Instructional Assistant Professor
Department of Liberal Studies
"Wherever there is persuasion, there is rhetoric. And wherever there is 'meaning,' there is 'persuasion.'"
– Kenneth Burke
When I was a teenager, I played guitar in a heavy-metal band and I was always writing original songs, metal or otherwise. I also started getting really into film scores, video editing, photography, film in general, and literature. I started reading novels, short stories, and poetry. I learned to play keyboard (at least well enough to make multitrack recordings). I even tried my hand at making short films with my friends and writing a few screenplays. What united all these interests was a fascination with the ways meaning is shared through language and media. In undergrad, I took an Advanced Composition course that, by way of semiotics, introduced me to this thing called rhetoric. Since then, I’ve retained an interest in what I’d now call multimodality, but much of my graduate and current research has taken a broader view of rhetorical history, gender, and genre.
Like many English teachers, I hope my students learn to appreciate that how they write something is just as important as what they write. After working with me, I hope students remember not a specific topic I lectured about but rather what they made, composed, and discovered for themselves.
I love spending time with my beautiful family. I enjoy keeping up with the news, various podcasts, and good TV/movies.
Ph.D., Rhetoric and Composition, Texas Christian University (2021)
M.A., English, West Chester University (2013)
B.A., English/Professional Writing, Kutztown University (2011)
Graduate Certificate, Women & Gender Studies, Texas Christian University (2021)
ENGL 210: Technical and Professional Writing
“Are We Overlooking (and Underselling) the Writing Capstone Course?” With Brad Lucas.
Composition Studies, Forthcoming.
“Motherhood, Time, and Wendy Davis’s Ethos.” Peitho, vol. 20, no. 1, 2017, pp. 100-21.
“Gendering the Bridge of Understanding: Mary Oyama's Advice Column and the Nisei Press.”
American Journalism Historians Association, Dallas, TX. October 3-5, 2019.
“How the Writing Major Ends: The Culminating Capstone Course.” Conference of College Teachers of English, Stephenville, TX. March 1-3, 2018.
“Maternal Epideictic Rhetoric in a Mid-Twentieth-Century Advice Column.” Feminisms and Rhetorics, Dayton, OH. Oct. 4-7, 2017.
Madeleine L’Engle Travel Research Fellowship, Smith College Special Collections (2019): $1,000
Doctoral Research & Professional Development Grant, TCU English Department Graduate Program Committee (2018): $1,000
Jean Palmegiano Award for Outstanding International/Transnational Journalism Research, American Journalism Historians Association Convention, Dallas, TX (Oct. 3-5, 2019)
Tate Prize in Composition Studies, TCU English Department (2017)
Timothy Ballingall
Instructional Assistant Professor
Department of Liberal Studies
Classroom Lab Building (CLB), Office 126