Bronwyn T. Williams
Professor of English / Endowed Chair in Rhetoric and Composition
University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292
bronwyn.williams@louisville.edu
https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9928-8959
profiles.louisville.edu/bronwyn.williams
Research and Teaching Interests
Literacy and Identity
Sustainability
Community Writing and Cross-Cultural Communication
Digital Media
Education
Ph.D. 2000 University of New Hampshire (English — Composition Studies)
M.A. 1989 University of New Hampshire (English — Creative Writing)
B.A. 1983 Indiana University – Bloomington (Double Major — Journalism, Political Science)
Books
Literacies in Times of Disruption: Living and Learning During a Pandemic Routledge Press, 2024.
Literacy Practices and Perceptions of Agency: Composing Identities. Routledge Press. 2017.
New Media Literacies and Participatory Popular Culture Across Borders. Edited Collection. With Amy A. Zenger. Routledge Press. 2012
Shimmering Literacies: Popular Culture and Reading and Writing Online. Peter Lang. 2009.
Popular Culture and Representations of Literacy. With Amy A.Zenger. Routledge Press. 2007.
Identity Papers: Literacy and Power in Higher Education. Editor of Collection. Utah State University Press. 2006.
Tuned In: Television and the Teaching of Writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Boynton/Cook. 2002.
Concept to Completion: Writing Well in the Social Sciences. with Mary Brydon-Miller. Dallas: Harcourt Brace. 1997.
Journal Articles
“Writing Centers, Enclaves, and Creating Spaces of Change Within Universities,” Writing Center Journal: Vol. 40 :3, 2022. 7-20.
“Creating a Virtual Space for Collaborative Project Planning using the Future Creating Workshop Process: Building the Global Climate Change Education Initiative” with Brydon-Miller, M. Aguja, S., Blumrich, M., DeSousa, L., Dzerefos, C., Kolb, B., Marimbe, L., Muller, I., Rauch, C., Rauch, F., Way. A. Educational Action Research. 2022. 1-17.
“Embodiment, Place, and Stance: A Collaborative Exploration of Graduate Research and Mentoring.” With Edward English, Jessica Newman, and Aubrie Cox Warner. International Studies in the Sociology of Education. 51-68. 2022.
“Centering Partnerships: A Case for Writing Centers as Sites of Community Engagement” with Amy McCleese Nichols. Community Literacy. 13.2, 2019.
“From Screen to Screen: Students’ Use of Popular Culture Genres in Multimodal Writing Assignments” Computers and Composition. 34. 2014. 110-121.
“Collages of Identity: Popular Culture and Online Literacies” in Rethinking Identity and Literacy Education in the 21st Century. Teachers College Record Yearbook. 2011.
“Dancing with Don: Or Waltzing with ‘Expressivism'” Enculturation. 2011.
“Seeking New Worlds: The Study of Writing Beyond Our Classrooms.” College Composition and Communication. 62.1 September 2010. 127-146.
“Multilingual Literacy Strategies in Online Worlds” Response Essay. JAC 29.1&2. 2009. 255- 259.
“`Which South Park Character Are You?’ Popular Culture, Literacy, and Online Performances of Identity” Computers And Composition 25.1. 2008 24-39.
“Who Reads and Writes in Hollywood?: Reading Representations of Literacy in Contemporary Movies” With Amy Zenger International Journal of Learning. Vol 11. 2004.
“Television, Authorship and Student Writers” Academic Exchange Quarterly. Special Issue on Media Literacy. 8.1 Spring 2004. 129-133.
“Speak for Yourself?:Power and Hybridity in the Cross-Cultural Classroom” College Composition and Communication. 54.4 June 2003. 586-609.
“What They See is What We Get: Television and Middle School Writers” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 46.7 April 2003. 546-554.
“Never Let the Truth Stand in the Way of a Good Story: A Work for Three Voices” College English 65.3 January 2003. 290-304.
