People

Please note: For questions about add codes or courses, please contact the Writing Program Advisor, Audrey Youngblood (ayoungblood@hfa.ucsb.edu).

  • Associate Vice Chancellor of Teaching and Learning

Associate Vice Chancellor of Teaching and Learning; Professor of Writing Studies

  • Senior Continuing Lecturer

Katie Baillargeon teaches a range of academic writing courses, from lower-division Writing 1, 2, ACE, and 50, to upper-division 105s and 109s like Writing in the Humanities, Writing in the Social Sciences, and Rhetoric. She also teaches 107L—Legal Writing—in the professional writing series. Each summer, she runs UCSB's Dissertation Write-in for graduate students across the campus and she has recently expanded into faculty writing consultations and workshops. Her research interests are varied, and include graduate student writing, how dissertation boot camps aid student writers, food writing, and 17th-century French opera.

  • Lecturer

Eva Braunstein teaches Approaches to University Writing (Writing 1), Academic Writing (Writing 2), and Rhetoric and Writing (Writing 105R), among others. She completed her PhD in Religious Studies in 2021.

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  • Program Coordinator of the College of Creative Studies' Writing and Literature major

Kara Mae Brown teaches Writing 2 and Writing for Public Discourse (105PD), as well as a number of writing courses in the College of Creative Studies. Her research interests include assessment, online writing instruction, and multimodal composition. She also writes and publishes short stories and essays.

  • Lecturer

Rebecca Chenoweth teaches Writing 1, 2, 50, 105SW, and 109HP. She is also a founding editor of Synthesis, the Writing Program's Upper-Division publication of excellent student work.

Ljiljana Coklin
  • Senior Continuing Lecturer

Ljiljana Coklin teaches a variety of writing classes: Writing 50 (Academic Research), 109F (Film), 107G (Global Studies), 107B (Business Writing), and 109HU (Humanities). Her teaching and research interests focus on issues of migrations, border crossings, gender and citizenship in a contemporary global society and culture. She is also interested in the role of communication in international conflicts and its potential in peace initiatives. She is an avid reader of contemporary fiction.

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  • Senior Continuing Lecturer

Craig Cotich teaches Grammar and Stylistics, Professional Editing, Writing for the Teaching Professions, Business Writing, as well as a range of academic writing courses. Specializing in two areas within the UCSB Writing Program, he directs the Professional Editing track of the minor and chairs the ACE program.

  • Lecturer

Christene d’Anca teaches Writing 2, 105C, and 109HU. She has a PhD in Comparative Literature with an emphasis in Medieval Studies. Her interdisciplinary research interests include women and storytelling, alternate power structures, and female patronage of the funerary arts. Her articles have been published in the Journal of European StudiesEarly Middle EnglishThe Romanian American Journal for the HumanitiesRomanische ForschungenJournal of Animal Ethics, and EuropeNow, with chapters in various edited collections.

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  • Continuing Lecturer

Chris Dean teaches Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing in Community (105CW), Rhetoric and Writing (105R), Multimedia Writing (105M), and Writing for the Teaching Professions (109ED).

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  • Senior Continuing Lecturer

Jim Donelan holds multiple appointments between the Writing Program, Department of English, and the College of Creative Studies - Writing & Literature Department, teaching a variety of composition and literary courses accross the curriculum at UCSB.

  • Continuing Lecturer

Brian Ernst teaches Writing 1, 2, 105CD, 105R, 107B, 107WC, 109HU, and 157B. His research interests include rhetorical code studies and narrative design in interactive media. He is also an editor for Starting Lines, a contributor to the CCCC Wikipedia Initiative, a member of the Collaborative Writing Placement Program, a mentor in the Raab Writing Fellows Program, junior Co-Director of the Professional Writing Minor Business Communication Track, and Faculty Liaison with the SASC Undergraduate Advisor. Further, he recently joined the Writing Spaces team as an Associate Editor for the Activities & Assignments Archive in Fall 2023. Dr. Ernst completed his Ph.D. in Modern European History at the end of 2014.

  • South Hall 1401
  • Continuing Lecturer

Feminist rhetoric, creative nonfiction, digital media and rhetoric

picture of Dan Frank, he is wearing sunglasses on his head and a backpack with landscape in background
  • Continuing Lecturer

Daniel Frank teaches First Year Composition, multimedia, and technical writing. Dan’s research interests include AI Art and Writing technologies, game-based pedagogy, virtual text-spaces, passionate affinity spaces, and connected learning. Dan is continually interested in helping students find their own passion as they learn to create, play, and communicate research, argumentation, and writing, across genres, networks, and digital communities.

