Department of Rhetoric

17th St.
and Writing
2801 S. University Ave.
AR 72206
Little Rock, AR 72204
Ray822@hotmail.com
bcray@ualr.edu

Brian Ray

510 W.
Apt 4
Little Rock,

(803) 319-6428

EDUCATION
Ph.D., English, emphasis Rhetoric and Composition, University of North Carolina at
Greensboro, May 2012.
Dissertation: Toward a Translingual Composition: Ancient Rhetorics and
Language Difference
M.F.A., English, Creative Writing, University of South Carolina, 2007.
B.A., English, University of South Carolina, 2004.
PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS
Director of Composition, University of Arkansas at Little Rock (2015-Present)
Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Writing, University of Arkansas at Little Rock (2015Present)
Assistant Professor of English, UNK (2012-Present).
Teaching Assistant (Instructor of Record), UNC-Greensboro (2008-2012).
Assistant Director of Composition, UNC-Greensboro (2010-2011).
English Instructor, University of South Carolina (2005-2008).
BOOKS
Style: An Introduction to History, Theory, Research, and Pedagogy. Anderson, SC:
Parlor Press, 2014.
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS
Stylizing Genderlect Online for Social Action: Parody Reviews of BIC Cristal For Her.
Written
Communication 33.1 (2016). Accepted, in production.
ESL Droids: Teacher Training and Americanization, 1919-1924. Composition Studies
41.2 (2013): 15-39.
Recipient of UNK Research Services Council Mini-Grant for $2,000.
A Progymnasmata for Our Time: Adapting Classical Exercises to Teach Translingual
Style. Rhetoric
Review 32.2 (2013): 191-209.
More Than Just Remixing: Uptake and New Media Composition. Computers and
Composition 30.3

(2013): 183-196.
Forgotten Radicals: A History of the Term Theory in Three Decades of Writing
Program
Administration Scholarship. Composition Studies 40.1 (2012): 9-23.
Tim Burton and the Idea of Fairy Tale. Fairy Tale Films: Visions of Ambiguity. Pauline
Greenhill and
Sidney Eve-Matrix, eds. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2010. 198-218.
A New World: Revising the Legacy of Min-Zhan Lu. Journal of Basic Writing 27.2
(2009): 106-127.
MANUSCRIPTS IN PROGRESS & UNDER REVIEW
Compositions Global Turn: Writing Instruction in Multilingual, Translingual, and
International Contexts.
Special issue of Composition Studies, edited with Connie Kendall-Theado (Univ.
of Cincinnati).
WPAs Reading SETs: Student Evaluations of Teaching, WPAs, and Reform. Under
revision at WPA:
Writing Program Administration, September 2015.
REVIEWS AND REVIEW-ESSAYS
Rev. essay of Translingual Practice, Shaping Language Policy in the U.S., Literacy as
Translingual
Practice, and Other Peoples English. College Composition and Communication
67.1 (2015): 87103.
Rev. of Steven Pinkers The Sense of Style. Rhetoric Review 34.3 (2015).
Rev. essay of Toward a Composition Made Whole, Spectacular Rhetorics, and Silence
and Listening as
Rhetorical Arts. JAC: Journal of Advanced Composition 34.1-2 (2014): 309-317.
Rev. of Pat Gehrkes The Ethics and Politics of Speech. TETYC: Teaching English in the
Two-Year College.
39.1 (2011): 89-91.
And Nancy Myers. Rev. essay of Meir Litvak and Ester Webmans Arab Responses to
the Holocaust and
Elhanan Yakiras Post-Zionism, Post-Holocaust. Rhetoric Review 29.3 (2010): 313318.
Rev. of Catherine Prendergasts Buying into English: Language and Investment in the
New Capitalist
World. JAC: Journal of Advanced Composition. 29.4 (2009): 862-870.

