Department of English
TTU Home Department of English Technical Communication and Rhetoric

Faculty in Technical Communication

The technical communication program at Texas Tech is the largest in the country.  Our faculty covers a wide range of topics and they all teach in the undergraduate and graduate programs. 

Baake | Baehr | Barker | Carter | Dragga | Eaton | Kimball | Kemp | Lang | Rice | Rickly | St. Amant | Still | Zdenek

Ken Baake

Ken.Baake@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x250

Office:  English 363-B

Listen to Ken Baake speak about his interests:

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Associate Professor | PhD, New Mexico State University, 2000

Research interests
Metaphor, philosophy of science, rhetoric of science

Publications
Metaphor and Knowledge: The Challenges of Writing Science. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003.

"Using Writing Standards to Develop a Moral Foundation for Economic Literacy." The Literacy Standard. Eds. Alice Horning and Ron Sudol, Oakland University, Hampton, 2004. 

"Optimism and Pessimism on the High Plains: A Tale of Archaeological Reports." Technical Communication Quarterly 2003 Special Issue: "Science and Nature Writing," 2003.

Other achievements
Former journalist, former economist

Awards
Outstanding Dissertation in Technical and Scientific Communication 2001, From NCTE, Committee on Technical on Technical and Scientific Communication

Craig Baehr

Craig.Baehr@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x228

Office:  English 363-F

Associate Professor | PhD, University of New Mexico, 2002

Research interests
Hypertext theory, interface design and information architecture, online publishing and instruction, visual rhetoric, visual spatial-thinking, digital literacy.

Publications
"Visual-spatial thinking in hypertexts" with Richard Johnson-Sheehan, in Technical Communication 48.1, 2001. Winner of Distinguished Technical Communication Award from STC, 2002.

Conceptualizing the Whole: Using Visual-spatial Thinking in the Interpretation and Design of Hypertext Systems, Doctoral Dissertation, 2002, published by UMI.

Thomas T. Barker

Director of Technical Communication

Faculty advisor: Society for Technical Communication, Texas Tech student chapter

thomas.barker@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x279

Office:  English 363-E

Listen to Thomas Barker discuss his background and research interests:

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Professor | PhD University of Texas 1980 | Fellow of the Society for Technical Communication (2008)

Research interests
computer documentation, online technologies and communication, distance education, technical communication pedagogy, service-learning

Major and recent publications
"Teaching Intercultural Communication in a Technical Writing Service Course:  Real Instructors' Practices and Suggestions for Textbook Selection," with Natalia Matveeva, Technical Communication Quarterly, 15 (2), 2006, 191-214.

Editor, Technical Communication, Special Issue on Consulting and Independent Contracting, May, 2002

Author of the textbook, Writing Software Documentation
Editor of a collection, Perspectives on Software Documentation
Contributing Editor of an online book Getting Started in Consulting and Independent Contracting (1998)

Other achievements
Manager, Society for Technical Communication's Academic Community

Elected to Associate Fellow, STC, 2003

Winner of the STC J. R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2005

Joyce Locke Carter

Director of Graduate Studies in Technical Communication and Rhetoric

locke.carter@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x247

Office: English 363-C

Associate Professor | PhD, University of Texas, 1997

Research interests
Computer-based instruction in English; history and theory of rhetoric; software development and design; software industry issues; hypertext theory and application; theory and practice of argumentation; the role of market-based economics in the formation and discourse of the communications fields (technical communication, rhetoric, composition); real-world applications for pedagogy (service learning).

Recent publications 
Market Matters: Applied Rhetoric Studies and Free Market Competition. Ed. Locke Carter. Hampton, 2005.

Yeats, Dave, and Locke Carter. "The Role of the Highlights Video in Usability Testing: Rhetorical and Generic Expectations." Technical Communication 52.2 (May 2005), pp. 156-62.

Carter, Locke, and Rebecca Rickly. "Mind the Gap(s): Modeling Space in Online Education." In Cargile Cook, K., & Grant-Davie, K. Online Education: Global Questions, Local Answers. Farmingdale, NY: Baywood, 2005, pp. 123-40.

