Elizabeth Wardle
Roger and Joyce Howe Distinguished Professor of Written Communication
Director, Howe Center for Writing Excellence
King 133
513-529-6210
wardleea@MiamiOH.edu
Education
- PhD, Rhetoric and Professional Communication, Iowa State University, 2003
- MA, English, University of Louisville
- BA, Philosophy, University of Louisville
Research Interests
- transfer
- threshold concepts
- first year writing as writing studies
- writing program administration
- composition theory
- genre theory
- activity theory
- writing across the curriculum
- faculty development
Selected Publications
Books
Glotfelter, Angela, Caitlin Martin, Mandy Olejnik, Ann Updike, and Elizabeth Wardle. Changing Conceptions, Changing Practices: Innovating Teaching Across Disciplines. Utah State University Press, 2022.
Adler-Kassner, Linda and Elizabeth Wardle. (Re)Considering What We Know: Learning Thresholds in Writing, Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy. Utah State University Press, 2019.
Rita Malenczyk, Susan Miller-Cochran, Elizabeth Wardle, and Kathleen Blake Yancey. Composition, Rhetoric, and Disciplinarity. Utah State University Press, 2018.
Adler-Kassner, Linda, and Elizabeth Wardle, eds. Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. Utah State University Press, 2015. Winner, WPA Outstanding Contribution to the Discipline award.
Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. Writing About Writing: A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. Second edition, January 2014. Third edition, October 2016. Fourth Edition, 2019. Fifth edition, forthcoming.
Selected Articles and Book Chapters
“‘Something Invisible… Has Been Made Visible for Me’: An Expertise-Based WAC Seminar Model Grounded in Theory and (Cross) Disciplinary Dialogue.” With Angela Glotfelter and Ann Updike. In Diverse Approaches to Teaching, Learning, and Writing Across the Curriculum: IWAC at 25. Lesley Bartlett, Sandra Tarabochia, Andrea Olinger, and Margaret Marshall, eds. WAC Clearinghouse, 2020. 167-92. Winner, Council of Writing Program Administrators' 2022 Outstanding Scholarship Award.
“Naming What We Know (In Writing Studies): Engaging Troublesome Trends in Educational Policy and Practice.” Threshold Concepts on the Edge. Ray Land, and Julie Rattray, eds. Sense Publishers, 2019. 313-26
"Using a Threshold Concepts Framework to Facilitate an Expertise-Based WAC Model for Faculty Development." In (Re)Considering What We Know: Learning Thresholds in Writing, Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy. Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, eds. Utah State University Press, 2019. 297-312.
“Recognizing the Limits of Threshold Concept Theory.” With Linda Adler-Kassner, Jonathan Alexander, Norbert Elliot, James Hammond, Mya Poe, Jacqueline Rhodes, and Anne-Marie Womack. In (Re)Considering What We Know: Learning Thresholds in Writing, Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy. Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, eds. Utah State University Press, 2019. 15-35.
“Teaching and Learning Threshold Concepts in a Writing Major: Liminality, Dispositions, and Program Design.” With Mikael Romo and R. Mark Hall. Composition Forum, Spring 2018.
“Understanding the Nature of Disciplinarity in Terms of Composition’s Values.” With Doug Downs. In Composition, Rhetoric, and Disciplinarity. Utah State University Press, 2018.
“You Can Learn to ‘Write in General.” Bad Ideas about Writing. Cheryl Ball and Drew Lowe, eds. Fall 2017.
"‘The Hardest Thing With Writing is Not Getting Enough Instruction’: Helping Educators Guide Students Through Writing Challenges.” With Nicolette Mercer Clement. Understanding Writing Transfer and Its Implications for Higher Education. Jessie Moore and Randy Bass, eds. Stylus: January 2017. 131-143.
“What Are Threshold Concepts (And Why Are They Useful for Writing Programs)?” With Linda Adler-Kassner. A Rhetoric for Writing Program Administrators, 2nd ed. Rita Malenczyk, ed. Parlor Press, 2016. 64-77.
Wardle, Elizabeth and Nicolette Clement Mercer. "Double Binds and Consequential Transitions: Considering Matters of Identity During Moments of Rhetorical Challenge." Critical Transitions: Writing and the Question of Transfer. Jessie Moore and Chris Anson, eds. Parlor Press/WAC Clearinghouse (Perspectives on Writing Series), 2016. 163-181.
Wardle, Elizabeth and J. Blake Scott. "Defining and Developing Expertise in a Writing and Rhetoric Department." WPA: Writing Program Administration, 2015. 72-93.
Scott, J. Blake and Elizabeth Wardle. "Using Threshold Concepts to Inform Writing and Rhetoric Undergraduate Majors: The UCF Experiment." Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies. Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, eds. Utah State University Press, 2015. 122-139.
