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Rhetoric, composition, and technology emphasis
Texas Tech University
2017
Dissertation Selected Coursework
Committee
Kelli Cargile Cook, chair
Susan Lang
Rebecca Rickly
Abstract
In the absence of any widespread assessment to determine how much and what kind of online writing instruction (OWI)-focused teacher preparation is being offered to graduate teaching assistants, this dissertation presents the results of an empirical, mixed-methods study that maps the field’s current research and practice and then interrogates that map to identify paths for better meeting the needs of the field’s stakeholders. The study’s first phase employs a content analysis of the professional literature and finds that research into OWI preparation is minimal and dominated by too few voices, while the second phase reports on the results of an online questionnaire focused on local OWI preparation program practice and finds that OWI preparation is only sparsely practiced nationwide. The final phase synthesizes these results and provides WPAs a heuristic for the design and evaluation of OWI preparation programs.
Creative nonfiction emphasis
Ohio University
2009
Committee
Dinty Moore, chair
Janis Holm
Nicole Reynolds
Abstract
This thesis is a collection of seven personal essays written by the author and headed by a critical introduction. The introduction presents a common theme among the essays—that they represent a “journey to the East”—and points out the function of memory in the essays and the necessity for some distance between the speaker and the protagonist in each, even though those two may in fact be the same person. Such distance, the author claims, allows valuable discoveries to be made and justifies an otherwise purely egotistical venture. The introduction also expresses the author’s desire that his essays promote empathy—between author and reader, between reader and the world, and between the reader and the reader’s self.
Minor in Korean
Brigham Young University
2007
Advisor
Patrick Madden
Abstract
This capstone project is a collection of five personal essays prefaced by a critical introduction. The introduction analyzes the nature of the essay as record of the writer’s thoughts and explorations in a given topic or memory. It points out that in an essay, as in life, the end of the journey is rarely known at the outset. Additionally, the introduction records the actual writing of this project, the difficulties and successes experienced by the writer. The essays themselves are on a variety of topics, as evidenced by the titles.
Grover, S. D. (under review). The principles, locations, and methods that guide OWI preparation for GTAs: A content analysis. Research in Online Literacy Education.
Grover, S. D., Cargile Cook, K., Skurat Harris, H., & DePew, K. E. (2017). Immersion, reflection, failure: Teaching graduate students to teach writing online. Technical Communication Quarterly, 26(3), 242–255. doi:10.1080/10572252.2017.1339524
Grover, S. D. (contributor). (2017). The Bedford bibliography of research in online writing instruction. H. Harris (Ed.). Bedford/St. Martin's.
Grover, S. D. (2008). Bridges of friendship: The Richard L. Evans Chair for Religious Understanding. The Religious Educator, 9(2), 61–72.
Grover, S. D. (2011). Mixed blessings. Euphony, 11(1), 24–32.
Grover, S. D. (2010). The missionary. Irreantum, 12(1), 93–114. Eugene England Personal Essay Contest honorable mention
Grover, S. D. (2010). Sing, dear gemini. Black and White, 3.
Grover, S. D. (2009). On trembling. Artful Dodge, 48/49. AWP Intro Journal Award winner
Grover, S. D. (2008). Second coming. JuiceBox, 2.
Grover, S. D. (2007). Name. Inscape, 26(1).
Grover, S. D. (2007). Fair exchange. Insight: BYU Honors Magazine.
Grover, S. D. (in press). The journalism continuum. In Inspiring change: Advanced writing and research, Brigham Young University–Idaho.
Madden, P. M., et al. (2007). Interview with Scott Russell Sanders. River Teeth, 9(1), 87–98.
Grover, S. D. (2019, March). Good guys, not goblins: Teaching multiple documentation styles simultaneously for greater understanding. Presentation given at the Conference on College Composition and Communication Annual Convention, Pittsburgh, PA.
Grover, S. D. (2018, June). Ethos in Cook’s Illustrated. Presentation given at the Symposium on Applied Rhetoric, Provo, UT.
Grover, S. D. (2018, March). Current event coverage report: A synthesis assignment. Presentation given at the Conference on College Composition and Communication Annual Convention, Kansas City, MO.
Grover, S. D. (2018, January). At the crossroads: How we prepare graduate students to teach writing online. Paper presented at the Global Society of Online Literacy Educators Online Conference, online.
Grover, S. D. (2017, July). Preparing graduate students for excellence in the online classroom: A heuristic for augmenting existing teacher preparation. Paper presented at the Council of Writing Program Administrators Conference, Knoxville, TN.
Grover, S. D. (2016, April). How and how much? The need for online writing instruction preparation for graduate teaching assistants. Paper presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication Annual Convention, Houston, TX.
Grover, S. D. (2014, May). Choose your own adventure: Agency as constitutive rhetorical vision in web 2.0. Paper presented at the Rhetoric Society of America Conference, San Antonio, TX.
Madden, P., Grover, S. D., Scott, A. L., Franklin, J., Moore, D. W., & Martone, M. (2010, October). NonfictionWow: An Audience-Participation Game Show. Symposium conducted at NonfictioNow, Iowa City, IA.
Grover, S. D. (2010, April). The long and short of it: The evolving shapes of creative nonfiction. Paper presented at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Denver, CO.
Grover, S. D., & Grover, E. N. (2019, February). “They seek him here, they seek him there—those Frenchies seek him everywhere": Superheroes, fops, and secret disguises in Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel. Public lecture given at Madison County Library, Rexburg, ID.
