Curriculum Vitae
MOIRA K. AMADO-McGITTIGAN
4304 Marquette Drive |
EDUCATION
Ph.D. English Miami University, Oxford, OH (August 2003)
Primary Area: Rhetoric and Composition
Secondary Area: Civic Discourses and Argumentation
Kate Ronald, Director
Dissertation Title: Rhetoric and Revolution: An Apology for Modesty, Responsibility and Pragmatism in
a Post-Fascist Era
M.A. English New Mexico State University (July 1999)
Primary Area: Rhetoric and the Teaching of Writing
Reed Way Dasenbrock, Director
Thesis Title: Reclaiming the Possibility of Intimacy in Written Argumentation
B.A. English-Philosophy University of New Mexico (July 1989)
Cum laude in English and Philosophy
Michael R. Fischer, Director (English); Russell B. Goodman, (Philosophy)
Title: Deconstructing Iago
POSITIONS HELD
President, Kairos Communication Architects, Mobile, AL (February 2009-present)
Executive Director, BAI Community Action Alliance, Mobile, AL (May 2008-present)
Dramaturge, Mobile Carnival Theatre Company, Mobile, AL (on-call)
University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL
Assistant Professor, Department of English (August 2003-May 2008)
Miami University, Oxford, OH
Research Assistant, (Kate Ronald & Susan Morgan) Conference Coordinator for the interdisciplinary
conference Lost in Translation: Reading Disciplinary, Gendered, and National Loyalties
Teaching Associate, Department of English (Fall 1999-Spring 2002)
Associate, Howe Writing Initiative, a faculty development initiative (2000-2002)
Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration
Director of Writing, Summer Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics Research Institute.
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM
Graduate Assistant, Department of English (1994, 1997-1999)
Assistant to the Director, Writing Center (1999)
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
In Print
“Disorderly Women: Appropriating the Power Tools in Civic Discourses.” Active Voices: Composing a
Rhetoric of Social Movements. Sharon Stevens and Patricia Malesh, Eds. SUNY Press, 2008.
“Refiguring Jocasta’s Desire.” New Antigone. 1:1-2 (Spring 2005/ Summer 2006). Article.......Journal
“Revisiting College Composition within a Local ‘Culture of Writing.’” Journal of the Council of Writing
Program Administrators. With Diana Royer, Meredith A. Love, Jennie Dauterman, Mary Jean
Corbett, Rhoda Cairns, Parag K. Budhecha.. 26:3 (Spring 2003), 28-48.
“Denying the Argument of Indifference: Reclaiming the Possibility of Intimacy in Argument.”
Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Argumentation. International Society for the
Study of Argumentation. SicSat: Amsterdam, 1999.
In Progress
“Coming to Terms: Rhetorical Authority in Action and Advocacy.” Rewriting Success: Constructing
Careers and Institutional Change in Rhetoric and Composition. Eds. Carrie Leverenz (TCU), Amy
Goodburn (U Nebraska, Lincoln), and Donna LeCourt (U of Massachusetts, Amherst). Anticipated
publication date, Fall 2010, West Lafayette: Parlor Press (Lauer Series on Rhetoric and
Composition).
“Voodoo Genetics and Sea Chanteys: Locating the Whale’s Footprint of Essentialism in the Postmodern
English Department.” Under review by JAC (“revise and resubmit”).
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Blog entries, published reports, calls to action, grants interview scripts/notes in traditional and new media for
BAI Community Action Alliance.
“Reduce Crimes Against Women.” Mobile Press Register. Mobile, AL. November 19, 2005. 11A
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AND AWARDS
The Unity Inspiration Award. Aqua Community Unity, presented by Bay Area Inclusion, 2008.
The Angel Award. University of South Alabama, Department of Dramatic Arts, 2007.
Arts & Sciences Summer Research Award. University of South Alabama, 2005. Research on textual
representations of the savoir feminine sexuel for presentation at Oxford, England. Initial research
on pragmatism and Scottish “common sense” philosophy, Aberdeen, Scotland.
The Spiro Peterson Award. Department of English, Miami University, 2003. Awarded to the doctoral
student in English for excellence in teaching and distinction as a scholar and researcher.
