Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor of Technical and Professional Writing | 2012-
Department of English | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Milwaukee, WI
Assistant Professor (LTA) of Rhetorical Theory and History | 2011-2012
Department of English | University of British Columbia | Vancouver, BC
Lecturer in Rhetoric and Communication | 2010-2011
Department of English | Iowa State University | Ames, IA
Teaching Assistant in Rhetoric and Communication (Instructor of Record) | 2005-2010
Department of English | Iowa State University | Ames, IA
Adjunct Instructor | 2007
Department of English | Grandview College | Des Moines, IA
Education
PhD, Rhetoric and Professional Communication | 2010
- Iowa State University | Ames, IA
- Dissertation: Rhetorics of Pain: Agency and Regulation in the Medical-Industrial Complex
- Dissertation Advisor: Carl G. Herndl
MA, Rhetoric, Composition, and Professional Communication | 2006
- Iowa State University | Ames, IA
- Thesis: Towards a Dialogic Theory of New Media Literacy
- Thesis Advisor: Michael Mendelson
BA, Philosophy | 2003
- Eckerd College | St Petersburg, FL
Publications
Graham, S.S. & Herndl, C.G. (Forthcoming). Multiple ontologies and the rhetoric of pain: Towards a post-plural rhetoric of science. Technical Communication Quarterly.
Graham, S.S. (2011). Dis-ease or disease? Ontological rarefaction in the medical-industrial complex. Journal of Medical Humanities. DOI 10.1007/s10912-011-9137-5
Graham, S.S. & Herndl, C.G. (2011). Talking off-label: A nonmodern science of pain in the medical-industrial complex. Rhetoric Society Quarterly,42(2), 145-167.
Herndl, C.G., Goodwin, J., Honeycutt, L., Wilson, G., Graham, S.S., & Niedergeses, D. (2011). Talking sustainability: Identification and division in an Iowa community. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 35(4), 436-461.
Graham, S.S. (2009). Agency and the rhetoric of medicine: Biomedical brain scans and the ontology of fibromyalgia. Technical Communication Quarterly, 18(4), 376-404.
- NCTE Award for Best Article on Philosophy or Theory of Technical or Scientific Communication, 2010
- Nell Ann Pickett Award for Best Article in TCQ, 2009
Graham, S.S. & Whalen, B. (2008). Mode, medium, and genre: A case study in new media design decisions. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 22(1), 65-91.
Grahams, S.S. (2008). Book review: Rhetoric and Incommensurability edited by Randy Allen Harris. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 38(2), 229-233.
Conference Presentations
Graham, S.S. (2011). Multiple ontologies and rhetorics of health and biomedicine. Association of Teachers of Technical Writing. Atlanta, Ga.
Graham, S.S. (2011). Understanding the mechanisms of network formation or, What rhetoric can do for actor-network theory. Conference on College Composition and Communication. Atlanta, GA.
Graham, S.S. (2010). Thick theory and the return of the real: Ontology, materiality, and the rhetoric of science. National Communication Association. San Francisco, CA. Association for the Rhetoric of Science & Technology Best Student Papers Panel.
Graham, S.S. (2010). Interdisciplinary communication in pain medicine: The case-study as integrative exigency. National Communication Association. San Francisco, CA.
Graham, S.S. (2010) The fictions we write: Historiography and rhetorics of science. Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology. Minneapolis, MN.
Graham, S.S. (2009). From dis-ease to disease: Ontological rarefaction in the medical-industrial complex. Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology. Chicago, IL.
Graham, S.S. (2009). Rhetoric of technoscience: Theoretical foundations and methodological approaches. Conference on College Composition and Communication. San Francisco, CA.
Graham, S.S. (2009). Agency and the rhetoric of medicine: Neuroimaging and the ontology of fibromyalgia. Association for Teachers of Technical Writing. San Francisco, CA.
Graham, S.S. & Niedergeses, D.M. (2008). The rhetoric of √-1: The discourse of imaginary numbers and the rhetoric of mathematics. National Communications Association. San Diego, CA.
Graham, S.S. & Herndl, C.G. (2008). Negotiating pain: Managing pain and managing the different discourses of pain management. Rhetoric Society of America. Seattle, WA.
Warnick, Q.W. & Graham, S.S. (2007). Typogracy: Seven essential principles of typographic literacy. Poster Presentation. Association for Business Communication. Washington DC.
