You are here: Vita
Printer-Friendly version: mkapperVita.pdf (Adobe Reader needed, 108kb)

Curriculum Vita

Contact Information

Home: 341 Phillip Road, Elk Park, NC 28622
Office: Humanities Division, Lees-McRae College, P O Box 128, Banner Elk, NC 28604
Voice: 614.572.6516 (mobile)
Email: michael.kapper at michaelkapper dot com
Web: www.michaelkapper.com

Academic Appointments

Assistant Professor of English
Humanities Division, Lees-McRae College, 2007-present
Teaching courses in rhetoric (composition and speech), advanced writing, grammar, and literature; appointment includes responsibilities as Rhetoric Coordinator: program administration and writing/speech across the curriculum

Instructor
Summer Institute, Project GRAD Columbus, 2006
Teaching courses in writing and literature to high school students in preparation for the coming academic year; teaching a course in Honors Humanities to high school students in preparation for the coming academic year

Assistant Professor
English Department, Capital University, 2004-2007
Teaching courses in composition, advanced writing, professional and technical writing, writing in digital environments, humanities, and literature

Mentor, Introductory Composition at Purdue
Department of English, Purdue University, 2003-2004
Training Teaching Assistants in teaching the First-Year Composition Course; developing and implementing training materials

Teaching Assistant
Department of English, Purdue University, 1999-2004
Teaching courses in composition, advanced writing, business writing, and technical writing; all courses as instructor of record

Teaching Assistant
Upward Bound Program, The University of Akron, 1998-1999
Teaching courses in composition and literature to high school students in summer residential program; teaching English enrichment courses to high school students during the academic year; all courses as instructor of record

Teaching Assistant
Department of English, The University of Akron, 1997-1999
Teaching courses in composition; teaching courses in composition stressing awareness of linguistic diversity through examination of the relationship between standard academic English and African-American Vernacular English; all courses as instructor of record

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, English, Purdue University, 2004
Primary Area: Rhetoric and Composition
Secondary Area: Theory and Cultural Studies
Dissertation: “Affect as Epistemic Source in a Posthuman Age”
Adviser: David Blakesley

Master of Arts, English, The University of Akron, 1999
Concentration: Composition Studies
Minor: Medieval Language and Literature
Thesis: “Shadow of the Invisible: Memory, Mysticism, and a View of Technology in Plato’s Rhetoric”
Adviser: Lance Svehla

Bachelor of Arts, English, The University of Akron, 1996
Cum Laude
Minor: Psychology

Scholarship

Published Articles and Chapters

“The Use of Side-Games in the Knights of the Old Republic Video Game Series.” in Playing the Universe: Games and Gaming in Science Fiction, ed. Pawel Frelik and David Mead. Lublin, Poland: Maria Curie-Sklowdoska UP/Science Fiction Research Association, 2007. 195-207

“Mixing Media: Textual, Oral, and Visual Literacy (and Then Some) in Teaching with PowerPoint.” Computers and Composition Online, Fall 2003. Multimedia project. http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/kapper/mixing_index.html

Peter Rollins, et al. “The Future of The West Wing: Discussions on the H-PCAACA Listserv.” Film and History 33.1 (2003): 55-63. (contributed two sections)

Under Consideration

“Distributed Possession, Random Access: What the Digital Age and Posthuman Being Teach Us about the Canon of Memory.” Under consideration with Computers and Composition. 19 mss pages

Journal Editing

Co-guest Editor with David Blakesley. Special Issue of Kairos: Computers and Writing 2003

International Presentation

“The Problem of Content Delivery—Or, CMS Software v. DIY Websites.” Presented at Interfaces: English Studies and the Computer, University of Newcastle, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK—November 3, 2005

National Presentations

“Using—and Teaching—PowerPoint Effectively, in and out of the Classroom.” Presented at the Popular Culture Assocaition/American Culture Association convention, Boston, MA—April 6, 2007

“‘Here I Stand’: Professing Composition in the Tradition of Lutheran Higher Education.” Presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication convention, New York, NY—March 22, 2007

“Maiden, Mother, Cancer Patient: Uncommon Women in Battlestar Galactica.” Presented at the Popular Culture Assocaition/American Culture Association convention, Atlanta, GA—April 12, 2006

“Content Management Systems for Teaching and Learning.” Panel presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication convention, Chicago, IL—March 25, 2006. With Jennifer Consilio and Jessica Clements

