Derek N. Mueller
Assistant Professor of Written Communication
Department of English Language and Literature
Eastern Michigan University

derek.mueller@emich.edu
T: (315) 708-3940
F: (515) 322-0209
 
   
Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Composition and Cultural Rhetoric
Syracuse University, 2004-2009

Certificate in University Teaching (Future Professoriate Program)
Exam areas: Writing Technologies, Tools-in-use: Ecologies and Affordances, and Visuality and New Media

Master of Arts, English
University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1998-2000
Concentration in rhetoric and composition

Bachelor of Arts, English
Park University, 1992-1996, Summa cum laude

   
Dissertation

"Clouds, Graphs, and Maps: Distant Reading and Disciplinary Imagination"
Committee: Collin G. Brooke (chair), Rebecca M. Howard, Louise W. Phelps, Alex Reid, and Anne F. Wysocki

Setting out from recent attempts to account for widespread trends in rhetoric and composition, this dissertation theorizes and applies distant reading methods (Moretti) useful for apprehending patterns in a deepening archive of disciplinary materials. Using data-mining and aggregation techniques, the project introduces three types of abstract visual models—tag clouds, citation graphs, and maps of scholarly production—designed to re-examine existing accounts of disciplinary emergence and to elicit insights into the field's "shifting terrain."

   
Academic Employment

Assistant Professor of Written Communication
Dept. of English Language and Literature, Eastern Michigan University, 2009-

Graduate Teaching Associate
The Writing Program, Syracuse University, 2004-2009

Senior Part-time Instructor, English and Humanities
Park University, 2000-2009

Online Course Developer
Park University, 2001-

Asst. Director of Athletics/Sports Information
Park University, 1997-2004

Part-time Instructor
University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2000

Assoc. Director of Professional Development for TAs
English Dept., Missouri-Kansas City, 1999-2000

   
Scholarly Activity
 
publications

"Every Mad Scientist Needs a Tower, a Monster, and a Telegraph Wire: Blogs as Research and Pedagogy Laboratories for Graduate Students," co-authored with Krista A. Kennedy for Metamorphosis: The Effects of Professional Development on Graduate Students. Eds. Andréa D. Davis and Suzanne Webb. Fountainhead Press. (ms. accepted; collection expected to be in press January 2010).

"Digital Underlife in the Networked Writing Classroom," Computers and Composition 26.4 (Dec. 2009): 240-250.

Rev. of The Economics of Attention by Richard A. Lanham, JAC 28.1-2 (2008): 328-335.

"Challenging Literacy: Student Readers and Difficult Texts," Composing Ourselves, 4.2, Missouri-Kansas City, Winter 1999 (in-house)

   
Editorial

Editorial Assistant, College Composition and Communication, 2005-2009
Responsible for CCC Online Archive with Associate Editor, Collin Brooke.

Technical Editor, Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL, and Apache All-in-One, 4th Ed., for Pearson Education, Inc., 2008.

   
Awards

Provost's New Faculty Research Support Award ($4,969 grant to fund research), Eastern Michigan University, 2010
CCR Dissertation Oral Defense, Passed with distinction, 2009
CCR Qualifying Exams, Passed with distinction, 2007
Teaching Assistant Superior Teaching Award, Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City, 1998, 1999
Sosland Teaching Award, Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City, 1999

   
Conference
PRESENTATIONS

"Virtual Mentorship," May 2010 (upcoming)
Computers and Writing Conference, West Lafayette, Ind.

"When the Last Database You Search Is Not Your Own," March, 2010 (upcoming)
Conference on College Composition and Communication, Louisville, Ky.

"1987: A Choragraphic Return to North's Neighborhood," March, 2009
Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, Calif.

"Sweding a Scholarly Journal: Metadata, Digitization, and Whatever You Have On Hand," October 17, 2008
Thomas R. Watson Conference, Louisville, Ky.

"Automata for the Archive: A Machinery for Distant Reading," May 25, 2008
Rhetoric Society of America, Seattle, Wash.

"Everywhere Drafting: A Thick Map," May 23, 2008
Rhetoric Society of America, Seattle, Wash.

"Visualizing Disciplinary Patterns: Distant Reading Methods and Composition Studies," April 11, 2008
Northeast Modern Language Association, Buffalo, N.Y.

"How Archives Learn: Tagging Practices and the Circulation of Digital Archives," April 4, 2008
Conference on College Composition and Communication, New Orleans, La.

