Bronwyn Williams
Biography
I’m a Professor of English and Endowed Chair of Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Louisville where I write and teach about issues of literacy, identity, sustainability, digital media, popular culture, and community writing. My recurring research interests have been to explore how people engage in and experience writing and reading through their daily lives and in the literacy practices they encounter in schools and universities.
My recent research has focused on how the disruptions of our times affect student writing and learning. I'm exploring how disruptions, such as the pandemic or climate change or political upheavals, affect students’ experiences and relationships with writing, place, technology, teachers, time, and school itself. My most recent book, Literacies in Times of Disruption: Living and Learning During a Pandemic (Routledge Press) shows the impact on students’ of deep disruptions and uncertainty in the world and their lives and the memories and narratives constructed from those experiences. The book traces the voices of a diverse group of university students, from first-year to doctoral students, over the first two years of the pandemic and how their experiences, and the adaptations they made to these disruptions have wide-ranging impacts on their relationships with learning and writing.
I am also involved in global climate change education projects. I am exploring how multimodal literacy practices help people make meaning of, and communicate about, issues of climate change and sustanability. I am the co-creator of a collaborative, global climate change education and writing project called Ripple Effects International. Ripple Effects International is a cross-cultural initiative that uses photography and writing about water to engage people in focusing on and learning about the natural world, understanding the global and local effects of climate change, and connecting to and developing empathy with others. You can find more about the project and how to take part here. I am also working on a book project about how multimodal approaches to writing and reading offer particularly effective and nuanced approaches to creating meaning and communicating ideas across cultures in a world-wide culture of climate change.
My other books have covered issues literacy, identity, perceptions of agency, digital media, and popular culture. In addition, I have engaged in projects that include work on community writing and writing center research. I also write creative nonfiction, both as an approach to my scholarly writing and as essays on other subjects. My interest in cross-cultural communication and identity has also taken me to a number of different countries for teaching and research, including the United Kingdom, the Philippines, and Kazakhstan.
I have had a broad range of teaching experiences in composition and rhetoric, writing center studies, literature, creative writing, and popular culture. Further materials and information can be found on my website: https://bronwyntwilliams.com/
Research Interests
Literacy and Identity
Community Writing
Sustainability and Climate Change Education
Digital Media, Popular Culture, and Literacy
Writing Pedagogy
Cross-Cultural Communication
Writing Center Studies
Degrees and Certifications
University of New Hampshire