Dissertation Fellowship, Department of English, Miami University, 2002-2003. (Declined in favor of
Research Assistantship for Translation conference.)
The Graduate School Graduate Achievement Award, Miami University, 2001.
Sisters of Alpha Delta Pi Teacher Appreciation Award. “Dedication to Academic Excellence and
Student Achievement,” 2001.
Academic Achievement Award, The Graduate School, Miami University, 1999.
Service Learning Ambassador. Miami 2000 Forum on Service Learning. “Commitment to Civic
Engagements and Diversification of Student’s Learning Experiences,” 2000.
Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowship for Minorities, 2000.
Co-Principle Investigator (with Rebecca Jackson), “Pilot Project for Peer Facilitator Training and Graduate
Internship in Applied Rhetoric and Service Education.” Service Learning of Southern NM, 1998.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Job Contact Production: Resume Review.” Presenter and Moderator. Southeastern Theatre Conference (6oth
Annual Convention). Unmask Your Future. Birmingham, AL. 4 March 2009.
“Versions of Grandeur: The Infidel and the Ideology of Purity.” Annual Conference of the National .Pdf of Paper.......Conference
Women’s Studies Association. Past Debates, Present Possibilities, Future Feminisms. Chicago,
IL. 1 July 2007.
“Voodoo Genetics and Sea Chanteys: Locating the Whale’s Footprint of Essentialism in Contemporary
Departments of English.” Rhetoric Society of America, Memphis, TN. 28 May 2006.
“Pressure from Below: The World Imaginary and Savoir Feminine Sexuel.” The Oxford Round Table on
Women’s Leadership, Harris Manchester College in the University of Oxford, Oxford, England.
7-12 August, 2005.
“Writing and Studying the Interpretive Turn.” Panel Presentation: Translating Experience and Expertise:
Three Consultations in the School of Business. With Tom Pace (John Carroll U) and Meredith Love
(Francis Marion U). 5th National Writing Across the Curriculum Conference. Bloomington, IN.
31 May 2001.
“Toward an Urban Dialectic.” Panel Presentation: Teaching Writing in Urban Spaces. With Bruce
McComiskey (U of Alabama) and David Fleming (U of Wisconsin-Madison). CCCC. Chicago, IL.
16 March 2001.
“Denying the Argument of Indifference: Reclaiming the Possibility of Intimacy in Argument.” Conference of
the International Society for the Study of Argumentation. Amsterdam, The Netherlands.19 June 1998.
COURSES TAUGHT
University of South Alabama
English Composition II, English 102 Pdf
Honors Composition, English 105
Technical Writing, English 372
Writing in the Professions, English 373 Fall 03 .......Fall 07
Rhetoric—Ancient to Modern, English 402 Pdf
Postmodern Literary Theory, English 422 Pdf
Women and Literature, English 480/580 Pdf
Introduction to Sociolinguistics, English 490/590 (Developed as a new course for USA)
Enacted Feminist Theory, English 490/590 (Developed as a new course for USA) Pdf
Rhetoric and Postmodernity, English 507 (Developed as a new course for USA) Pdf
Miami University
Writing for Change, English 111
Making Metaphors Mean, English 113
Investigation Reading and Writing: Contexts, Progress, and Positions, English 112
New Mexico State University
Composition and Rhetoric, English 111G
Composition and Rhetoric, Honors, English 111H
Advanced Composition and Service Learning, English 211 (Writing in the Humanities)
WORKSHOPS AND UNIVERSITY PRESENTATIONS
Theatre Symposium (DRA102) and AfterWords. “David Mamet, Enlightened Self Interest, and the
Dream of American Progress.” The Water Engine, David Mamet. Laidlaw Center for the
Performing Arts, University of South Alabama. 16 and 27 February 2008.
Theatre Symposium (DRA102). “Edgar Lee Masters and Walt Whitman: Everyday People and Sex as
Destruction and Elevation.” Spoon River Anthology and DRA103. Laidlaw Center for the
Performing Arts, University of South Alabama. 15 September 2008.
AfterWords. Organizer and Moderator. Buried Child. “The Primordial Human Tragedy: The Search for
Recognition.” Laidlaw Center for the Performing Arts, U of South Alabama, 16 February 2008.