“Peripheral Spaces: Expanding Embodiment beyond the ‘Traditional’ Cyborg.” Presented at the College English Association Convention, Indianapolis, IN—April 1, 2005

“When the Credits Tell the Story; Or, When Metatext Becomes Text.” Presented at the Popular Culture Assocaition/American Culture Association convention, San Diego, CA—March 25, 2005

“Computers are Important—Sure Wish We Had Some.” Presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication convention, San Francisco, CA—March 18, 2005

“A Composition Course in Four Easy DVDs; Or, Multi-Media Content Distribution.” Presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication convention, San Antonio, TX—March 25, 2004. With Jennifer Consilio

“Nodes in a Web: Classical Canons for the Posthuman Age.&rdwuo; Presented at the Penn State Conference on Rhetoric, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA—July 7, 2003

“Mixing Media: Oral, Print, and Visual Literacy (and Then Some) in Teaching with PowerPoint.” Presented at Computers and Writing 2003, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN—May 24, 2003

“Sampling, Citation, and Academic Integrity for ‘Real’ Texts.” Presented at the Popular Culture Assocaition/American Culture Association convention, New Orleans, LA—April 17, 2003

“Students No More: Apprentice Writers, ‘Real’ Texts.” Presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication convention, New York, NY—March 20, 2003

Regional Presentations

“Production and Desire: The Economics of the Cyborg Vampire in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Presented at the Southwest/Texas conference of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Albuquerque, NM—February 14, 2003

“Students’ Right to Their Own Language—And the Writing Teacher’s Failings.” Presented at the conference of the Michigan College English Association, Dearborn, MI—November 1, 2002

“‘Ain’t That America’: The Rhetoric of the Small Town in the Music of John Mellencamp.” Presented at the Southwest/Texas conference of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association, Albuquerque, NM—February 15, 2002

In Development

“Why the Transhuman Will Never Be Posthuman.” Multimedia article. First planned submission: Computers and Composition Online

“‘What Did I Do Wrong?’: Mitigating Student Perception of Grades as Indicators of Error.” Theory article. First planned submission: WPA: Writing Program Administration

“Panem et Rhetorica: A Hands-On Introduction to Theory and Practice.” Pedagogy article. First planned submission: Teaching English in the Two-Year College

“Rhetorical Activities in Everyday Experience: Composition and Speech through Popular Culture.” First-year Composition/Speech texbook. In development with Longman; prospectus stage

“Rhetorics in Western Traditions: An Issues-Oriented Approach to Rhetoric’s Histories.” Textbook/Anthology; prospectus stage

“Writing for the Web: Content, Design, Structure, Code, and Usability for Effective Communication.” Textbook; prospectus stage

“The Art of Faithful Critique: Plato, Augustine, Luther.” Scholarly Book; prospectus stage

“Posthuman Canons: Revisiting Rhetoric’s Roots to Understand Its Present.” Scholarly book; prospectus stage

“30 Years in the Rock: A Critical History of Stephen King’s Castle Rock, Maine.” Scholarly book; prospectus stage

Roundtable Participation

“PCA @ CCCC,” a special-interest group focusing on popular culture meeting at the Conference on College Composition and Communication convention. Inaugural meeting: New York, NY—March 22, 2007. Organizer and participant

“The Vocation of the Lutheran College.” Carthage College, Kenosha, WI—July 31 - August 2, 2004. Participant

Alliance of Rhetoric Societies conference, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL—September 11-14, 2003. Participant, with Karl Stolley

Local Presentations

Professional Development Workshop Series on Writing Across the Curriculum; Lees-McRae College; 2007-2008

“Using Rubrics to Evaluate Student Writing.” Capital University Liberal Learning Initiative In-Service Day—February 10, 2005. With Susan Nash and James Zebroski

“Communication Across the Curriculum.” Capital University Liberal Learning Initiative Task Force—October 2004

“Taking Advantage of the Medium: Writing for Online Publication.” Purdue University Professional Writing Program Technology and Pedagogy Showcase—October 28, 2003

“Rhetoric, Epistemology, and Pedagogy.” Guest lecture in Prof. Thomas Rickert’s English 680C, “Cultural Studies and Composition Studies” (Purdue University)—October 15, 2003

“Guilty of ‘Gotcha!’: Rethinking Acadmeic Integrity for ‘Real’ Texts.” Purdue University Introductor Writing Program brownbag—November 7, 2002

