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
National Research Awards
Article of the Year Award
Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology, 2012
Awarded for “Dis-ease or Disease: Ontological Rarefaction in the Medical-Industrial Complex.”
Best Article on Philosophy or Theory of Technical or Scientific Communication
National Council of Teachers of English, 2010
Awarded for “Agency and the Rhetoric of Medicine: Biomedical Bran Scans and the Ontology of Fibromyalgia.”
Nell Ann Pickett Award for Best Article in Technical Communication Quarterly
Association for Teachers of Technical Writing, 2009
Awarded for “Agency and the Rhetoric of Medicine: Biomedical Bran Scans and the Ontology of Fibromyalgia.”
Selected Publications
Teston, C.B., Graham, S.S., Baldwinson, R., Li, A., & Swift, J. (forthcoming). Ontological multiplicity: negotiating “clinical benefit” in the FDA’s Avastin Hearing. Journal of Medical Humanities.
Teston, C.B. & Graham, S.S. (forthcoming). Stasis theory and meaningful public participation in pharmaceutical policy-making. Present Tense: A Journal of Rhetoric in Society.
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.
Invited Presentations
Graham, S.S. (2012) Rhetorics of Pain: Agency and Ontology in the Medical-Industrial Complex. Green College Science and Society Lecture Series. Science and Technology Studies Program. University of British Columbia. Vancouver, BC.
Graham, S.S. (2012). Neuroimaging and the Reality of Fibromyalgia: A Study in Disease Discourse. National Core for Neuroethics. University of British Columbia Hospital. Vancouver, BC.
Selected Conference Presentations
Graham, S.S. (2012). An Ontological History of Pain Medicine. Rhetoric Society of America. Philadelphia, PA.
Graham, S.S. & Teston, C. (2012). Public Participation and Federal Pharmaceuticals Policy: The Invalidation of Breast Cancer Survivor Testimony in the FDA Avastin Hearings, 2011. Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology. Philadelphia, PA.
Graham, S.S. (2011). Rhetoric of science and interdisciplinarity: A citation analysis. Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology. New Orleans, LA.
Wilson, G. & Graham, S.S. (2011). Incentivizing interdisciplinarity: Understanding how scientists evaluate research opportunities. National Communication Association. New Orleans, LA.
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.
Research In Progress
Graham, S.S.(Book manuscript). Agencies & Ontologies.
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.
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
Selected Courses
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.