"Easing the Transitions: Finding Ways to Work in Solidarity Across the High School/College Divide." Crosspol 1.1 (Fall 2014). 1-10.
"Considering What It Means to Teach ‘Composition’ in the 21st Century." College Composition and Communication 65.4 (2014): 659-71.
Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. "Looking Into Writing about Writing Classrooms." In First-Year Composition: From Theory to Practice. Deborah Coxwell Teague and Ron Lunsford, eds. Parlor Press, 2014. 276-320.
"What is Transfer?" A Rhetoric for Writing Program Administrators. Rita Malenczyk, ed. Parlor Press, 2013. 143-155.
"Reflecting Back and Looking Forward: Revisiting ‘Teaching about Writing, Righting Misconceptions’ Five Years On." Composition Forum 27 (2013).
"Creative Repurposing for Expansive Learning: Considering ‘Problem-Exploring’ and ‘Answer-Getting’ Dispositions in Individuals and Fields." Composition Forum 26 (2012).
Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. “Reimagining the Nature of FYC: Trends in Writing-about-Writing Pedagogies." Exploring Composition Studies: Sites, Issues, and Perspectives. Kelly Ritter and Paul Kei Matsuda, eds. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press, 2012: 123-44.
Wardle, Elizabeth and Kevin Roozen. "Addressing Multiple Dimensions of Writing Development: Toward an Ecological Model of Assessment." Assessing Writing 17.2 (2012): 106-19.Editorial Positions
Forthcoming Work
Adler-Kassner, Linda and Elizabeth Wardle. Writing Expertise: A Research-Based Approach to Writing and Learning Across Disciplines. With Linda Adler-Kassner. Contract with WAC Clearinghouse for Fall 2022 publication.
Other Media
“Why People Can’t Write, and How to Fix That.” Build For Tomorrow Podcast. January 2022.
“The Time for Small Ideas is Over.” With Nkosi Shanga. Inside Higher Ed. March 25, 2020.
“What Critics of Student Writing Get Wrong.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. August 30, 2019.
“You Know More Than You Think about Teaching Writing.” Inside Higher Ed. January 31, 2019.
Awards and Leadership
Awards
Winner, Council of Writing Program Administrators' 2022 Outstanding Scholarship Award for “‘Something Invisible… Has Been Made Visible for Me’: An Expertise-Based WAC Seminar Model Grounded in Theory and (Cross) Disciplinary Dialogue.” With Angela Glotfelter and Ann Updike. In Diverse Approaches to Teaching, Learning, and Writing Across the Curriculum: IWAC at 25.
The Association of Writing Across the Curriculum's 2022 Exemplary Enduring WAC Program award for the Howe Writing Across the Curriculum Program.
The Conference on College Composition and Communication's 2022 Writing Program Certificate of Excellence for the Howe Center for Writing Excellence.
Miami University Distinguished Scholar Award, 2020.
Council of Writing Program Administrator’s Outstanding Contribution to the Discipline Award, July 2016, for Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies.
NCTE 2006 Best Article of the Year in Teaching of Technical and Scientific Communication for “Building Context: Using Activity Theory to Teach About Genre in Multi-Major Professional Communication Courses.” With Donna Kain. Technical Communication Quarterly 14.1. (2005): 113-139.
Iowa State University Distinguished Alumni Award. October 25, 2012.
University of Central Florida Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) Award. August 2012.
University of Central Florida Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) Award. August 2012.
Curricular Leadership
Designer and Facilitator, Howe Faculty Writing Fellows, Miami University, Spring 2017-present. A semester-long program for teams of faculty to work within and across disciplines in order to innovate around teaching and learning. 122 Fellows from all academic divisions have completed the program and made substantial curricular innovations as a result. Research about the impact of their work is described in Changing Conceptions, Changing Practices (2022).
Designer and Content Creator, Miami Writing Institute, Miami University. Spring 2022. One-of-a-kind, asynchronous, multimodal online program to change public conceptions of writing. Free to Miami alumni; open to the public starting Summer 2022. Enroll here.
Designer and Co-Facilitator, Leading Change Institute, Miami University, 2020-21. A year-long pilot program enrolling 23 faculty members and doctoral students from across the disciplines to engage in designing innovative solutions to the problems higher education is facing.
Designer and Co-Facilitator, Pathways to Expertise, University of Central Florida, 2013-14. A year-long program designed to provide teaching faculty in the new department of Writing and Rhetoric with the opportunity to gain expertise in new areas of scholarship and expand their teaching options. Documented in “Defining and Developing Expertise in a Writing and Rhetoric Department.” WPA: Writing Program Administration, 2015.