Technical Communication, Special Issue on the Impact of Single Sourcing on Writers and Writing, 50.3 (August 2003). [guest editor].

"Argument in Hypertext: Writing Strategies and the Problem of Order in a Non-Sequential World." Computers and Composition 20 (2003), pp. 3-22.

Other achievements
Former CEO and software products developer, The Daedalus Group (educational software company).  Co-author of the award-winning Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment. 

Sam Dragga

Chair, Department of English

sam.dragga@ttu.edu

Office: English 474

Professor | PhD, Ohio University, 1982

Research interests
Editing, visual communication, international communication, ethics

Major and recent publications
"Hiding Humanity: Verbal and Visual Ethics in Accident Reports," Technical Communication 50 (2003): 61-82 [co-authored with Dan Voss, Lockheed Martin Corporation].

Reporting Technical Information. 10th ed. Oxford University Press, 2002 [co-authored with Dr. Thomas E. Pearsall, Emeritus, University of Minnesota, and Dr. Elizabeth Tebeaux, Texas A&M University].

"Cruel Pies: The Inhumanity of Technical Illustrations," Technical Communication, 48 (2001): 265-274 [co-authored with Dan Voss, Lockheed Martin Corporation].

Technical Communication Quarterly, Special Issue on Ethics in Technical Communication, 10.3 (2001) [guest editor].

Co-author of A Writer's Repertoire (HarperCollins, 1995), A Reader's Repertoire (HarperCollins, 1996), and Editing: The Design of Rhetoric (Baywood, 1989).

Editor, Technical Writing: Student Samples and Teacher Responses (ATTW, 1992)

Series editor of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Communication.

Other achievements
Series editor of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Communication
President of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, 1997-1999
Past-President of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing; manager of its e-mail discussion list (attw-l); webmaster of the ATTW site
Winner of the STC J. R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2005

Angela Eaton

Angela.Eaton@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x229

Office:  English 363-G

 

Listen to Angela Eaton discuss her research interests

Assistant Professor | PhD, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2003

Research interests
Technical communication pedagogy and practice, especially within online environments; quantitative research methods.

Recent publications 
Eaton, A. (2005). Students in the online technical communication classroom. In K. Cargile Cook and K. Grant-Davie (Eds.), Online education: Global questions, local answers. Farmingdale, NY: Baywood.

Krull, R., Friauf, J., Brown-Grant, J., & Eaton, A. (2002). What users want from electronic performance support: Results from three waves of qualitative data. Proceedings of the Society for Technical Communication 49th Annual Conference, 311-314.

Krull, R., Friauf, J., Brown-Grant, J., & Eaton, A. (2001). Usability trends in an online help system: User testing on three releases of help for a visual programming language. IEEE International Professional Communication Conference Proceedings, USA, 19-26.

Fred O. Kemp

Fred.Kemp@ttu.edu

806-742-2500

Office:  English 211-D

Associate Professor | PhD University of Texas at Austin, 1988

Research interests
Computer-Based Instruction in English; history and theory of rhetoric; collaborative strategies for composition instruction; the computer-based classroom; guided heuristics in composition instruction; design and programming of software to support writing and literature instruction; use of wide-area electronic networks for professional collaboration, research, and instruction.

Major and recent publications
"The Aesthetic Anvil:  The Foundations of Resistance to Technology and Innovation in English Departments." In Market Matters: Applied Rhetoric Studies and Free Market Competition. Ed. Locke Carter. Hampton, 2005, pp. 77-94.

"Writing Dialogically: Bold Lessons from Electronic Text." Reconceiving Writing, Rethinking Writing Instruction. Ed: Joseph Petraglia-Bahri. Lawrence Erlbaum.

"Bitnetting with Soul: The Life and Times of Megabyte University." Works and Days: Essays in the Socio-Historical Dimensions of Literature and the Arts. Ed. David B. Downing. Indiana University of Pennsylvania; "Ethical Research in Computer-Based Writing Instruction."

Author-ity and Textuality: Current Views of Collaborative Writing. Ed. James S. Leonard. Locust Hill Literary Studies, No. 14. Locust Hill Press, 1994. 101-112.