Grover, S. D. (2018, June). Current event coverage report: A synthesis assignment. Workshop given for BYU–Idaho English Department faculty.
Grover, S. D., Meeks, S., & Franklin, J. (2016, October). Understanding graduate school options in literature, rhetoric and composition, technical communication, and creative writing. Symposium conducted at the BYU–Idaho Pre-Professional Conference, Rexburg, ID.
Grover, S. D., & Grover, E. N. (2009, October). Former graduate student Q&A. Symposium conducted at the BYU–Idaho Pre-Professional Conference, Rexburg, ID.
Grover, S. D. (2008, December). Grad School Q&A. Invited talk given at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT.
English Department Faculty Reading Series, Brigham Young University-Idaho, 2018
Dogwood Bloom Reading Series, Ohio University, 2009
English Department Reading Series, Brigham Young University, 2007
Adjunct: 2009–2010, 2015–present
Online Adjunct: 2010–2014
Full-time Lecturer: 2010–2011
Graduate Part-time Instructor: 2012–2014
Online Adjunct: 2015–2017
Graduate Teaching Assistant: 2007–2009
Freelance Technical Editor, 2011–present
As a freelance technical editor, I've worked on some major projects including dissertations in accounting and linguistics, an NIH grant proposal, and a proposal for a $30M construction project to benefit a remote Alaskan community endangered by global warming. I'm currently working with a tabletop game company on ensuring the instructions and materials for their upcoming release are clear and correct. As a self-employed technical editor, I engage in the following activities:
In addition to the standard tasks of substantive editing, copyediting, and proofreading, I have taken on jobs that call for expertise in document design, so I have become skilled at Adobe InDesign and have developed as a typographer and visual designer.
Reader, AP English and Composition Language Exam, 2010–present
Scoring AP Exam essays is an intense, week-long masterclass in holistic grading, assessment norming, and program administration. Five times over the last eight years I've attended the session and worked alongside hundreds of high school and university writing instructors to score hundreds of thousands of essays each cycle. In addition to becoming more familiar with large-scale assessment practices used in a key instrument for our field, I'm able to converse with my high school counterparts about their approaches to, frustrations about, and successes in teaching writing. Each year I leave exhausted but better prepared to help my own students develop as writers.
Tutor, Texas Tech University Writing Center, 2011–2012
During my doctoral program I spent several semesters working as a tutor at the University Writing Center (UWC). Under Kathy Gillis's leadership, the UWC specializes in working with EFL students, an important mission since TTU has been designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and attracts many international students to its petroleum engineering program, among others. As a tutor, I developed my skills working one-on-one with both undergraduate and graduate students and their writing — a great counterpoint to working collectively with students in a classroom. Additionally, I received training in and gained experience with online tutoring.
Managing Editor, Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, 2008–2009
As a master's student, I worked as the managing editor of Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, one of the best known literary magazines devoted to creative nonfiction. Founded by Dinty W. Moore, Brevity has weathered the turbulent literary publishing scene for nearly two decades. As managing editor, I oversaw the submission and acceptance process, and I also worked with accepted authors to hone their brief essays for publication. I also presented on my experience and insight as an editor at the 2010 AWP Conference in Denver.
Editor, BYU Religious Studies Center, 2006–2007
As an undergraduate, I completed an internship with and then continued to work for the Religious Studies Center, the publishing arm of BYU's School of Religious Education, where I became familiar with scholarly editing, professional printing, and group editorial processes. I worked as part of a team of copy editors, typesetters, research assistants, and senior editors as we guided manuscripts from acceptance and review to fact-checking, editing for clarity, and proofreading and on through typesetting, galley-proofing, and publication. During my time with the RSC, I worked on monographs, anthologies, scholarly editions of historical texts, and an academic journal, The Religious Educator. I was even asked to research and write an article for the journal detailing the history of an endowed chair at the university, noted above under Publications.
Writing Fellow (peer mentor), Brigham Young University, 2005–2007
The BYU Writing Fellows program promotes writing across the curriculum and writing in the disciplines by pairing peer mentors with students in courses that are typically not writing intensive and by working with the instructors of those courses to design better writing assignments and assessments. As a fellow, I peer mentored thirteen to sixteen students each semester on two major writing assignments each. For each assignment, that included written feedback to each student's first draft and a subsequent 20-minute face-to-face meeting to discuss further revisions. As a senior fellow, I also coordinated my team's interaction with the course instructor and worked closely with program administrators to fulfill the objectives of the program. Additionally, I researched and delivered presentations on peer mentoring-related topics during regular program workshops.
Program Manager, BYU Student Association Concert Series, 2004–2006
As the concert series program manager for two years, I was responsible for overseeing the organization and production of two major on-campus concerts, each one a two-night event with multiple artists. I volunteered hundreds of hours of my time to ensure the success of the events by completing the following:
When I took on the position, the yearly concert was a one-off, but my team's goal was to prove that a concert series was financially and practically possible. In addition to planning our events, we kept detailed records and put in place protocols that would enable future organizers to save time and effort. We were successful in creating an ongoing concert series of several shows each year.
Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America, 1995
As a teenager I was involved with Boy Scouts and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. Over seven years of activity I performed hundreds of hours of service projects and took on various leadership positions. I also completed week-long specialized leadership training camps — Junior Leader Training Conference (JLTC) at the regional level and National Junior Leader Instructor Camp (NJLIC) at the national level — and later twice staffed my region's JLTC. As an adult I spend a year as an assistant scout master.