Graham, S.S. (2007). Agency and the steam-engine: 19th century human boundary objects and 21st century wiki-clusters. Canadian Association for Teachers of Technical Writing. Saskatoon, SK.
Graham, S.S. (2006). A pedagogy of dissonance: Social networking sites as models of multimodal dialogism. Great Plains Alliance for Computers and Writing. Mankato, MN. (Review).
Graham, S.S. (2006). The rhetoric of discovery: The abductive inference and the kairos of paradigm shifts. Canadian Association for Teachers of Technical Writing. Toronto, ON.
Graham, S.S. (2006). Genre, medium, & mode: Web design & flash gaming. Association for Teachers of Technical Writing. Chicago, IL.
Research In Progress
Graham, S.S.(Book manuscript). Pain Science & Public Policy: Agency, Ontologies and the Medical-Industrial Complex.
Herndl, C.G., Wilson, G., & Graham, S.S. (Edited collection manuscript). Contemporary Issues in Rhetoric of Science.
Graham, S.S., & Teston, C. Persuasive strategies in cancer care and continuing medical education. Ongoing Research Project.
Courses Taught
Rhetorical Methods for the Study of Science and Medicine
Graduate-level directed reading in neosophistic and neoclassical approaches to the study of science, technology, and medicine. Specific units include rhetoric-as-epistemic/social-construction, genre analysis of the scientific article, stasis theory and science-policy, etc.
Rhetorics of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Seminar in theory of and analytic approaches to rhetorics of science, technology, and medicine. Specific topics include rhetorical strategies in scientific communication, incommensurability studies, the science-policy interface, and critical/cultural dimensions of science, technology, and medicine.
History of Rhetorical Theory I: Classical Rhetoric
Seminar in history of rhetoric and its contemporary uses. Includes specific focus on Gorgias, Protagoras, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Quintilian.
Seminar in Argumentation
Advanced seminar in theory and analysis with extensive practice in various modes of
argument.
Seminar in Critical Theory
Introduces students to basics of critical theory. Specific units include semiotics, deconstruction, poststructuralist theory, feminist theory, ideology theory, and posthumanist theory.
Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
Introduces students to the basics of rhetorical analysis and criticism. Specific units include neo-classical criticism, genre analysis, new media analysis, and critical/cultural analysis.
Biological Communications
Teaches students the fundamentals of biological communications with specific emphasis on academic and medical contexts. Genres include lab reports, research reports, poster presentations, press releases, visual/data communications, and oral presentations. Exploration of social, political, and ethical issues in biological communications.
Technical Communication
Teaches students the fundamentals of professional communication in scientific and engineering contexts. Genres include lab reports, research reports, poster presentations, press releases, visual/data communications, instructions, and oral presentations. Exploration of social, political, and ethical issues in scientific and technical communication.
Business Communication
Teaches students the fundamentals of professional communication in corporate contexts. Genres include memos, reports, proposals, resumes and cover letters. Exploration of social, political, and ethical issues in corporate contexts.
Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic Communication
Expands on second-year students’ developing skills with written, oral, visual, and electronic communication. Special emphasis on academic contexts and preparation for upper division discipline-specific study. Includes instruction in basic rhetorical theory and critical thinking skills.
English, Communications, and Critical Thinking
Introduces first-year students to the basics of academic communications. Includes specific instruction in written, oral, visual, and electronic genres. Includes instruction in basic rhetorical theory and critical thinking skills.
Awards and Honors
Best Article on Philosophy or Theory of Technical or Scientific Communication, National Council of Teachers of English | 2010
Research Excellence Award | Iowa State University | 2010
Best Student Papers Panel Selectee | Association for the Rhetoric of Science & Technology | National Communications Association | 2010
Nell Ann Pickett Award for Best Article Published in Technical Communication Quarterly | ATTW | 2009
W. Paul Jones Scholarship for Scholarly Writing | Iowa State University | 2008
Critical Writing Award | Iowa State University | 2008
Debating Science Scholarship | U of Montana Center for Ethics/NSF Graduate Education Workshop | Aug 2007
Freda Hunke Fellowship for Pedagogical Development | Iowa State University | 2006-2007
Aubrey Galyon Award for Academic Excellence | Iowa State University | 2006
Richard R. Wright Award for Expository Writing | Iowa State University | 2006
$20,000 Award in Writing Excellence | Eckerd College | 1999-2003