“The Pleasures Brought to Class: Literacy, Popular Culture, and the Middle School Classroom.” International Journal of Learning. Vol. 10. 2003. 965-976.
“Reflections on a Shimmering Screen: Television’s Relationship to Writing Pedagogies” The Writing Instructor. 2.0 December 2001.
“’A State of Perpetual Wandering’ Diaspora and Black British Writers.” Jouvert: A Journal of Postcolonial Studies. issue 3 vol 3. Summer 1999.
Book Chapters
“Making Sense of How Things Feel: Attending to the Emotional Experiences in Writing Programs. in Sensemaking for Writing Programs and Writing Centers. Rita Malenczyk, Ed. Utah State University Press. (2023). 85-106.
“A Felt Presence: Affect, Emotion, and Memory as Literacy Researchers” in Unsettling Literacies: Directions for Literacy Research in Precarious Times. Chris Bailey, Cathy Burnett, Claire Lee, Jennifer Rowsell. London: Springer (2022).
“Writing Center Consultations as Emotional Experiences: How Different Learning Experiences Shape Student Perceptions of Agency.” In Pedagogical Perspectives on Cognition and Writing. J. Michael Rifenburg, Patricia Portanova, and Duane Roen, Eds. Parlor Press. (2021) 303-322.
““‘Find Something You Know You Can Believe In’: The Effect of Dissertation Retreats on Graduate Students’ Identities as Writers” with Ashly Bender Smith, Tika Lamsal, and Adam Robinson. In Re/Writing the Center: Pedagogies, Practices, Partnerships to Support Graduate Students in the Writing Center. Terry Myers Zawacki and Susan Lawrence, Eds. Utah State University Press. 2018. 204-222.
Having a Feel for What Works: Polymedia, Emotion, and Literacy Practices with Mobile Technologies.” In Social Writing/Social Media. Stephanie Vie and Douglas Walls, Eds. Parlor Press. 2017. 127-143
“Game 2 Engage: Stories About iPads, College Students and Communities.” with Jamie Caine and Julia Davies. in The Case of the iPad: Mobile Literacies in Education. Cathy Burnett, Guy Merchant, Maureen Walsh, Alyson Simpson, Eds. Springer Press. 2017. 143-158
“Genre Inside/Genre Outside: How Students Approach Composing Multimodal Texts.” In Multimodality in Higher Education. Arlene Archer and Esther Breuer, Eds. Brill Publishers. 2016. 114-135
“Digital Technologies and Creative Writing Pedagogies.” In Creative Writing Pedagogies for the Twenty-First Century. Alexandria Peary and Tom Hunley, Eds. Southern Illinois University Press. 2015. 243-268.
“Mobility, Authorship, and Students’ (Im)material Engagement with Digital Media and Popular Culture.” in New Literacies around the Globe: Policy and Pedagogy. Cathy Burnett, Julia Davies, Guy Merchant, Jennifer Rowsell, Eds. Routledge Press. 2014. 140-154
“Control and the Classroom in the Digital University: the Effect of Course Management Systems on Pedagogy.” in Literacy in the Digital University: Critical Perspectives on Learning, Scholarship, and Technology. Robin Goodfellow and Mary Lea, Eds. Routledge. 2013. 173-184
“Writing Creative Nonfiction” in The Blackwell Companion to Creative Writing. Graeme Harper, Ed. Wiley Blackwell. 2013. 24-39.
“The World on Your Screen: New Media, Remix, and the Politics of Cross-Cultural Contact.” In New Media Literacies and Participatory Popular Culture Across Borders. Edited Collection. With Amy A. Zenger. Routledge Press. 2012
“Introduction: Popular Culture and Literacy in a Networked World.” In New Media Literacies and Participatory Popular Culture Across Borders. Edited Collection. With Amy A. Zenger. Routledge Press. 2012
“Ethics and Representation in Conducting, Writing, and Publishing Digital Research,” with Mary Brydon-Miller. for Sage Handbook of Digital Dissertations and Theses, Richard Andrews, et al. Eds. 2012.