Other achievements
Founder and current president of The Daedalus Group, Inc., a company prominent in the development of educational software, and co-author of DIWE, the "Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment" (1990 EDUCOM/NCRIPTAL award winner for best writing software).

Founder of email discussion lists Megabyte University (MBU-L), ACW-L, and WCENTER

Chair, NCTE Instructional Technology Committee; past chair and current member of the CCCC Computers in Composition Committee; Co-director of the Alliance for Computers and Writing and manager of ACW's Web site.

Miles Kimball

Miles.Kimball@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x227

Office:  English 363-A

Listen to Miles Kimball discuss his background and research interests

Associate Professor | PhD, University of Kentucky, 1997

Research interests
History of technical communication; information graphics; web portfolios; perceptual theory (semiotics, discourse analysis); visual communication; technical communication and culture.

Publications
Document Design: Information Design for Technical Communicators. With Ann R. Hawkins. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. 390 pp.

“London through Rose-colored Graphics: Charles Booth’s Maps of London Poverty.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 36.4 (2006): 351–379. Winner of the 2007 National Council of Teachers of English Award for Best Article on Historical Research or Textual Studies in Technical and Scientific Communication.

“Cars, Culture, and Tactical Technical Communication.” Technical Communication Quarterly 15.1 (2006): 67–86.

“Database E-portfolio Systems: A Critical Appraisal.” Computers & Composition 22 (2006): 434–458.

A scholarly edition of The Young Duke, by Benjamin Disraeli, with 6000-word critical introduction, annotations, and collation of variants across editions published in the author’s life-time. Volume II of The Early Novels of Benjamin Disraeli. London: Pickering & Chatto, 2004. 327 pp.

The Web Portfolio Guide. New York: Longman, 2003. 183 pp.

Amy Koerber

Amy.Koerber@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x229

Office:  English 363-D

Web site: http://www.amykoerber.com

Associate Professor | PhD, University of Minnesota, 2002

Research interests
Health communication, rhetoric of science and technology, women's studies, internet studies

Publications
"You Just Don’t See Enough Normal’: Critical Perspectives on Infant-Feeding Discourse and Practice” in a special issue on “The Discourses of Medicine” of the Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 19.3 (July 2005)

Amy Koerber and Mary M. Lay. "Understanding Women's Concerns in the International Setting Through the Lens of Science and Technology." Invited chapter in Encompassing Gender: Integrating International Studies and Women's Studies. New York: Feminist Press, 2002.

"Toward a Feminist Rhetoric of Technology." Journal of Business and Technical Communication 14.1 (January 2000): 58-73.

"Postmodernism, Resistance, and Cyberspace: Making Rhetorical Spaces for Feminist Mothers on the Web." Women's Studies in Communication 24.2 (Fall 2001): 218-40.

Susan Lang

Director of Composition

susan.lang@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x272

Office:  English 488

Associate Professor | PhD, Emory University, 1992

Research Interests
Computer-based instruction in composition and literature, intellectual property issues, hypertext, textual theory.

Recent Publications
"New Process, New Product:  Redistributing Labor in a First-Year Writing Program." In Market Matters: Applied Rhetoric Studies and Free Market Competition. Ed. Locke Carter. Hampton, 2005, pp. 187-204.

"Electronic Dissertations: Preparing Students for Our Past or Their Futures?" College English 2002.

"Replicating and Extending Dialogic Aspects of the Graduate Seminar in Distance Education."  In Cargile Cook, K., & Grant-Davie, K. Online Education: Global Questions, Local Answers. Farmingdale, NY: Baywood, 2005.<</p>

"Who Owns the Course? Online Composition Courses in an Era of Changing Intellectual Property Law." Computers and Composition 15(2), August 1998, pp. 215 - 28.

"Converging (or Colliding) Traditions: Integrating Hypertext into Literary Studies." In Texts and Textuality: Textual Instability, Theory, Interpretation, and Pedagogy. New York: Garland Press, 1997, pp. 291 - 312.