  • Senior Continuing Lecturer
Gina L. Genova, Esq. is the senior co-director of the Business Communication track in the Professional Writing Minor and teaches the winter capstone course on client communication (WRIT 157A) as well as the spring internship course (WRIT 150) and the writing minor elective, Advanced Writing for Public Speaking (WRIT 162). She also teaches Writing for Public Speaking (105PS), Business and Administrative Writing (107B), Legal Writing (107L) and two First Year Exploration seminars on Legal Practice (INT94 UA) and Law Enforcement (INT94 TF). She also loves working with her students and is the faculty advisor for Mock Trial, Moot Court, Pre-law Society, and its Undergraduate Law Journal.
  • Lecturer

Peter teaches Writing 2 and 105WE: Writing and Ethics. His teaching and research explores the politics of inequality and modern/postmodern literature. He is interested in the ways that political ideologies, cultural or institutional practices, and public policies underwrite or alleviate social and economic inequalities. In particular, he is interested in democratic theories and neoliberal forms of governance and subjectivity, as well as how they are represented in late 20th and 21st century film, literature, and journalism.

  • Girvetz 1314
  • Lecturer

Baron Haber is new to the UCSB Writing Program and teaches Writing 1 and Writing 2 this year. His research interests include global Anglophone literature, environmental writing and ecocriticism, and science communication for the public. His scholarship on the environmental gothic has appeared in darkmatter and in ARIEL (forthcoming).

  • Continuing Lecturer

Leslie Hammer teaches Writing 1, Writing 2, Writing for Cultural Rhetorics (105CR), Writing for Chicanx Studies (109CS), Writing for the Humanities (109HU), Writing for the Social Sciences (109SS), and the ACE sequence. She received her Ph.D. in Literature from UC San Diego. Her research interests include nineteenth-century US Literature, multiethnic US literature, Native Hawaiian texts, US women's writing, transnational literature, and autobiography studies.  She is the Chair of the Academic Communities of Excellence (ACE) Program and Writing 1 Committee.

  • Continuing Lecturer

Jeff Hanson teaches Writing for Public Speaking (105PS), Professional Writing for Global Careers (107G), and Business and Administrative Writing (107B), as well as graduate courses in the English for Multilingual Speakers Program / Linguistics.

  • Associate Director and Continuing Lecturer

Deborah Harris is Associate Director and Continuing Lecturer in the Writing Program, and teaches a wide variety of classes (lower-division, upper-division, and graduate levels) ranging from science writing to writing in the humanities. Her book, Media and the Rhetoric of Body Perfection: Cosmetic Surgery, Weight Loss, and Beauty in Popular Culture (Routledge, 2014) explores the transformation imperatives advertised by the media, especially in the West. Her research interests include medical rhetoric, body rhetoric, popular culture, and composition.  

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  • Continuing Lecturer

Sarah Hirsch teaches Writing 1, 2, 107J, 107M, 109HU, and 109V. She received her Ph.D. in English from UC Santa Barbara with an emphasis on American literature and maritime culture. Her current research interests are visual rhetoric and New Orleans, as she is working on the visual representation of the "X Code." The "X" was spray painted on the homes and buildings by Urban Search and Rescue teams in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Sarah's reserach focuses on the intepretation of these images and the reinterpretation and repurposing of them by New Orleans' residents. She is also working on visual, material and embodied rhetorics of the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans. 

  • Assistant Teaching Professor

Victoria’s research and teaching are animated by her investments in building just, equitable, and communal frameworks for embodied life through the practice of writing. Her research interests center on cultural and feminist rhetorics with specific attention to gender, sexuality, reproductive justice, and trauma.

  • Continuing Lecturer

Peter Huk teaches a variety of writing classes, primarily the engineering writing sequence, Writing for Global Careers, Writing for Film, and Writing for the Humanities. His pedagogy and research interests include contemplative inquiry and reflection in the writing classroom and representation in documentary film.

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  • Senior Continuing Lecturer

Jennifer Johnson teaches Approaches to University Writing (Writing 1) and Academic Writing (Writing 2), as well as Rhetoric and Writing (105R), Writing for the Social Sciences (109SS), Writing for Accounting (107A), and Academic Writing: Theory and Practice (501). She holds a Ph.D. in Composition and TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her current research interests include the training and preparation of composition teachers, genre theory, disciplinarity, and the relationship between composition and literary studies.

Photo of Dr. Paul M. Rogers, Associate Professor of Writing Studies
  • Associate Professor; Director of the Ph.D. Emphasis in Writing Studies

Paul M. Rogers is an Associate Professor of Writing Studies in the UCSB Writing Program and a proud alumni of UCSB's Gevirtz Graduate School of Education where he completed his PhD in 2008. He is the former Director of the Northern Virginia Writing Project, a co-founder and former chair of the International Society for the Advancement of Writing Research, and the co-editor of eight collections, including “International Models of Changemaker Education” (2022), "Toward a Re-Emergence of James Moffett's Mindful, Spiritual, and Student-Centered Pedagogy" (2023), and “Writing as a Human Activity" (2023).  He is a recipient of the K. Patricia Cross Award for leadership in higher education and a co-recipient of the Janet Emig Award for research in English education. He teaches courses in academic and business writing, qualitative research methods, professional and technical communication, and social entrepreneurship. 