“‘I’m not Always Laughing at the Jokes’: Humor as a Force for Disruption” With Julie Faulkner. In Disrupting Pedagogies and Teaching the Knowledge Society: Countering Conservative Norms with Creative Approaches. Julie Faulkner, Ed. IGI Global.2011.
“Riding Critical and Cultural Boundaries: A Multiliteracies Approach to Television Sitcoms” 2009. with Julie Faulkner. In Multiliteracies and Technology Enhanced Education: Social Practice and the Global Classroom. Darren Pullen and David Cole, Eds. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. 71-82.
“Inspired Artists and Office Drones: Taking Literacy Narratives to the Movies” In Using Popular Culture in the Writing Classroom. Allison Smith, Trixie Smith, and Rebecca Bobbitt, Eds. Wadsworth. 2008. 81-90.
“Foreword” Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Cynthia Selfe, Ed. Hampton Press 2007.
“Introduction: Literacy, Power and the Shaping of Identity. In Identity Papers: Literacy and Power in Higher Education. Bronwyn T. Williams, Ed. Utah State University Press. 2006. 1-13.
“The Book and the Truth: Faith, Rhetoric, and Teaching Across Cultures.” Negotiating Roles of Faith in Teaching Writing. Elizabeth VanderLei and Bonnie Kyburz, Ed. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook. 2005. 105-120.
“Changing Directions: Participatory Research, Agency, and Representation” with Mary Brydon-Miller. Ethnography Unbound: From Theory Shock to Critical Praxis. Sidney Dobrin and Stephen Brown, Eds. Albany, NY: State U of New York Press. 2004. 241-257.
“Where Should We Want to Go Today? Some Cultural Implications of Computers and Composition.” TnT: Texts and Technology. Janice R. Walker and Ollie O. Oviedo, Eds. Hampton Press. 2003. 241-270.
Works in Press
Other Publications
“‘Tomorrow Will Not Be Like Today’ Literacy and Identity in a World of Multiliteracies.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 51.8 2008 682-686.
“Around the Block, Around the World: Teaching Literacy Across Cultures” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 51.6 2008. 510-514.
“Trust, Betrayal, and Authorship: Plagiarism and How We Perceive Students” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 51.4 2007 350-354.
“Why Johnny Can Never, Ever Read: The Perpetual Literacy Crisis and Student Identity.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 51.2 2007. 148-153.
“Action Heroes and Literate Sidekicks: Literacy and Identity in Popular Culture.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 50.8 2007. 680-685.
“I’m Ready for My Close Up Now: Electronic Portfolios and How We Read Identity” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 50.6 2007. 500-505.
“Girl Power in a Digital World: Considering the Complexity of Gender, Literacy, and Technology” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 50.4 2006. 300-309.
“Metamorphosis Hurts: Resistant Students and Myths of Transformation.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 50.2 2006. 148-153.
“Pay Attention To The Man Behind the Curtain: The Importance of Identity in Academic Writing.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. 49.8 2006. 710–715.
“Another Opening, Another Show: Performing Teaching Identities In Literacy Classrooms” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 49.6 2006. 536–540
“Home and Away: The Tensions of Community, Literacy, and Identity.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 49.4 2005. 342-347
“Standardized Students: The Problems With Writing for Tests Instead of People.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 49.2 2005.152-158.
“Leading Double Lives: Literacy and Technology In and Out of School” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 48,8 (2005)
“Taken on Faith: Religion and Identity in Writing Classes.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 48.6 (2005). 514-521.
“Are We Having Fun Yet? Students, Social Class, and the Pleasures of Literacy” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 48.4 (2004). 338-345.