"Blogging and the Orchestration of Attention It Demands," May, 2007
Computers and Writing Conference, Detroit, Mich.

"Clouds, Graphs, and Maps: CCC From a Distance," March 24, 2007
Conference on College Composition and Communication, Featured Session, New York, N.Y.

"Digital Underlife and Writing Instruction," July 24-27, 2006
Virtual Reality in Real Life Conference, SUNY-Cortland, Online

"Mirror, Mirror on the Web: The Evolution of CCC Online," March, 2006
Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, Ill.

"Networked Writing as Micro-Monument: The Long Tail's Nested Memoria," October, 2005
Contesting Public Memories Conference, Syracuse, N.Y.

"Weblogs and Emergence: Opening Gestures in Networked Spaces," April, 2005
Humanities, Arts and Technosciences (CHATS) Conference, Albany, N.Y.

"Ping! Re-Addressing Audience in the Blogosphere," March, 2005
Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Francisco, Calif.

"Competing Voices in Anna McAfee's Lectures to Young Women," April, 2000
Conference on College Composition and Communication, Minneapolis, Minn.

"Challenging Literacy: Student Readers and Difficult Texts," February, 2000
Missouri Write to Learn Conference, Osage Beach, Mo.

   
WORKSHOPS & Invited PRESENTATIONS

"Graduate Studies and Professional Ethos, Blogwise," May 2, 2009
Invited speaker (via Skype), Creating, Composing, Curating: Converging Sites of Composition
FYC Professional Development Conference, Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

"Podcasting: Sonic Composing," October 22, 2008
Guest presenter, CCR720: Interdisciplinary Influences on Composition and Rhetoric: Computers and Writing, Syracuse Univ.

"Tech Camp: A Workshop on Web Writing, Image Work, and Video Production,"
June 17-19, 2008, Co-Facilitator, The Writing Program, Syracuse University

"Social Bookmarking in Action ," August 20, 2007
CCR Community Day Panel, "Scholarship in Action: Scholarly Perspectives II," Syracuse Univ.

"Blogging as a Graduate Student," October 20, 2005
Gateway Focus on Teaching Luncheon Series, "Technology to Support Student Motivation," Syracuse Univ.

"Quick and Dirty Research: RSS and Aggregation," August 24, 2005
Writing Program New TA Orientation, Syracuse University

"The Photographemic Map as Writable Space," August 22, 2005
CCR Community Day Panel, "Mapping Spatial and Material Conditions," Syracuse Univ.

"Technology and the Writing Classroom," April, 1999
Composition workshop, Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City

 
Teaching
 
COURSES

Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Mi.
ENGL328: Writing, Style, and Technology (4 sections | syllabi)

Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
WRT105: Analysis, Argument and Academic Writing (3 sections | syllabi)
WRT195: Studio 2 for Transfer Students (1 section | syllabus)
WRT205: Studio 2: Critical Research and Writing* (3 sections| syllabi )
WRT220: Writing Enrichment
WRT302: Advanced Writing Studio: Digital Writing (1 section | syllabus)
WRT307: Advanced Writing Studio: Professional Writing (2 sections | syllabi)
Writing Consultant, Writing Center, 2008

Park University, Parkville, Mo.
EN105: Writing Strategies and Concepts* (3 sections)
EN105DL: Writing Strategies and Concepts (Online) (9 sections)
EN106: Writing Purposes and Research* (4 sections)
EN106DL: Writing Purposes and Research (Online) (9 sections)
EN306B: Prof. Writing in the Disciplines: Business Communications (Online) (2 sections)
LS211DL: Introduction to the Humanities (Online) (10+ sections )
ML315C: Reading and Culture for International Students (1 section)
PK115: Basic Skills: Writing I (2 sections)
PK116: Basic Skills: Writing II (2 sections)
PK117: Principles of Composition in Review (1 section)
Writing Tutor, Academic Support Center, 2000

University of Missouri-Kansas City, Kansas City, Mo.
ENG110: Freshman Composition (2 sections)
ENG225: English II* (2 sections)
ENG305WI: Theory and Practice of Composition (1 section)

* Taught in both conventional classrooms and computer labs.

