People

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

  • 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.

  • South Hall 1516
  • 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.

  • South Hall 1519
  • 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).

  • South Hall 1401
  • Lecturer - Retired
  • 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.

  • South Hall 1510
  • 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.

  • Girvetz 1320
  • Lecturer Emeritus - Retired
  • Lecturer
  • South Hall 1401

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