“The Truth in the Tale: Race and “Counterstorytelling” in the Classroom” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 48.2 (2004). 164-179.
“A Puzzle to the Rest of Us”: Who is a “Reader” Anyway?” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 47.8 (2004). 686-689.
“Boys Will Be Boys: But Do They Have to Write That Way?” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 47.6 (2004). 510-51.
“Heroes, Rebels, and Victims: Student Identities in Literacy Narratives” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 47.4 2003. 342-345.
“The Face in the Mirror, The Person on the Page.” Literacy and Identity Column. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 47.2 2003. 178-1
Invited Presentations – Past 10 Years
“Ripple Effects International: Exploring Experiences of Climate Change and Culture Through Multimodal Literacies.” University of Manitoba. Canada. July 9, 2025.
“The Role of Affect, Emotion, and Memory in Rethinking Student Writing Practices and Identities.” Durham University, United Kingdom. June 11, 2025.
“No Time Like the Present: The Influences of Temporal Experiences on Writing Processes and Identities” Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Iran. January 9, 2025.
“Learning in Times of Disruption: Affect, Memory, and Student Narratives in a Precarious World” Finland/Estonia Conference on Communication Skills. Keynote. Tallinn University of Technology. November 28, 2024. (Online)
“Finding the Global in the Local in Sustainability Education: Exploring Multimodal, Interdisciplinary Approaches Across Cultures.” Open University. United Kingdom. July 17, 2024.
“Disruptions of Learning and Students’ Evolving Relationships with Place, Technology, and School.” Lancaster University, United Kingdom. July 8, 2024.
“No Time Like the Present: The Experiences of Student Writers During the Pandemic.” Norweigian Forum for English for Academic Purposes Conference. Plenary. Oslo Metropolitan University. June 15, 2023. Oslo, Norway.
“Sustainability Education Across Cultures: Exploring Local-Global Experiences Through Multimodal, Interdisciplinary Partnerships.” Oslo University, June 14, 2023. Oslo, Norway.
“Unsettling Student Identities: Affect, Memory, and Place During the Pandemic” Southeastern Writing Center Association Kentucky. Lexington, KY, April 14 2023
“Global Climate Change Education Initiative.” Lancaster University. Lancaster, United Kingdom. June 24, 2022.
“Unsettling Student Identities: Affect, Memory, and Student Narratives During the Pandemic,” University of Bristol. Bristol, United Kingdom. June, 1, 2022.
“Learning Through the Pandemic and Responding to Students’ Changing Experiences of Education.” Action Research, Action Learning Conference. De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. May, 23, 2022.
“Literacy, the Pandemic, and Students’ Perceptions of Agency.” 4th De La Salle-Araneta University International Multidisciplinary Research Conference (7th DLSAU Research Congress) De La Salle-Araneta University, Philippines. February 12, 2022.
“Basements, Bedrooms, and Car Parks:The Physical and Emotional Spaces of Writing During a Pandemic.” University of Bristol. Bristol, United Kingdom. June, 1, 2022.
“Constructing Literate Identities: Genre, Response, and Student Writers’ Perceptions of Agency.” Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Iran. May 8, 2021.
“More Than Just Comments: Teacher Response, Emotion, and the Shaping of Student Perceptions of Agency.” University of Sydney, Australia. June 3, 2019.
“Sharing Your Knowledge with the World: Writing About Research.” Keynote Address. 6th National Student Research Conference. May 21, 2019. Puerto Princesa City, Philippines.
“Research and Writing with Light and Sound: Using Multimodal Methods to Engage in and Report About Classroom Research.” International Conference on Action Research, Action Learning. De La Salle University. Manila, Philippines. May 16, 2019
“Emotion, Memory, and Writing Response: How Experiences of Writing Shape Perceptions of Agency. University of New Hampshire. Durham, NH. November 5, 2018.
“Composing Identities: How Experiences of Writing Shape Perceptions of Agency.” Towson University. Baltimore, MD. Sept. 21, 2018.