 

  • Continuing Lecturer

Robert Krut teaches Writing 1-2 (through the ACE Program), 105C, 107B, 109F, and works extensively with community outreach. In addition to his work in the Writing Program, he teaches creative writing and literature in the College of Creative Studies. He is the author of four books: Watch Me Trick Ghosts (Codhill/SUNY Press, 2021), The Now Dark Sky, Setting Us All on Fire (Codhill/SUNY Press, 2019), which received the Codhill Poetry Award, This is the Ocean (Bona Fide Books, 2013) recipient of the Melissa Gregory Lanitis Poetry Prize, and The Spider Sermons (BlazeVox Books, 2009). His poetry has also appeared in numerous literary journals, both in print and online.

  • Professor of Writing; Director of the Writing Program; Affiliate Faculty Member in Education

Karen Lunsford teaches Science Writing for the Public (105SW), Writing for the Health Professions (109HP), Writing for Science and Technology (109ST), Academic Research Writing (251), Teaching Technical Communication (252), the Proseminar for the Writing Studies Emphasis (502A/B), and Literacy in the Information Age (Education 202F).

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  • Senior Continuing Lecturer

Patrick McHugh teaches Writing 50 (Work in the 21st Century), and a number of 100-level courses including Business Writing and Creative Nonfiction.

  • Continuing Lecturer

Nomi Morris teaches Journalism and News Writing (107J), Magazine Writing for Publication (107M) and Advanced Beat Reporting (152A).  She serves as director of the Journalism track in UC Santa Barbara’s Professional Writing Minor.  Morris came to UCSB with a background in international journalism, as well as covering the arts and religion, and writing narrative nonfiction, essay, and commentary. Her work has been published in TIMENewsweekLos Angeles TimesLos Angeles Review of BooksAscent and other media outlets and literary journals. She has been a foreign correspondent in Europe and the Middle East and holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Nonfiction).

  • Continuing Lecturer

Ellen O'Connell Whittet is a lecturer who primarily teaches journalism, creative writing, writing for the humanities and arts, and community writing.  Her own writing has been published in The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, New York Magazine, The Paris Review, and elsewhere, and her book, What You Become in Flight, was published by Melville House in 2020. 

  • Lecturer

Aili Pettersson Peeker teaches Writing 2 and Science Writing for the Public. She holds a PhD in English with an emphasis in Cognitive Science from UCSB. Her research interests are interdisciplinary and focus on bringing together cognitive neuroscience, literary studies, writing, and pedagogy. She is currently the Research Coordinator for the UCSB Trauma-Informed Pedagogy project.

  • Girvetz 1320
  • Assistant Teaching Professor

Dr. Michelle Petty’s interdisciplinary research in Education and Writing draws on Black feminism to investigate diversity issues in academia, creative writing, and in digital writing. She teaches writing courses in the Writing Program and in the Writing and Literature Major of the College of Creative Studies. 

  • Lecturer

Amy Propen teaches courses in rhetoric and professional writing, including Writing About Sustainability, Multimedia Writing, and Technical Writing. Her research interests focus on visual-material and environmental rhetorics, posthumanism, animal studies, and rhetoric as advocacy. Her recent book, Visualizing Posthuman Conservation in the Age of the Anthropocene, was published with The Ohio State University Press in 2018. Her new book, At Home in the Anthropocene, is a follow-up to Visualizing Posthuman Conservation and was published in 2022 with The Ohio State UP.

  • Lecturer

Kevin Rutherford teaches a variety of courses, including Writing 1E, 2, 2E, 50, 50E, 105C, 105CD, 105M, 105R, 107B, and 109F.

  • Senior Continuing Lecturer

Bob Samuels teaches Writing for Public Discourse (105PD), Writing for the Social Sciences (109SS), Writing for the Teaching Professions (109ED), and Rhetoric and Writing (105R).

Image of Beth Saur
  • Lecturer

Beth teaches Approaches to University Writing (Writ 1), Academic Writing (Writ 2), Writing for the Teaching Professions (109ED), Rhetoric and Writing (105R), and Writing for the Humanities (109HU). She also teaches Theory and Practice of Writing Center Consultation (160) for those who are interested in tutoring writing. She has a PhD in Composition and Rhetoric from Miami University, and her research interests are focused on affect theory, pedagogy, and teacher development.