Forthcoming publications
Co-Editor of a Special Issue of Computers and Composition entitled Tenure2000 which focuses on working conditions and issues concerning academic employment for those who work with technology and English Studies.

Also forthcoming from Southern Illinois UP, Resisting Assimilation: The Relationship between Hypertext and English Studies.

Other Achievements
Program Review Coordinator for the 2000 Conference on Computers and Writing, Associate Chair, Assembly on Computers and English of the National Council of Teachers of English (1998 - 2000), Editorial Board Member, Kairos: A Journal for Teachers in Webbed Writing Environment, The ACE Journal, academic.writing

Rich Rice

R.Rice@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x285

Office:  English 487

Listen to Rich Rice's background and research interests

Assistant Professor | PhD Ball State University, 2002

Research interests
contemporary composition and rhetoric, new media and professional writing, TA training, portfolio assessment, distance education, service learning

Recent publications
"Multimodal Composing: Teaching Effective Communication Through Exploring Oral, Chirographic, Typographic, and Electronic Culture." Eds. Michael Day and Carol Lipson. Technical Communication and the World Wide Web. Co-written with Carole Clark Papper. NY: Allyn & Bacon, 2005. 295-304.

"Composing the Intranet-Based Electronic Portfolio Using 'Common' Tools." Eds. Barbara L. Cambridge, Susan Kahn, Daniel P. Tompkins, and Kathleen Blake Yancey. Electronic Portfolios: Emerging Practices for Student, Faculty, and Institutional Learning. Washington, D.C.: The American Association for Higher Education, 2001. 37-43.

Reynolds, Nedra and Rich Rice. Portfolio Teaching: A Guide For Teachers of College Writing Courses. 2/e. NY: Bedford, 2006.

Reynolds, Nedra and Rich Rice. Portfolio Keeping: A Guide For Students. 2/e. NY: Bedford, 2006.

"Reading Multimodal Texts: Remediating the Text." Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. 10.2 (Fall 2005). Co-written with Cheryl Ball. http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/in_progress/10.2/riceball3/index2.htm

Rebecca Rickly

Rebecca.Rickly@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x268

Office: English 489

Listen to Rebecca Rickly discuss her background and research interests:

File 1

File 2

Associate Professor | PhD, Ball State University, 1995

Research interests
Gender and communication, online and oral discourse analysis, methods and methodology, theories of rhetoric(s), and literacy issues.

Co-editor of The Online Writing Classroom (Hampton Press, 1999).

Recent publications 
Carter, Locke, and Rebecca Rickly. "Mind the Gap(s): Modeling Space in Online Education."  In Cargile Cook, K., & Grant-Davie, K. Online Education: Global Questions, Local Answers. Farmingdale, NY: Baywood, 2005.

"The Gender Gap in Computers and Composition Research: Must Boys Be Boys?" in Computers and Composition (April 1999).

"Promotion, Tenure, and Technology: Do We Get What We Deserve?" in Electronic Networks: Crossing Boundaries/Creating Communities, Ed. Tharon Howard, Dixie Goswami, Rocky Gooch. Heinemann-Boynton Cook (1999).

"Reflection and Responsibility in (Cyber)Tutor Training: Seeing Ourselves Clearly On and Off the Screen." in Wiring the Writing Center, ed. by Eric Hobson (Utah State University Press, 1998).

Other achievements
Chair of the Instructional Technology Committee of NCTE (three year appointment); member of ACE, CCCC Committee on Computers and Composition, and ACW.

Kirk St. Amant

kirk.st-amant@ttu.edu

806-742-2500

Office:  English 484

Assistant Professor | PhD, University of Minnesota, 2002

Research Interests
Intercultural communication, online communication, e-commerce, rhetoric of economics

Publications
“International Digital Studies: A Research Approach for Examining International Online Interactions.” In Virtual Research Ethics: Issues and Controversies. Hershey, PA: Idea Group, 2004, pp. 317-37.

"Making Contact in International Virtual Offices: An Application of Symbolic Interactionism." IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 46 (2003): 236-40.

“Integrating Intercultural Online Learning Experiences into the Computer Classroom." Technical Communication Quarterly 11 (2002): 289-315.