“Moving from Action to the Page Writing’s Role in Participatory Action Research.” International Conference on Action Research, Action Learning. De La Salle University. Manila, Philippines. May 25, 2018
“Constructing Literate Identities: Genre, Response, and Student Writers’ Perceptions of Agency.” Centre for Academic Writing. Coventry University, United Kingdom. June 14, 2017.
“Composing Identities: How Experiences of Writing Shape Perceptions of Agency.” Rochester Institute of Technology. Nov. 1, 2016.
“Strategies for Organizing, Writing and Surviving – a Large-Scale Project.” Lancaster University, United Kingdom. May 18, 2015.
“Memory, Narrative, and the Construction of Literate Identities.” Lancaster University, United Kingdom. May 19, 2015.
“Research Ethics in the Digital University: Challenges and Opportunities” Society for Research in Higher Education. University College London, United Kingdom. April 17, 2015.
“Relationships, Technology, and Patterns of Agency: How Emotion and Institutional Identities Influence Literacy Practices.” University of Bristol. United Kingdom. February 24, 2015.
Grants
Spencer Foundation Grant. “Global Climate Change Education Initiative: An International Conference to Develop Strategies to Deepen Student Learning and Engagement” 2019-20
Fulbright Research Fellowship. University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. January-July 2013.
Project Completion Grant, University of Louisville 2006-2007.
“A Multidisciplinary Literacy Approach to Closing the Achievement Gap for Urban Middle School Students.” (Co-Authors, Ann Larson, Linda Irwin-Devitas, Ellen McIntyre, and Brenda Overturf). Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. 2003-2004. $254,000.
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend. “Literacy, Popular Culture, and the Middle School Classroom.” 2002.
Project Completion Grant, University of Louisville 2001-2002.
Professional Positions
Endowed Chair in Rhetoric and Composition, University of Louisville. (2022- present)
Professor of English, Department of English, University of Louisville. (2009-present)
Visiting Professor (Short-term). Pavlodar State University, Pavlodar, Kazakhstan. (Fall 2014).
Associate Professor of English, Department of English, University of Louisville (2004-09)
Assistant Professor of English, Department of English, University of Louisville (2000-04)
Assistant Professor of Writing/Communication, New England College, Arundel, West Sussex, United Kingdom (1995-96)
Teaching Assistant, English Department, University of New Hampshire. (1988-89 and 1996-99).
Instructor, English Department, University of New Hampshire. (1990-94).
Dissertations Directed
Gottbrath, Jessica. “Affective Teacher Tok: A Sociomaterial Analysis of Teachers’ Digital Literacy Practices on Social Media.” 2025
Harmeling, Kendyl. “Coalitional Belonging as Praxis: First-Year Writing and Student Community Creation in the Post-DEI University.” 2025
Blair, Morgan. “Faculty and ‘Teams’: Academic Literacies in the Post-Lockdown, Digital University. 2024.
Adepoju, Olalekan. “Difference in/at the Center: A Transnational Approach for Mobilizing International Multilingual Graduate Writers’ Writing Assets During Writing Instruction.” 2023.
Warner Cox, Aubrie. ““Long live ear X-tacy!”: An Oral History Study of Rhetorics of Nostalgia and Place.” 2023
Kilbourne, Susannah. “Author(iz)ing Literacy: A Rhetorical/Historical Analysis of Literacy for College Readiness in Kentucky from KERA to the Common Core and Beyond.” 2023.
Newman, Jessica. The Space Between: Listening Within Difference in Writing Center Consultations.2021
English, Edward. 2021. Imagination in Practice: Writing Studies and the Application of Hospitality. 2021.
Marciniak, Jennifer. 2019. Brokering Words and Work: Complexities of Literacy Sponsorship in the Oilfields of South Texas. 2019.