  • Girvetz 1310
  • Lecturer

A graduate of UCSB’s PhD Program in Comparative Literature, John joined the Writing Program after defending his dissertation, Sonic Alterities, with distinction in August of 2022. John completed doctoral emphases in Writing Studies and Translation Studies and currently teaches Writing 2 and Writing 105. His Writing Studies capstone examined sound and the rhetoric of classroom space from antiquity to the virtual. An avid interdisciplinarian, John has also taught and designed courses in nuero-humanities, sound studies and African American music and literature.

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  • Continuing Lecturer

Kenny Smith is co-chair of the Writing Placement Committee along with Madeleine Sorapure and Sarah Hirsch. He also teaches introductory composition (Writing 1 & 2), writing and the philosophy of language (Writing 105P), and scientific communication courses (Writing 109ST, Writing 105SW, and Writing 159A). His research focuses on how literacy skills transfer from the classroom to the outside world, particularly in regard to the interpretation of scientific texts and journalism. When not playing video games and reading all the things, he has been known to listen to a considerable amount of music, especially if it has synthesizers and a catchy beat. 

Madeleine Sorapure
  • Teaching Professor and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education

Madeleine Sorapure teaches Multimedia Writing, Document Design and Production, Digital Portfolio, and Digital Storytelling. She is co-director of the Multimedia Communication track of the Professional Writing Minor and author of articles on the rhetoric of data visualization, multimodal composing and pedagogy published in KairosComputers and Composition, Big Data & Society, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, and elsewhere. She is also an associate dean in the Division of Undergraduate Education. 

  • 805-893-2462
  • South Hall 1522
  • Continuing Lecturer

Amanda Stansell teaches Writing 2LK with Sociology, 109ED, 109CS, and the E sequence. She is also co-director of the Science Communication Track with the Professional Writing Minor.

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  • Continuing Lecturer

Christian Thomas is a continuing lecturer in the Writing Program and the Associate Director of the Center for Digital Games Research. He teaches Rome: The Game (WRIT/ARTHI W6R), How Games Tell Stories (INT 36GS), Writing about Film (WRIT 109F), Multimedia Writing (WRIT 105M), Writing for Public Speaking (WRIT 105PS), Writing and the Research Process (WRIT 50), and Academic Writing (WRIT 2).

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  • Lecturer

Lauren Vallicella teaches Writing 1, Writing 2, and Writing for the Humanities (109HU). A graduate of UCSB, Lauren participated in the doctoral emphasis in Writing Studies while completing her PhD in Theater and Dance. Her research interests include intersections between literature and dance in the early twentieth century, affect and empathy in the classroom, and choreography (writing with the body) as rhetoric.

  • Girvetz 1310
  • Lecturer

Vickie Vértiz's writing is featured in the New York Times magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, KCET Departures, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among many others. Her book Palm Frond with Its Throat Cut won the 2018 PEN America literary prize in poetry. Vértiz teaches creative nonfiction, writing for Chicanx Studies. Her research interests include drag culture, feminist and queer art, film, and performance, experimental writing, and writing for community engagement. She earned an M.F.A. from UC-Riverside in nonfiction, a Master’s degree in public affairs from UT-Austin, and a B.A. in political science from Williams College.

  • Continuing Lecturer

Nicole Warwick teaches Writing 1, 2, 105R, and 109ED. She also serves as a TA Supervisor in the Writing Program. Her research treats graduate student experiences in TA preparation programs with additional interests that include narrative study, alternative rhetorics, and minor transnational theory.

Image of Martha Webber
  • Lecturer

Martha Webber teaches Writing 1, 2, 105PD, 107B, and 107WC for the program. She has a PhD in English with a specialization in Writing Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (and even an AA in Fashion Design). Her research on nonprofit organizations and literacy sponsorship has been published in Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric. Her creative writing, including short humor, has appeared in journals including Slackjaw, Paper Darts, and Bending Genres.

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  • Lecturer

Alison Williams primarily teaches media communications, including 107P, 105C, 107M, 107DJ, and 107V, as well as Writing 2. Alison comes to UCSB with a career in public relations and marketing for entertainment and advertising, and she holds an MFA Creative Writing and MA English from Chapman University. Her own writing has been published in literary, scholarly, and mainstream publications. 

  • Lecturer

Kali Yamboliev teaches a range of academic writing courses, including lower-division courses like Writing 1, Writing 2, and Writing 50 and upper-division courses in the 105 and 107 series, including Writing for Business, Writing for Public Relations, Magazine Writing for Publication, and Science Writing for the Public. She has also worked in translation, editing, and publishing for the past ten years, and is currently a co-editor for Starting Lines, the Writing Program’s anthology of student writing. Her research interests center on the rhetorical strategies politicians, the media, and the public use to create ideas of ethnic and national belonging, with a focus on anti-immigrant rhetoric in Italy, both historical and contemporary.

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