“When Cultures and Computers Collide." Journal of Business and Technical Communication 16 (2002): 196-214.

Other achievements
Instructor of business communication, international business, and e-commerce with USAID-sponsored Consortium for the Enhancement of Ukrainian Management Education (Yalta, Dnipropetrovsk, and Uzhgorod, Ukraine).

Brian Still

Brian.Still@ttu.edu

806-742-2500 x267

Office:  English 473

Assistant Professor | PhD, University of South Dakota, 2005

Research interests
Medical discourse, theories of technology, online communities, Internet activism, medical discourse, techno-pedagogy, theories of technology, open source issues

Recent publications
"The Medical Normalization of Abnormal Bodies—Intersex and Resistance." Accepted for publication by Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture.

"Talking to Students: Evaluating the Use of Embedded Voice Commenting for Critiquing Student Writing." Journal of Business and Technical Communication 20.4 (2006): 460-475.

Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic, and Social Perspectives. Co-edited with Kirk St. Amant. Under contract with Idea Group Publishing, targeted date 2007.

"Internal Cultural Barriers to E-Commerce Implementation: A Case Study of How Ineffective Leadership Doomed XYZ’s Online Transaction System." Co-authored. International Journal of Cases on Electronic Commerce 2.1 (2006): 23-45.

"Hacking for a Cause." First Monday 10.9 (September 2005). <http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_9/still/index.html>.

"A Syntactic Approach to Readability." Co-authored. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 35.1 (2005): 47-70.

Sean Zdenek

Sean.Zdenek@ttu.edu

806-742-2500  x484

Office:  English 472

Assistant Professor | PhD, Carnegie Mellon University, 2001

Research interests
Discourse and technology, deaf studies, gender and technology, methods of rhetorical and textual criticism, and rhetoric of science.

Recent publications
“‘ Just Roll Your Mouse Over Me’: Designing Virtual Women for Customer Service on the Web”, Technical Communication Quarterly 16.4 (2007): 397-430.

“Muted Voices: Cochlear Implants, News Discourse, and the Public Fascination with Curing Deafness”, solicited by B. Johnstone & C. Eisenhart (eds) Rhetoric in Detail: Discourse Analysis of Rhetorical Talk and Text. Under review with Benjamins.

“Demonstrating a Web Design Technique in a Distance Learning Environment”, Communication Teacher 18.1 (2004): 33-35.

“Artificial Intelligence as a Discursive Practice: The Case of Embodied Software Agent Systems”, AI & Society 17.3/4 (2003): 340-363.

"Scripting Sylvie: Language, Gender, and Humanness in Public Discourse About Software Agents" in S. Benor, M. Rose, D. Sharma, J. Sweetland, Q. Zhang (eds) Gendered Practices in Language (pp. 255-273). Stanford, CA: CSLI Press, 2002.

"Passing Loebner's Turing Test: A Case of Conflicting Discourse Functions" in Minds & Machines: Journal for Artificial Intelligence, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science 11.1 (2001): 53-76.

Additional department faculty with specializations in linguistics, critical theory, and science and literature also offer courses appropriate for students in technical communication and rhetoric and serve on dissertation committees. The interdisciplinary study of writing is also supported by courses in the departments of psychology, management information systems, communication studies, education, and mass communication. 

Lecturers in Technical Communication 2003


Jurgen U. Heise
Lecturer
MA, Texas Tech University, 1981
jurgen.heise@ttu.edu


After receiving his Bachelor's degrees (English and French) in Germany, Heise came to Texas Tech University (1977) to pursue his graduate studies. In 1981 he received his MA in English, with minors in Speech Communication and German. Between 1981 and 1985, Heise developed training manuals for a regional supermarket chain while furthering his formal education. In 1985, Heise accepted a full-time lectureship at Texas Tech, which he has held since that time. Other professional activities have included an eight-year advisory role for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, as well as a number of consulting assignments for entities as varied as Conoco Inc. (oil and gas exploration), FSI International (semiconductors), and the City of Lubbock (public administration). In addition to his continued extensive professional involvement, Heise serves as the faculty advisor of the European Students Club.