CERTIFICATES

Future Professoriate Program (FPP), Syracuse University, 2006-2008

Online Instructor Certificate, eCollege, April 2004

Grant Writing Certificate, Prairie Lands Writing Project, November, 2001

Online Instructor Certificate, VCampus Corporation, August 2001

National Writing Project Teacher-Consultant, July 1999

TEACHING AND RESEARCH AREAS
  • Theories and practices of composition
  • Research methods and methodologies
  • New media and digital writing
  • Network studies
  • Geography and mapping
  • Information design and data visualization
  • Computers and writing
  • Discourse analysis and distant reading
   
Service
 
Academic

Member, Editorial Board, Enculturation, 2010-

Facilitator, Information Technologies, Think Tank for Newcomers, CCCC, Louisville, Ky., 2010

Library Liaison, Dept. of English Language and Literature, Eastern Michigan Univ., 2009-

Member, Written Communication Committee, Eastern Michigan University, 2009-

Textbook Reviewer, Pearson/Longman, August, 2009

Textbook Reviewer, Bedford/St. Martin's, February, 2008

Mentor, Online Instructor Mentor Program, Park University, Parkville, Mo., 2007-

Online Reviewer, Bedford Bits, Bedford/St. Martin's, June, 2007

Proposal Reviewer, Computers and Writing Conference, Detroit, Mich., 2007

Co-coordinator, CCR Graduate Collective, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y., 2005-2007

Member, Review Committee on the Candidacy of Professor Collin Gifford Brooke for Promotion and Tenure, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y., 2006

Co-director, VRRL Conference, SUNY-Cortland, Cortland, N.Y., 2006

Member, Graduate Committee, CCR, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y., 2005-2006

Reader, Writing Competency Test, Park University, Parkville, Mo., 1998-2004

Facilitator, GKCWP Student Writing Project, Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City, July, 2001

Facilitator, Student Writing Project, Carver Elementary, Kansas City, Mo., June, 2001

President, English Graduate Student Association, Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City, 1999-2000

Community

Mentor, Native Vision, Sports and Life Skills Camp, Bernalillo, N.M., 2004, 2005, 2008

Mentor, Native Vision, Sports and Life Skills Camp, Whiteriver, Ariz., 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2009

Youth Coach and Div. Coordinator, SPCAA Basketball and Soccer, 1998-2004

Greater Kansas City Writing Project Advisory Board, Technology Liaison, 2000-2004

   
Technology Proficiencies
  • Courseware: eCollege, Blackboard, VCampus
  • Images: Photoshop, Picnik, Gimp
  • Weblogs: Movable Type, Wordpress
  • RSS Aggregation: Google Reader, Bloglines, browser plug-ins
  • General: OpenOffice and MS Office Suite, Google Docs
  • Concept mapping: CMap Tools, Gliffy
  • Vector graphics: Flash, Inkscape
  • Video: Processing conversions between VHS, MPEG, AVI, MOV and streaming formats; iMovie
  • Basic web design: HTML, CSS
  • Sound: Audacity, Garage Band
  • Document design: Adobe, Quark Xpress
  • Wikis: PMWiki, MediaWiki
  • Web 2.0: Flickr, Delicious, Library Thing, Wayfaring, Cite-u-like, Twitter
  • Programming: PHP
  • Databases: MySQL
   
Memberships

American Association of University Professors, EMU-AAUP, 2009-
Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition, ATAC, 2007-
Conference on College Composition and Communication, CCCC, 1998-
Modern Language Association, MLA, 2008-2009
National Council of Teachers of English, NCTE, 1998-
Rhetoric Society of America, RSA, 2007-

 
References

Collin G. Brooke
Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric
Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, Syracuse University
232 Huntington Beard Crouse, Syracuse, NY 13244
cbrooke AT syr DOT edu

Louise W. Phelps
Professor of Writing and Rhetoric
Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, Syracuse University
lwphelps AT syr DOT edu

Rebecca M. Howard
Associate Professor of Writing and Rhetoric
Composition and Cultural Rhetoric, Syracuse University
229 Huntington Beard Crouse, Syracuse, NY 13244
rehoward AT syr DOT edu

Anne F. Wysocki
Associate Professor of English
Department of English, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI 53201
awysocki AT uwm DOT edu

Alex Reid
Associate Professor of English
Department of English, SUNY Buffalo
alex.reid AT gmail DOT com

Daniel Mahala
Associate Professor and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum
Department of English, University of Missouri – Kansas City
5201 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO 64110
mahalad AT umkc DOT edu

 
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