Rev. of Byron Hawks A Counter-History of Composition: Toward Methodologies of

Complexity. TETYC:
Teaching English in the Two-Year College 36.4 (2009): 405-407.
NOVELS
Through the Pale Door. Spartanburg: Hub City Press, 2009; paperback 2011.
Reviewed in Booklist, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Magazine, The Post
& Courier, and Midwest Book Review.
Featured in The State, Free Times, and The News-Record.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
UNK Research Services Council Mini-Grant, $2,000, Sept 2012.
UNCG Dissertation Research Fellowship, $2,000, June 2011.
Gold Medal for Best Novel Published in the Southeast for Through the Pale Door. 14th
Annual
Independent Publisher Book Awards, May 2010.
South Carolina First Novel Prize for Through the Pale Door. South Carolina Arts
Commission and Hub
City Writers Project, May 2008.
Conference on Basic Writing Annual CCCC Travel Fellowship, $500, April 2008.
INVITED TALKS AND GUEST LECTURES
Teaching with Style. Lamar University, February 17, 2015. (Skype.) Invited by T.J.
Geiger, PhD.
Code-Meshing and Translingualism as Style and Voice. University of Waterloo,
February 25, 2015.
(Skype.) Invited by Vershawn Young, PhD.
NATIONAL CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Oni One English Meh? Student Research and Writing on WE and Translingualism.
Conference on
College Composition and Communication, Tampa, March 19, 2015.
Actually Teaching Style: Upping the Ante on Academic Writing. Half-day workshop.
Conference on
College Composition and Communication, Tampa, March 18, 2015.
SETs Story: Student Evaluations as Instruments for Reflection and Assessment.
Thomas R. Watson
Conference, October 17, 2014.
Assessing Others Work: How WPAs Use Student Evaluations of Teaching. Writing
Program
Administrators Conference, Normal, July 19, 2014.
Rethinking Creative and Academic Writing. Conference on College Composition and
Communication,

Indianapolis, March 21, 2014. (Panel organizer and chair.)

Placement/Credit Redux. Writing Program Administrators Conference, Savannah,
Georgia, July 19, 2013.
Americanization and Teacher Training: Common Citizens as Proto-ESL Instructors.
Conference on
College Composition and Communication, Las Vegas, March 14, 2013.
Language Difference and Economies of Teacher Training. 2012 Thomas R. Watson

Conference,
Louisville, October 19.
"Toward a Stylistic Renaissance: Classical Rhetoric and Language Difference.
Conference of the Rhetoric
Society of America, Philadelphia, May 25-28, 2012.
U.S. Composition's Fit in the World: Internationalization's Influence on Theory and
Pedagogy. Panel
with Bruce Horner as respondent. Conference on College Composition and
Communication, St.
Louis, March 23, 2012.
Puncturing U.S. English-Only: Teaching Translingualism to Monolingual Students.
Conference on
Writing Education Across Borders. Pennsylvania State University, State College,
Pennsylvania, Sept 30, 2011.
ESL and Post-Process Theories: Cross-Conversation. 22nd Annual Pennsylvania State
Conference on
Rhetoric and Composition, State College, Pennsylvania, July 11, 2011.
Evaluating the Intellectual Work of Graduate Student Administrators: Time for a
Statement? Writing
Program Administrators Conference, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 15, 2011.
Global Rhetorics: Writing about Belief, Islam, and Human Rights. Conference on
College Composition
and Communication, Atlanta, Georgia, April 9, 2011.
Re-mixing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Cosmopolitan Pedagogy. Conference on College
Composition and
Communication, Louisville, Kentucky, March 18, 2010.
Cosmopolitan Rhetoric: Toward a Globalized Believing Game. Assembly for Expanded
Perspectives on
Learning Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, July 31, 2009.
Diving In, Diving Farther, Diving Deeper: The Future of Basic Writing. Conference on
College
Composition and Communication, San Francisco, California, March 12, 2009.

Mina Shaughnessy: Beyond Iconic and Critical. Conference on College Composition

and
Communication, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 9, 2008.
The Iron Curtain between Theory and Practice. Basic Writing Special Interest Group
at CCCC, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 8, 2008.
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE
Composition Coordinator, University of Nebraska at Kearney (2013-Present).
Oversaw roughly 30 sections of first-year writing courses per semester.
Designed spring 2014 assessment of Eng 102 and delivered report to General
Studies Council; completed annual observation and review of non tenure-track
faculty; organized semesterly teaching forums;
conducted composition
placement exams; co-organized supplemental instruction for basic writing;
established and edited collection of first-year student writing.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
UN-Kearney
The Teaching of Composition (Fall 2013)
Orients graduate students to topics and issues related to rhetorical theory and
the teaching of
writing in college classrooms. Students complete a statement of teaching
philosophy, syllabus,
assignments, and a research-based inquiry into a pedagogical issue of their
choice.
Advanced Writing I and II (Spring 2013, Fall 2014)
Facilitates students development of research and writing practices in their
various academic and professional interests. Assignments include academic
book reviews, conference papers and abstracts, analyses of academic
discussion threads, and creation of academic blogs.
Introduction to Academic Writing and Research (Summer 2013)
Immerses students in the five canons of rhetoric as a framework for writing
and helps students develop an awareness of composition processes, including
peer review and revision.
English for Academic Purposes (Fall and Spring, 2012-Present)
Introduces students to academic writing and analysis in preparation for English
101 (Introduction to Academic Writing). My own section emphasizes language
difference and academic writing as one of many codes that can, at times, be
blended.
UNC-Greensboro
English Composition I and II for Non-Native Speakers of English (Fall 2011,
Spring 2012)

