Dr. Bruce McComiskey, Director

Bruce McComiskey is Professor of Rhetoric and Writing in the English department. He specializes in ancient and modern rhetorics, composition theory and history, and the discipline of English studies, always paying close attention to the intersections among language, epistemology, and ideology.

McComiskey’s books include Rhetoric and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Penn State UP, 2021), Post-Truth Rhetoric and Composition (Utah State UP, 2017), Dialectical Rhetoric (Utah State UP, 2015), Gorgias and the New Sophistic Rhetoric (Southern Illinois UP, 2002), and Teaching Composition as a Social Process (Utah State UP, 2000). He is editor of English Studies Reimagined (NCTE, 2022), Microhistories of Composition (Utah State UP, 2016), and English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline(s) (NCTE, 2006). He is co-editor (with Cynthia Ryan) of City Comp: Identities, Spaces, Practices (SUNY Press, 2003). Some of McComiskey’s work has been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Polish.

Chloe Jade Robertson, Graduate Research Assistant

Chloe Jade Robertson is a fourth-year PhD student in the Rhetoric and Writing program at Virginia Tech. After completing her Bachelor’s Degree in English Language from Bournemouth University, Chloe worked in finance, e-commerce, and as a teacher before travelling to the United States to complete her MA in Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Wyoming. During her time at Virginia Tech, Chloe has taught Comm1 English and Technical Communication classes. She also served as the President of the English Graduate Student Organisation and Vice President of the Graduate and Professional Student Senate. Her research interests include Technical Communication, Intercultural Communication, and International Student Studies.

Temitope Ojedele, Graduate Research Assistant

Temitope Ojedele is a first-year PhD student in Rhetoric and Writing at Virginia Tech. She is a Nigerian who worked as an Academic in the Department of English, University of Lagos Nigeria, prior to her PhD program. She earned her Master’s degree in English and Literary Studies at the University of Lagos. Her research interests are in Feminist Research Methodologies, Rhetoric of Identity Construction, Popular Culture and Media, Global Anglophone literature, and Creative Writing. She is a published poet and columnist.