“Resources for the Computer Classroom.” Purdue University Professional Writing Program Technology and Pedagogy Showcase—October 22, 2002

“The Shakespearean Trinity.” Guest lecture in Prof. Daryl Palmer’s English 316, “The Mature Works of Shakespeare” (The University of Akron)—November 1998

Administration and Curriculum Development

Rhetoric Coordinator

Lees-McRae College; Fall 2007-present
Coordinating all aspects of rhetoric instruction, including faculty development, curriculum assessment, and curriculum improvement. Assisting Humanities Division chair in staffing decisions. Working with faculty across campus to facilitate inclusion of writing- and other communication-intensive assignments in their courses

WAC Initiative

Capital University; 2005-2007
Taking a leading role in proposing and developing a Writing Across the Curriculum program. Completing planning stages, including: drafting a proposal and plan for the implementation of the program, coordinating efforts with interested faculty and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, designing a faculty interest and “state of writing” survey, coordinating the survey’s implementation with Information Technology, analyzing the survey results

Curriculum Redesign

Capital University, Fall 2004
Taking a Leading Role in evaluating and redesigning the major in Professional Writing in the English Department. Constructing a curriculum emphasizing the variety of professional writing activities, including: journalism, business writing, technical and scientific writing, editing, and writing in digital environments. Proposing five new courses for this major and developing materials to support four of these proposals (one of the four collaboratively). Inaugurating these five courses (2005-2007); three in full class settings, two by contract; one of these courses by contract collaboratively

Curriculum Design

Purdue University; Spring 2002-Spring 2003
Leading a syllabus planning group to develop an approach to teaching English 106 (“First-Year Composition”), a one-semester first-year composition course. The approach developed requires students to consider the rhetorical situation of their writing and encourages viewing writing as an epistemic, social, civic, and personal process

Pilot Teaching

Purdue University; Fall 2002
Teaching one pilot section and two partial pilot sections for English 106 using a preliminary version of the above approach. Developed curriculum and materials, implemented course, and reported to the Director of Composition and the Introductory Writing Committee

TA Training

Purdue University, 2003-2004
Developing TA training materials for the above approach to English 106 and mentoring new teaching assistants in teaching this course with this approach

Professional Service

Disciplinary Service

Peer Reviewer, Transformations; 2004

Area Chair, Composition and Rhetoric, PCA/ACA; 2004-present

Program Assistant, Computers and Writing Conference; 2003

Area Chair, Composition and Rhetoric, SW PCA/ACA; 2002-2004

Editorial Assistant, WPA: Writing Program Administration; 2002

Institutional Service

Chair, Core Curriculum Committee, Faculty Senate, Lees-McRae College; 2007-08

Parliamentarian, Faculty Senate, Lees-McRae College; 2007-2008

Ad hoc subcommittee on General Education Redesign (Inner/Outer Core model), General Education Committee, Capital University; September 2006-January 2007

Network Infrastructure and Communications Committee, Faculty Representative, Capital University; January-December 2006

General Education Committee, First-Year Writing Representative, Capital University; 2005-2007

Faculty Adviser, Dionysia, Capital University’s Student Literary Magazine, 2005-2007

Information Technology Long Range Planning Committee, Faculty Representative, Capital University; June-December 2005

English Department Webmaster, Capital University; March 2005-December 2006

Faculty Learning Community on WAC, Facilitator, Capital University; 2004-2005

Job Placement Committee, Graduate Representative, Department of English, Purdue University; 2002-2003

Introductory Writing Committee, Graduate Representative, Department of English, Purdue University; 2001-2002

Committee to Evaluate the Graduate Coordinator, Graduate Representative, Department of English, The University of Akron; 1998

Departmental Publications

“Piloting English 106.” IWP News, Spring 2003 (Introductory Writing Program, Department of English, Purdue University)

“The Best (and Worst) of Times: Life as a Teaching Assistant.” Focus: The University of Akron English Department Newsletter, 22 February 1999

This site is authored and maintained by Michael Carlson Kapper.
All original textual, audio, and multimedia content is copyright ©1997-2007 by Michael Carlson Kapper,
and is licensed to any end user under a CreativeCommons.org license; some rights reserved.
All original photographic content is copyright ©2005-2007 by Michael Carlson Kapper;
All Rights Reserved; contact for licensing.
This node was created on May 20, 2007. This node was updated on Feburary 10, 2008.