Combined instruction in rhetoric, genre pedagogies, and English for academic

purposes. Approached academic writing through critical contrastive rhetoric.
Teaching College Writing (Fall 2011)
Co-taught with Kelly Ritter. Assisted in facilitating discussion of readings,
planned weekly teacher-training activities, and led discussion on teaching
multilingual and basic writing.
ESL Instructor, German-American Fulbright Summer Institute (Summer 2011)
Planned and taught 3-week, writing intensive curriculum to support student
exchange program. Students wrote short essays in response to events and
lectures and one longer, reflective paper on cultural differences. Also
maintained daily blog reflecting on cultural and socio-political observations.
Freshmen Seminar: Civic Discourse and Public Writing (Fall 2011)
Oriented students to conventional rhetorical frameworks, then complicated
them through discussions of social media, digital public spaces, and global
discourse.
English Composition II (Spring 2011)
Students engaged in oral and written discourse, analyzing a range of media;
students delivered several presentations with the option of using video, image,
and sound.
Introduction to Narrative (Fall 2009, Spring 2010)
Presented terms and methods for analyzing narrative structures and
ideologies in folk culture, fairy tales, contemporary literature, and film.
English Composition I (Fall 2008-Spring 2012)
Introduce the five canons as well as the notion of rhetorical ecologies and
employ them as lenses to write about socio-political issues of interest to
students.
University of South Carolina
Advanced Writing (Spring 2008)
Workshop-oriented course devoted to creative nonfiction genres including
journalism and
personal essays.
Introduction to Creative Writing (Spring 2007)
Themes in American Literature (Fall 2007, Spring 2008)
Explored issues of race, gender, and social class tensions in authors including
Alexis de Tocqueville, Edward Albee, Sherman Alexie, Percival Everett, Amrico
Paredes, Don DeLillo, and Marilynne Robinson.
Introduction to Composition and Literature (Spring 2006-Spring 2008)
Introduction to Composition (Fall 2005-Spring 2008)
GRADUATE COMMITTEES

UN-Kearney
MFA Thesis
Justin Zyla, The Muting of the Dawn.
DISCIPLINARY SERVICE
Manuscript Review, Composition Forum, July 2015-Present.
Manuscript Reviewer, Composition Studies, June 2014-Present.
Manuscript Reviewer, Journal of Basic Writing, September 2013-Present.
Manuscript Reviewer, College English, July 2012-Present.
Manuscript Reviewer, TETYC, Aug 2011-Present.
Reader, College Board, Advanced Placement English Literature Exam (2008-2015).
INSTITUTIONAL SERVICE
Committees
Member, Search Committee for Department Chair, Fall 2015.
Member, Search Committee for Assistant Professor of English, Fall 2014.
Member, Selection Committee for Martin Distinguished Professorship, Fall 2014.
Member, Search Committee for Lecturer, Summer, 2014.
Chair, Search Committee for Reynolds Chair in Creative Writing, Spring 2013.
Chair and Member, Writing Committee, UN-Kearney, Aug 2012-Present.
Chair, Creative Writing Committee, UN-Kearney, Aug 2012-Present.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Conference on College Composition and Communication
Council of Writing Program Administrators
National Council of Teachers of English
Rhetoric Society of America
American Society for the History of Rhetoric
International Society for the History of Rhetoric
REFERENCES
Dr. Sam Umland
Professor of English
Department Chair
University of Nebraska, Kearney

Email: umlands@unk.edu
Office Phone 308-865-8299
Dr. Kelly Ritter
Professor of English
Director of Undergraduate Rhetoric
Editor, College English
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Email: ritterk@illinois.edu
Office Phone: (217) 333-1006

Dr. Nancy Myers

Director of College Writing
Associate Professor
Department of English
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Email: namyers@uncg.edu
Office Phone: (336) 334-3974
Dr. Paul Butler
Associate Professor of English
University of Houston

Email: pgbutler@uh.edu
Office Phone: 713-743-1758
Dr. Vershawn Young
Associate Professor
Drama and Speech Communication
University of Waterloo

vershawn.young@uwaterloo.ca
(519) 888-4567, ext 31596