Nichols, Amy McCleese. 2019. Mapping Rural Literacy Sponsorship Networks: Literacy Infrastructures and Perceptions in Abbyville.
Gordon, Layne Porta. 2019. Learning and Laboring: Student-Workers’ Networked Experiences of Literacy, Agency, and Mobility in the Neo-Liberal University.
Kumari, Ashanka. 2019. Remaking Identities, Reworking Graduate Study: Stories from First-Generation to College Rhetoric and Composition Ph.D. Students on Navigating the Doctorate”
Udelson, Jon. 2019. “Character Arcs: Mapping Creative Writers’ Trajectories into the Composition lcassroom.”
Matravers, Laura. 2018. A Fractured Conversation: The Professional, Scholarly, and Disciplinary Identities of Two-Year College Writing Faculty
Ludewig, Ashley. 2017. The Military Meets the University: Mapping Issues of Literacy Sponsorship Across Military and Academic Settings.
Hancock, Meghan. 2017. New Genres and New Challenges: Five Interdisciplinary Case Studies of Master’s Student Writers.
Winck, Jessica. 2016. Amused Teachers and Public Readers: Empathy and Derision in ‘Student Blooper’ Collections.
Weaver, Stephanie. 2016. The Available Means of Imagination.
Perry, Kathryn. 2016. Stories of Single Mothers: Narrating the Sociomaterial Mechanisms of Community Literacy.
Kelley, Brittany. 2015. To My Betas, Endless Chocolate Frogs!: Exploring the Intersections of Emotion, the Body, and Literacy in Online Fanfiction.
Ashly Bender Smith. 2015. A Few Good Men and Women: The Rhetorical Constitution of Military Personnel Identity.
Wright, Hollye. 2015. Hidden Sites of ‘First-Year’ Composition: What Do We Mean When We say ‘AP’? The Diversity of Practices in AP Englilsh Language and Composition.
Wiles, Matthew. 2014. Prompting Discussion: Writing Prompts, Habits of Mind, and the Shape of the Writing Classroom.
Nordquist, Brice. 2014. Composing College and Career: Mobility, Complexity and Agency at the Nexus of High School, College and Work.
Howard, Shannon: 2014 “My Watch Begins”: Identification and Procedural Rhetoric on Second Screens and Social Networks.
Wilkinson, Caroline. 2014. Competing Conceptions of Literacy: Intersections in a Dual Credit Writing Program.
Detmering, Laura. 2013. Literacy and Identity in Popular and Participatory Culture.
Leake, Eric. 2011. In Another’s Words: On the Promises and Paradoxes of Rhetorics of Empathy.
Romesburg, James. 2011. Retrograde Movements and the Educational Encounter: Working-Class Adults in First-Year Composition.
Coaplen-Anderson, Carrie. 2009. How Katrina Survivors Write Home: Writing, Identity, and Place.
Keller, Dan 2007. Literacies in Transition: The Reading Practices of Entering College Students.
Nichols, Dana. 2006. Democratizing Diversity: Race, Rhetoric, and Conflict in the University.
Pandey, Iswari. 2006. Imagined Nations, Re-Imagined Roles: Literacy Practices of South Asian Immigrants,
Thoune, Darci. 2006. Act Your Age: Age, Gender, and Instructor Identity in the Composition Classroom,
Carpenter, Richard. 2005. You and I/Me and Not-Me: Romantic Love and the Relational Self (A Literacy Study).
Crane, Mark. 2005. Social Literacies in the Networked Classroom.
Grady, Kelli. 2005. ESL Students and the Complex Practices of Cultural Positioning,
Hess, Mickey. 2005. From Bricks to Billboards: Race, Rhetoric, and the Hip-hop Career,
Schweitzer, Leah. 2004. Writing in the Crossoads: Examining First-Year Composition and Creative Writing,
Administration
Director, University Writing Center (2011-2023
Director of Composition, 2004-2009
Bronwyn T. Williams 