Ralph L. Wahlstrom
Professor of English
State University College at Buffalo
1300 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14222
(716)
878-5417
wahlstrl@buffalostate.edu
EDUCATION
Ph.D.in Rhetoric and Technical Communication, May 1996, Michigan Technological
University, Houghton, Michigan.
M.A. in English, Dec. 1981, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan.
B.A. in English with minors in French and Music, June 1978, Northern Michigan University.
Journalism certification, 1972, Defense Information School, Indianapolis, Indiana.
EXPERIENCE
May 2007- May 2013: Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York. Chair, English
Department. Professor of English: Responsible for budgets, scheduling, personnel, alumni
and all other related administrative and academic concerns.
September 1997 – present: Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York. English Department
faculty member. Teach undergraduate and graduate courses: Rhetorical Theory,
Professional and Technical Writing, Teaching and Evaluating Writing, Advanced
Composition, Creative Writing, Freshman Writing, Peer Tutoring, Humanities Capstone.
September 2000 – June 2006: Buffalo State College, Buffalo, New York. Director of
College Writing: Responsible for establishing the College Writing Program, coordinating
program activities including faculty hiring, supervision, training, and assessment; Scheduled
freshman writing courses; Developed and supervised the Writing Center and English
Computer Lab.
January 1990 - August 1997: University of Wisconsin-Superior, Superior, Wisconsin.
Director of the Office of Support Services and the Writing Center: Managed TRIO Support
Services Project, supervised staff, wrote federal and state grants, reports and budgets,
oversaw the tutoring center; Supervised Writing Center staff; advised, tutored, taught
English and writing skills. Coordinated and authored the Americans With Disabilities Act
Self-study. Completed certification in interactive distance education.
September 1996 - June 1997: University of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota. Evening
Instructor: Taught computer-intensive composition.
September 1993 - June 1994: Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan.
Composition teacher: Taught 2 computer-intensive sections per quarter of Freshman
Writing 101 and 102.
August 1985 - January 1990: Mount Senario College, Ladysmith, Wisconsin. Director of
Student Support Services and ESL: Managed Federal TRIO Project, supervised staff;
responsible for grants, reports, budgets; coordinated and authored NCA Self-Study; Taught
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developmental writing, creative writing, ESL, and reading and study skills.
January - August 1985: Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan. Instructor:
Taught composition, developmental writing, literature, and technical writing with NMU's
extension program; supervised a five-part career planning program in NMU's Marquette
Branch Prison College Program.
August 1983 - June 1984: Daqing Petroleum Institute, Anda, Heilongjiang, China. ESL
Instructor: Taught English language, composition, and technical writing to Chinese
engineers and teachers; advised students slated to study abroad.
July 1980 - August 1983: Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan. Instructor:
Taught composition, developmental English, and American and world literature.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Strategic Planning Committee
Chair, English Assessment Committee 2013-present
Personnel Committee, 2013-present
Chair, TFA Personnel Committee, Fall 2013
MSCHE Accreditation Evaluator October 2013-present; Served on accreditation visiting
team, April 2014.
Chair, Department of English, 2007 – June 2013
Co-chair Middle States Accreditation Steering Committee, 2011- 2013
Co-Chair Middle States Accreditation Working Group 4, Institutional Assessment
College Senate Intellectual Foundations Oversight Committee (SIFOC), 2011
Recruitment Committee: Vice President for Campus Equity and Diversity, 2012
Planning Committee, Anne Frank Project, 2009, 2010, 201, 2012, 2013
Anne Frank Fellow, 2012
SUNY Learning Network program for online instruction & course development, fall 2010
Writing Oversight Committee , 2010-2011
Received Diversity Award, 2008
Presented MS ACCESS introduction to Department Chairs and Coordinators, fall, 2008
Served on President’s Budget Oversight Committee 2009-2010
Participated in the Achieving Success Through Leadership Cohort, 2008-2009
Member of the Planning Committee and Facilitator, Conference on Understanding,
Cooperation and Peace, 2002-2006
Chaired the BSC Writing Oversight Committee; the Freshman Writing Committee and the
Chair Assessment Committee
Served on Arts & Humanities Budget Allocation Committee
Served on Board, International Studies
Served on Strategic Planning Task Force II: Active and Collaborative Learning
Served on English Faculty Recruitment Committee and Chair's Advisory Committee
Served on Search Committees for VP for Academic Support Services, Assistant Dean for
Intellectual Foundations, three English Tenure-track positions (2005)
Annual judge for Estelle Engle Student Writing Award 2003-2006
Annual volunteer presenter for Sister to Sister workshops, 2000-2004
Member of NCTE, AEPL, AWP
RESEARCH & PUBLICATIONS
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Dissertation: The Literacy Dilemma: The Ambivalent Futures of Literacy in America.
Presentations:
“Be Here Now: Women’s War Diaries and the Power of Intention.” The Anne Frank Project
Conference, September 11, 2009, Buffalo State College.
“The Believing Game and Writing in Flow.” Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on
Learning Conference (AEPL), August 2009, Estes Park, Colorado.
“Writing At Work.” A four-day business writing seminar for Erie County Department of
Social Services, sponsored by CDHS, January, 2009, Buffalo, NY.
“Imagining Peace through Writing: A Peace-Shedding Writing Workshop.” Conference on
Peace Education, November, 2008, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Writing Toward Peace: Using the Power of Writing to Promote Nonviolence.” Fifth
International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, July, 2007, American
University of Paris, Paris, France.
