Nicole Ashanti McFarlane, PhD
Rhetorics, Communication, & Information Design
Strode 205
Clemson, SC 29631
mcfarl2@clemson.edu
circuitouslycute.wordpress.com
980.219.3508
Education
• PhD Clemson University. Rhetorics, Communication & Information Design. (May 2012)
Dissertation: “The Racial Rhetoric of Cuteness as Decorative Decorum”
Cynthia Haynes, chair (English)
Victor J. Vitanza, co-chair (English)
Stephanie Barczewski, third reader (History)
Martha Skinner, fourth reader (Architecture)
Keith Gilyard, outside consultant (English)
• MA North Carolina A&T State University. English & African American Literature. (2004)
Thesis: “Black Gay Masculinity as Literary Device in Contemporary Poetry”
Gregory Meyerson, chair (English)
Michele Levy, co-chair (English)
Myra Shird, third reader (Speech Communication)
A. Van Jordan, outside consultant (Creative Writing, Poetry)
• BA University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Political Science. (2002)
Research Interests
African American Rhetorics, Visual Rhetorics of Race and Gender; Civic Rhetorics and Digital Culture;
Multimodal Composition and Writing Pedagogy; Critical and Cultural Theory
Teaching Experience
Fall 2008 - Summer 2010
Clemson University. Graduate Teacher of Record
• Accelerated Composition/English 103
• Introduction to Human Communication/Communication Studies L201
• Technical Communication/English 314
Fall 2005 - Summer 2008
Guilford College. Visiting Instructor of English
• College Reading and Writing: Many Voices/English 102
• Historical Perspectives: Understanding AIDS/English 151
• Adult Transitions/General Studies 101
Spring 2004 - Summer 2005
North Carolina A&T State University. Graduate Teaching Assistant and Adjunct Instructor
McFarlane CV 1
• First-Year Composition/English 100
• First-Year Composition/English 100 (Higher Learning Institute)
Writing Center Administration Experience
2011 - present
Clemson University. Assistant Director Writing Center
• Publicize the Writing Center through regular outreach efforts across the University
• Direct an instructional materials revision and redesign project
• Organize and maintain tutor work schedules
• Pilot multimodal tutoring assessments
• Assist the Director in writing grant proposals, planning and facilitating regular staff meetings, and
training and observing tutors
• Support the relocation and structural establishment of the “Art Young Writing Center” to the Class
of 1956 Academic Success Center
2010 - 2011
Clemson University. Graduate Writing Center Coordinator
• Initiate a Writing Center assessment project for expansion into the Academic Success Center
• Present Writing Center usage data to University committees
• Digitize the international student English aptitude test
• Research and help select the Writing Center tracking system software
• Host information sessions and workshops for students and instructors
• Facilitate weekly pedagogical & professional training meetings
• Handle maintenance and technical issues – IT, printers, ink cartridges, office supplies, furniture
surplus and removal
• Renovate the Writing Center and create a more efficient and welcoming space
• Manage the checkout/check-in of digital projectors and audio/visual equipment
• Introduce an online tutoring chat system
• Launch a Writing Center Facebook group
• Monitor and maintain online appointment scheduler
• Develop the Writing Center’s University webpage
Writing Program Administration Experience
2005 - 2008
Guilford College. Writing Program Faculty Committee
• Collaborate in the design and implementation of curriculum assessments and placement
• Devise and update multicultural course outcomes for first-year composition program
• Develop learning outcomes writing for intensive curriculum
2003 - 2005
NC A&T State University. Graduate Assistant
• Assist the English Department secretary in daily office administration
• Assist the Writing Program Director of first-year composition
• Coordinate the Higher Learning Institute for the Office of Summer Sessions
Presentations
• “Black Atlantic Oceans and Ontologies: Spatial Assemblages and Race” Rhetoric Society of America.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Upcoming May 2012
McFarlane CV 2
• “Remembered, Mystified, Forgotten: The Rhetoric of ‘Racial Regality’ in the Great Kings and Queens
of Africa Posters.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Atlanta, Georgia. April
2011
• “The Visuality of Race in Multimodal Composition Pedagogy,” and American Institutional
Campaigns.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. RNF. Louisville, Kentucky.