AfterWords. Organizer and Moderator. A Year with Frog and Toad. “The Creative Process and You.”
Laidlaw Center for the Performing Arts, U of South Alabama, 1 December 2007.
AfterWords. Organizer and Moderator. The Butter and Egg Man. “Marxism, Slang, and Lillian Hellman:
The Unrecorded Affinities between George S. Kaufman and Dashiell Hammett.” Laidlaw Center
for the Performing Arts, U of South Alabama, 6 October 2007.
InView: a Film Series. Co-producer, speaker, and moderator. Sponsored by Theatre USA and Bay Area InView .... BAI
Inclusion. Venue: Black-box theatre, Laidlaw Performing Arts Center, U of South Alabama.
Before-talks and After-talks for the following films related to social issues, civic movements and
civil rights, and the celebration of diversity:
Iron Jawed Angels (6 July 2007); Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She (3 August 2007);
Home of the Brave (14 September 2007); Not for Ourselves Alone (19 October 2007); Before Stonewall
and After Stonewall (21 December 2007); For the Bible Tells Me So – first local screening of this film –
(17 January 2008); Ghosts of Mississippi (15 February 2008); Good Night and Good Luck (21 March 2008);
Shut Up and Sing (18 April 2008); Scandalize My Name and American Blackout (16 May 2008);
Yossi and Jagger (14 June 2008); Trembling Before G-d (20 June 2008); Fish Can’t Fly (15 August 2008);
Southern Comfort (15 August 2008); Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World
(19 September 2008); The Magdalene Sisters (17 October 2008).
The Stage and the Quill. Organizer and Moderator. Drood. “Satire, Comedy, and the Postcolonial Mision Statement....06-07 Season
Critique.” Laidlaw Center for the Performing Arts, U of South Alabama, 14 April 2007.
The Stage and the Quill. Organizer and Moderator. Kindertransport. “Mothers, Daughters, and
Fairytales.” Laidlaw Center for the Performing Arts, U of South Alabama, 17 February 2007.
The Stage and the Quill. Organizer, Moderator, and Dramaturge. The Skin of Our Teeth. Laidlaw Center
for the Performing Arts, U of South Alabama, 2 December 2006.
The Stage and the Quill. Organizer, Moderator, and Panel Member. BOBRAUSCHENBERGAMERICA.
Laidlaw Center for the Performing Arts, U of South Alabama, 7 October 2006.
MLA Style and Avoiding “Plagarism.” University of South Alabama. Writing Outreach. Spring 2007.
Better Writers: How the Myth of the Perfect Teacher Can Sabotage Effective Writing Pedagogy. .Pdf
New T.A. Workshop for teaching Freshman Composition. University of South Alabama. 16 August 2006.
Writing Arguments. University of South Alabama, Writing Outreach. Fall 2004.
Sentence Boundaries. University of South Alabama, Writing Outreach. Fall 2003.
Writing Workshop. Summer Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics Research Institute, 2001.
Six week writing workshop. In collaboration with math faculty, oversaw student production of research
reports and oral presentations in algebra, graph theory, and statistics.
Writing Workshop. Summer Multicultural Leadership Program, The College Writing Experience,
Summers 2000 and 2001. An admissions and retention-based initiative for college-bound high school students
of color.
Howe Writing Initiative Presentations, Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration.
Spring/Fall 2000-2001; Spring/Fall 2001-2002.
Classroom presentations: In-Basket Memo Exam (Management 351, Analytical Methods
and Tools/Market Decision Making); Research reports and Advisory Documents (Finance 417,
International Finance); Executive Summaries (Marketing 111, Introduction o Marketing); Laws,
Hall & Associates (Marketing 442/542 Advertising Practice); Social Audits and Team Writing
(Marketing 301 Organizational Behavior); User’s Manuals: “On How-To Discourses”
(Management 451 Operations Planning and Scheduling).
FACULTY CONSULTATIONS
Marketing 351 (Analytical Methods and Tools / Market Decision Making).
Management 301 (Organizational Behavior).
Decision Sciences 281 (Visual Basic).
“Our Shared Community.”
Group discussion facilitator for program sponsored by the Office of Residence Life. Issues in
community building and diversity. November 1999.
“Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago” (book by LeAlan Jones and Lloyd Newman
with David Isay). Summer Reading Program. Small group Facilitator. Reading discussion groups
for entering students. May 1999.
“The Role of Writing Center Consultant in Student Consultations.”
As writing center representative in WAC workshop. Summer 1998.
“Grammar as Naturally Occurring Instruction.”
As senior writing center consultant, workshops for writing center consultants about issues of
grammar usage in student writing. March 1998.
INVITED SPEAKER/DRAMAGURGE
Mobile Carnival Theatre Company. Dramaturge. The Merchant of Venice. Brent Murrill, Director. Mobile, AL. Poster
Summer 2010.
Mobile Society of Human Resource Management Conference. Speaker. “Doing More with Less:
Situational Writer’s Workshops to Improve Workplace Writing.” Mobile, AL. 13 November 2009.
Cast and Crew Symposium. Department of Dramatic Arts, University of South Alabama. “Academic
Freedom, the Liberal Arts, and Scholarly Inquiry.” 9 April 2007
The Annual Eugenie L Hamner Lecture(endowed lectureship, speaker chosen by USA English .Pdf .....Html ....Poster
faculty). “Versions of Grandeur (and Defilement): Bodies that Mediate the Body Politic, or How
Sex Becomes Text.” 20 October 2006
Actor’s Symposium. Department of Dramatic Arts, University of South Alabama. “Reading the Sensual
in Walt Whitman.” 20 September 2006
Comments Delivered at Take Back the Night. By invitation from the Rape Crisis Center. “Man Made
Disasters: Talking about Rape in the Post-Katrina South. Mobile, AL. 6 April 2006
Gender Studies Lecture Series. Gender Studies Program, University of South Alabama. “Confounding
Women: Still Reading Women’s Sexuality as Mere Titillation or Monster Taboo.” Spring 2004
Odyssey Program (Institute for Learning in Retirement). University of South Alabama. “Disruptive
Women: Women’s Rhetorics in 19th Century America.” Spring 2004
English 698. Pro-seminar. Building curriculum and piloting a new Literature and Composition course.
Writing sequences around “dialogue” unit and assigning reflective/synthesis essays. Fall 2001.
English 698.B. Pro-seminar in teaching English 313 and 315, for new teaching assistants in the
Masters in Technical and Scientific Communication program. “Distinctions between Business and
Technical Communications and Issues in WAC.” Fall 2001.
Women’s Studies 602, graduate seminar. “Feminist Theory and Methodology.” Spring 2001.
English 698. Pro-seminiar. “Teaching Close Reading and Summary Writing.” Fall 2000.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE and THESIS STUDENTS
M.A. Thesis (Creative Writing) Committee Member, D. Adero-Ferguson. “Untitled, Multi-Genre
Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction.” July 2007.
M.A. Thesis (Literature) Committee Co-Chair, M. Davis, “The Girl In-Between: Female
Subjectivity and the Ideology of Sacrifice.” Degree expected: Fall 2007.
Advisor, Student Research. C. Starkey, “Toward a Feminist View of Language: a Rhetorical
Analysis of Mrs. Dalloway.” The 17th Annual Conference on Virginia Woolf: Art, Education, and
Internationalism. Miami University, Ohio. 7-10 June 2007.
Honors Thesis (Undergraduate, Multidisciplinary) Committee Chair, M. Del Santo.
Title: “Legitimizing Bioweapons: the Grey Area of Warfare.” A thesis in the rhetoric of science.
For Honors Program and the Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. Degree expected: Fall 2007.
Howe Writing Initiative and the Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration, Miami
University (2000-2002). Class of 2000: Student Writers in Business Talk Back. Organized, compiled,
and analyzed data for a four-year (1996-2000), quantitative, interview-based, and longitudinal study of
student writing in the SBA. Especially involved in conceptualizing and designing final research report.
Miami University Department of English and School of Education, (Spring 2000, Fall 2000).
Interview-based study of five student teachers in Educational Leadership relating to upper level
undergraduates’ ability to imagine argumentative others as dialogue partners.
New Mexico State University, Department of English and La Casa, a shelter for battered women
and their children, (Spring 1998-Spring 1999). Examined shelter as a literacy site; established as a site
for internships in “Applied Rhetoric” for graduate student interns.
UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Developed and Director, The Stage and The Quill, a creative collaboration between the Department of
Dramatic Arts and the Department of English, 2006-present
Chair, Faculty Development Committee, Department of English, 2004-2005
Scholarship and Awards Committee, Department of English, 2004-2005
Undergraduate Committee, Department of English, 2003-2006
Technology Committee, Department of English 2003-2004
Freshman Writing Committee, Department of English 2003-2004
College Gender Studies Committee, College of Arts and Sciences, 2003-2007
Moderator, Eugene Walter Writer’s Festival. “What’s Sellling and Who’s Buying: and Agents Views”
Co-Coordinator, ad hoc committee on Secondary English-Education Credentialing, University of South
Alabama 2003-2005
College Forum on Secondary Education Curriculum and Instruction, 2003-2004
Academic Adviser, English Majors, University of South Alabama, 2003-2007
Faculty Advisor, Comrades of Courage, University of South Alabama, 2003-2007
Assistant to the Conference Coordinator, Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA), (Fall
2001-Fall 2002). “Composition Studies in the 21st Century: Rereading the Past, Rewriting the Future.”
Miami University, October 5-7, 2001.
112 Pilot Instructor and 112 Pilot Committee Member, (Spring 2001).
Portfolio Assessment Team, (Summer 2001). For incoming students.
Search/Selection Committee Member, Spring 2000. For Assistant Director for Student Leadership and
Service Learning.
Writing Center Assistant Coordinator, (1998).
Outcomes Assessment Team Member, (Spring 1998). Portfolio for English 211.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Advisory Board Member. Bay Area Inclusion. (Alabama’s first LBGT Community Ctr.). 2007 – 2008.
InView: a Film Series. Co-produced issue-based film series for Bay Area Inclusion. InView .... BAI
Reading for the Visually Impaired, WHIL (91.3), Mobile, AL. “Live” and pre-recorded reading for WHIL Program
Radio Reading Service. Summer 2007- present.
Homeless Coalition, Mobile, AL, Homeless Count. January 2006. January 2009.
Family Center of Mobile, Exchange Club, Volunteer for fundraiser, “Luck of the Irish.” March 2006.
Mary B. Austin School. “Expository, Narrative, and Descriptive Prose for 2nd Graders.” Fall. 2003.
Mobile’s Book: Share the Experience. Ways and Means Committee member. With student designers in
English373, designed new logo and “branding” for organization. Spring 2004-Fall 2005.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
International Society for the Study of Argumentation (ISSA)
National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
College Composition and Communication (CCC)
National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA)
Rhetoric Society of America (RSA)
Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC)
LIST OF CONTACT REFEREES (full contact information for selected referees included in dossier)
Nicole Amare, Associate Professor, Department of English, University of South Alabama, Mobile
Paul V. Anderson, Department of English and Director of the Center for Writing Excellence, Miami
University, Oxford
Larry Beason, Associate Professor and Director of Composition, Department of English, University of
South Alabama, Mobile
John Coker, Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy, University of South Alabama, Mobile
Reed Way Dasenbrock, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Jennie Dauterman, Associate Professor and Director of Professional Development, College of Education,
Florida International University, Miami
J. David Fleming, Associate Professor and Director of University Writing Program, Department of
English, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Rebecca Jackson, Associate Professor, Texas State University, San Marcos
LuMing Mao, Professor, Department of English and Director of Asian American Studies Program, Miami
University, Oxford
Lyle Miller, Professor, Department of Dramatic Arts, University of South Alabama, Mobile
Susan Morgan, Distinguished Professor, Department of English, Miami University, Oxford
Linda Payne, Associate Professor, Department of English (former Gender Studies Program Director),
University of South Alabama, Mobile
Kate Ronald, Professor and Director of Howe Writing Initiative, Departments of English and School of
Business Administration, Miami University, Oxford
Constance Smith, Scene Shop Foreman, Department of Dramatic Arts, University of South Alabama, and
Immediate Past Chair, Board of Directors, BAI Community Action Alliance, Mobile
Charlie Smoke, Director of Community Development, Mobile Arts Council, Mobile
Lee VanDyke, Professor and Chair, Department of Dramatic Arts, University of South Alabama, Mobile