“Writing Peace: The Role of Writing in Creating an Awareness of Nonviolent
Alternatives.” Conference on Peace Education, November, 2006, McMaster University,
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
“The Tao of Writing.” Research and Creativity Day, Buffalo State College, 2005.
“Reviewing Directed Self Placement for Writing Programs.” WPA Conference, University of
Delaware, July 2004.
“Writing Peace: A United Nations Project at Buffalo State College.” April, 2004. Writing
and Institutions. 18th Annual SUNY Council on Writing Conference. Adirondack Community
College, Queensbury, NY .
"Approaching the Rhetorical Paideia: an Advanced Composition Model." Computers &
Writing, May 2002.
"Freire in the Writing Center: Fostering Transitive Consciousness Through Writing Center
Practice." National Peer Tutoring Association Conference, November, 1998.
"Writing to Learn: Promoting Effective Communication in Economics." Midwestern Writing
Centers Association, November, 1997.
"The Bell Curve: If This is the Answer, What is the Question?" CCCC, March, 1996.
"Literacy, Technology, and the Writing Classroom." National Association of Developmental
Educators Conference, February, 1995. Presented a paper, "The Dialogic InterChange: A
Comparison Between Conventional and Computer Mediated Classrooms." Conference on
Computers and Composition, May, 1994.
Professional Publications:
“Be Here Now: Young Women’s War Diaries and the Practice of Intentionality.” English
Journal: The Journal of the Secondary Section of NCTE. November 2012.
“Believing and Flow in Writing: Beyond the Game.” International Journal of Humanities and
Social Sciences. Vol. 1, No. 13, September 2011.
Writing at Work: A Writing Text and Workbook., Erie County Department of Social Services,
January, 2009
The Tao of Writing. Boston: Adams Media Publications, January 2006.
“Approaching The Paideia: an Advanced Composition Model,” Kairos, Vol. 8, No. 2, Fall 2003.
"A Gorilla in the Writing Center," The Writing Lab, April 2002.
"Teaching the Proposal in the Professional Writing Class," The Journal of Technical
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Communication, Vol. 49, No. 1, Feb. 2002. (81-88).
"Catching Our Tail: A Writer Center in Transition," in Kitchen Cooks, Plate Twirlers, and
Troubadours: Writing Administrators Tell Their Stories. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1998.
"The Bell Curve And the Future of Literacy: If This is the Answer, What is the Question?"
Enculturation : Cultural Theories and Rhetorics, Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 1997.
http://www.uta.edu/huma/enculturation/1_2/wahlstrom.html.
"Damned Foucault," Computers and Composition, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1996.
Popular Publications:
Kesh, a children’s/teen novel (Genre Fiction). Wild Child Publishing, 2013
“Black Cat” (audio fiction) In Stereo Press, March 2013.
“Immunity” Anthologized in The Flashing Type Issue #1, 2012
“Immunity,” (fiction) Free Flash Fiction, Oct. 2012.
“Kycero’s Dream,” (fiction) The Rose & Thorn, Summer 2010
“Here,” (fiction) Voices From the Herd, Buffalo Writers Anthology, 2010.
“A New Suit,” (fiction) Glossolalia, April 2009.
“Wind,” (fiction) The Café Irreal, May 2008.
“Budget Motel,” (fiction) Denver Syntax,” No. 10, Jan. 2007.
"Getting Burned," (fiction) Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Feb. 1994.
"Howie Bursen: Dancing the Banjo," (nonfiction) Frets: The Magazine for Acoustic String
Musicians, 1986.
"The Keening Woods,"(fiction) Above the Bridge. 1986.
"Ostroushko on the Prairie," (nonfiction) Frets: The Magazine for Acoustic String Musicians .
Vol. 6, No.8, Aug. 1984.
Other Writing:
Writer, Middle States Accreditation Report, spring 2013; Successful English Department
Self-Study, 2008; Successful Writing Major Program Application, 2007; Successful Proposals
through the Office of College Equity and Diversity, 2007, 2008; Auxiliary Services (writers
series), 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011; Writing Program Administrators, 2004; CDHS
2000, 2003, 2009; Research and Creativity Day 2003.
In Progress:
Technical writing minor
Textbook on writing fiction
Second YA novel
COURSES DEVELOPED
English 201: Craft of Writing (co-author)
English 245: Writing about the Arts
English 247: Nature Writing
English 266: The Personal Essay
English 307: Peer Tutoring
English 308: Peer Tutoring Practicum
English 320: Autobiography and Memoir
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English 325: Creative Nonfiction
English 410: Composition and Rhetorical Theory (co-author)
In Progress:
Introduction to Technical Writing
Writing Proposals and Grants
COURSES TAUGHT
Undergraduate Courses
BSC 101
English 101 and English 102 (Now CWP)
English 201
English 300W: Writing for the Professions (most recently online)
English 301W: Advanced Composition
English 305W: Creative Writing – narrative
English 307: Peer Tutoring
English 308: Peer Tutoring Practicum
English 309W: Teaching and Evaluating Writing
English 402W: Advanced Creative Writing – narrative
English 410: Composition and Rhetorical Theory
Humanities 490: Arts & Letters Capstone Course
Graduate Courses
English 644: Ideology and Literature
English 692: Teaching Writing
English 695: The Master’s Thesis
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