March 2010
• “Hearing the Same Stuff, Listening in a New Way: Contexts and Practices for Renewing Student and
Teacher Engagement in First Year Composition.” National Council of Teachers of English. San
Antonio, Texas. November 2008
• “Ideology and Black Masculinity: The Political Economy of the Down Low Discourse” and “Black
Motherhood and Competing Nationalisms in Margaret Walker’s Jubilee.” (dis)Junctions: Twelfth
Annual Humanities Conference. University of California - Riverside. April 2005
• “Exploring, Discovering, Becoming: Beyond Multiculturalism and Diversity at the Historically Black
College/University (HBCU): Anti-Racist, Anti-Sexist, and Non-Phobic Pedagogies in the HBCU
First-Year Writing Classroom.” National Council of Teachers of English. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
November 2005
• “Redefining the ‘Historically Black’ of the Historically Black College/University: Graduate Studies
and the Culture Wars in the African American South.” Modern Language Association. Washington,
DC. December 2005
Publications
• “African American Rhetorics 2.0 or Black in Three Dimensions: Epistemologies and Ontologies of
Race.” Review of Keepin’ It Hushed: The Barbershop and African American Hush Harbor Rhetoric by Vorris
Nunley and Digital Griots: African America Rhetoric in a Multimedia Age by Adam Banks for Enculturation:
A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture. Forthcoming
• “Carl Owens: Biographical Entry.” African American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2008
Awards & Honors
• Visiting Scholars Award. European Graduate School Summer Study. Saas Fee, Switzerland. 2011
Art, Community, and Freedom (Jean-Luc Nancy)
Deleuze: Science and History (Manuel DeLanda)
Derrida: Hospitality and Cosmopolitanism (Diane Davis)
Justice in Language (Werner Hamacher)
Literary Cinema: The Transformation of Thought (Volker Schlöndorff)
Lyotard: Hesitating Thought (Victor Vitanza)
• Graduate Student Scholarship. International Writing Center Association Summer Institute. Lone
Wolf, Oklahoma. 2010
Philosophies, Missions, and Theories of Writing Centers (Ben Rafoth)
Tutoring Pedagogy and Education (Michele Eodice)
Writing Center Assessments (Lori Salem)
Writing Across Cultures (Nathalie Singh-Corcoran and Karen Rowan)
McFarlane CV 3
• Graduate Student Scholarship. Rhetoric Society of America Summer Institute. State College,
Pennsylvania. 2009
Visual Rhetoric Seminar (John Lucaites and Robert Hariman)
Race Rhetoric Workshop (Keith Gilyard)
• Ford Predoctoral Fellowship. Honorable Mention Award. 2008
• University of Guadalajara Faculty Development Award. Guilford College. 2007
• Kenan Faculty Development Grant. Guilford College. 2007
• College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Graduate Student Award. North Carolina A&T State
University. 2005
• College of Arts and Sciences Summa Cum Laude. North Carolina A&T State University. 2004
• Hewlett-Packard Scholars Award. North Carolina A&T State University. 2004
• Woodland Hall Graduate Assistantship Award. North Carolina A&T State University. 2003
• Ronald McNair Research-Writing Internship Best Overall Scholar Award. UNC - Charlotte. 2000
Professional Appointments & Service
2011 - present
• Carolina Rhetoric Conference Funding Committee (2011-2012 RSA Graduate Student
Special Event Award)
• Academic Integrity Committee, Graduate Student Government Senate
• Graduate Council
2010 - 2011
• Writing Center Faculty Ad Hoc Committee
• Writing Center Faculty Ad Hoc Furnishing Subcommittee
• Rhetoric Society of America Chapter Coordinator
• Body Colloquium Coordinating Chair
2009 - 2010
• Freshman Summer Reading Facilitator
2008 - 2009
• Carolina Rhetoric Conference Submission Review Committee
2006 - 2007
• Guilford Community AIDS Project Grant Proposal Review Committee
• Guilford College Anti-Racism Team
• Judge the Guilford Student Writing Contest in creative nonfiction category
2003 - 2004
• North Carolina A&T State University Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society, Chapter President
• North Carolina A&T State University Ronald McNair Research Program, Graduate Advisor
McFarlane CV 4
Courses Taken
Fall 2008
• RCID 801 Histories of Rhetorics (Victor Vitanza)
• RCID 804 Visual Rhetorics (Christina Hung)
• RCID 805 Rhetorics of Communication and Information Technology (Cynthia Haynes)
Spring 2009
• RCID 802 Cultural Research Methods (Victor Vitanza)
• RCID 803 Empirical Research Methods (Tharon Howard)
• RCID 813 Special Topics: Topias and the Rhetorics of Science Fiction (Elysa Sparks)
Fall 2009
• RCID 811 Perspectives in Information Design (Sean Williams)
• RCID 812 Critical Issues in Mechanical Reproduction (Cynthia Haynes)
• RCID 813 Special Topics: Roland Barthes, Photography, and Cinema (Victor Vitanza)
Spring 2010
• RCID 813 Special Topics: Late Martin Heidegger (Jeff Love)
• RCID 880 Applied Research Communication Studio I (Victor Vitanza)
• RCID 880 Applied Research Communication Studio II (Steven Katz)
Organizational Memberships
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College Language Association
Conference on College Composition and Communication
International Writing Center Association
Kenneth Burke Society
Modern Language Association
National Council of Teachers of English
Rhetoric Society of America
McFarlane CV 5