Charles Woods
Charles is a Ph.D. Candidate in the English Studies program at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. His dissertation is titled, Interrogating Privacy Rhetorics on Genealogy Websites. His dissertation committee is Dr. Erika M. Sparby (Chair), Dr. Angela M. Haas, and Dr. Joyce R. Walker.
Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Charles graduated with a Master's of Arts degree from the University of Montevallo, a liberal arts university, where he completed his Master's thesis, "credo quia absurdum est: Redistributed Race and the Neo-Soul Aesthetic in the Works of Percival Everett."
Upon graduation, Charles devoted himself to the two-year college system in Alabama, working for Jefferson State Community College and Lawson State Community College before holding positions at his alma mater, the University of Montevallo, and at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Charles and his wife moved to Illinois for him to continue his education at ISU. He also has experience as a freelance production assistant and as a librarian.
Current academic focus is in rhetoric, writing studies, and technical communication. More specific interests include exploring the potential rhetorical role of user actions on online genealogical databases, discussing how instructors can effectively use social media in FYC courses and other writing courses, and analyzing the different ways in which digital institutions surveil and record our lives and the lives of other users through privacy policies. Charles hosts The Big Rhetorical Podcast, which is devoted a digital space devoted to all things related to rhetoric, writing studies, and technical communication. Check out The Big Rhetorical Podcast at www.thebigrhetoricalpodcast.weebly.com.
All of his academic endeavors are taken on with the ultimate goal of developing a public, community-based social media pedagogy. You can access his personal website at www.charleswoods.weebly.com
Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Charles graduated with a Master's of Arts degree from the University of Montevallo, a liberal arts university, where he completed his Master's thesis, "credo quia absurdum est: Redistributed Race and the Neo-Soul Aesthetic in the Works of Percival Everett."
Upon graduation, Charles devoted himself to the two-year college system in Alabama, working for Jefferson State Community College and Lawson State Community College before holding positions at his alma mater, the University of Montevallo, and at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Charles and his wife moved to Illinois for him to continue his education at ISU. He also has experience as a freelance production assistant and as a librarian.
Current academic focus is in rhetoric, writing studies, and technical communication. More specific interests include exploring the potential rhetorical role of user actions on online genealogical databases, discussing how instructors can effectively use social media in FYC courses and other writing courses, and analyzing the different ways in which digital institutions surveil and record our lives and the lives of other users through privacy policies. Charles hosts The Big Rhetorical Podcast, which is devoted a digital space devoted to all things related to rhetoric, writing studies, and technical communication. Check out The Big Rhetorical Podcast at www.thebigrhetoricalpodcast.weebly.com.
All of his academic endeavors are taken on with the ultimate goal of developing a public, community-based social media pedagogy. You can access his personal website at www.charleswoods.weebly.com
"Rhetoric is a mode of altering reality, not by the direct application of energy to objects, but by the creation of discourse which changes reality through the mediation of thought and action." -Lloyd Bitzer