resources and additional materials to help you learn more about my qualifications and to support my colloquium presentation (job talk) during the campus visit. If you have additional questions for me, write to vetter@ohio.edu.
Research Colloquium (Job Talk)
I am particularly drawn to this position because of what I see as a rich synergy between your faculty’s commitment to public rhetoric and community engagement and my own scholarly interest in the rhetorical notion of praxis. Much of my current thinking about praxis emerges from service-learning movements in the field, which I address more directly in my recent article “Archive 2.0: What Composition Students and Academic Libraries Can Gain from Digital-Collaborative Pedagogies” (Composition Studies 42.1). This research established some of my main arguments for a rhetorical knowledge based in active participation within a public community. In this presentation, I trace the arc of my research: from my interest in public pedagogy as a means for enhancing student learning and motivation, to my more recent articulation of a model for critical digital praxis: a socially meaningful and rhetorically conscious method of active response to and within digital spaces, one that bases such action on careful reflection of the ways in which technologies and (digital) communities mediate social realities and hierarchies. To define this model, I describe a case study of a public writing project that worked to edit and improve Wikipedia’s gender gap, a systemic bias resulting from a lack of women editors and the resulting lack of representation of subjects of concern to women and LGBTQ identities. The talk will conclude with speculations about future directions for critical digital praxis.
Presentation Slides
Hand-outs
Colloquium Presentation Bibliography: UTEP Bibliography
Colloquium Presentation Abstract & Outline: Vetter, Research Colloquium Handout
Additional Materials
Curriculum Vitae: Vetter, Matthew_CV_10-24-2015
Research Statement: Vetter, Research Statement 10-17-15
Writing Sample 1: Vetter_Composition Studies_Writing Sample
Writing Sample 2: Vetter__Hacking-Heteronormativity_Writing_Sample
Teaching Statement: Vetter_Teaching Statement_10-6-15
Teaching Effectiveness Summary: Vetter, Teaching Effectiveness Summary
Assessment Statement (Commenting on Student Writing): Vetter, Assessment Statement