M.A. and Ph.D.

Ph.D., English (Rhetoric & Composition), Georgia State University, 2017

 

Doctoral Dissertation: “Situating Polemics of Moral Imperative in Shifting Socio-Cultural Paradigms: Exploring Rhetorical Appeals in Two Baptist Archives”
 
Dissertation Committee: Dr. Lynée Lewis Gaillet (chair), Dr. Michael Harker, Dr. Elizabeth Sanders Lopez
 
Expanding present research in religious rhetoric, the following primary-source study helps explain how dogmatic intractability and cultural insularity have led to precarious rhetorical positioning and uncertain rhetorical effectiveness in light of questionable appeals to moral imperative, defined herein as things that should intentionally be done or not done based on a rhetor’s perceived shared morality with an audience. The project interrogates two Baptist media outlets at two points in history roughly marking each end of the American Temperance Movement, revealing several of the ways in which these appeals were affected by historiographical and cultural contexts. Viewing selected moral-imperative-focused Baptist polemics through a lens informed by David Barton’s “ecology” theory of literacy, which focuses on a reciprocal relationship involving linguistic connections to the psychological, the social, and the historiographical, this investigation uses a discourse analysis methodology to analyze the polemic content of six months’ worth of 1881 issues of The Christian Index, a Georgia Baptist Convention-published Christian newspaper, and three months worth of transcripts of 1942 Baptist Hour radio broadcasts (a Southern Baptist Convention production), identifying trends and patterns that indicate how moral imperative appeals were handled in each source, whether or not the Temperance Movement affected this treatment, and what role rhetor and audience perception of language may have played. Two coding categories emerged: those dealing with temperance and those dealing with war (the lingering effects of the American Civil War and the beginnings of U.S. involvement in World War II). Analyzed in light of these central elements (along with factors dealing with several ancillary themes that appeared in the data), this study’s major findings show that the 1881 Baptist newspaper polemicists were more sure of their interpretation and application of Biblical principles to issues of the day like temperance and resentment over Reconstruction, while the 1942 Baptist radio preachers were more open and self- and audience-aware, preferring a tone of comfort and unity to one of stark, quick judgment. Ultimately, the study concludes that the extreme divergence between each era’s dominant culture and the insular Baptist denominational culture was likely the preeminent inhibitor of Baptist rhetor consistency and innovation.

M.A., Professional Writing (Applied Writing and Composition & Rhetoric), Kennesaw State University, 2009

 

​M.A. Capstone Project: “The Freedom of Personal Transportation: A Portfolio of Automotive Writing”
 
M.A. Capstone Committee: Dr. Margaret Walters and Dr. David Johnson
 
Coupling my lifelong love of all things automotive with my intensifying passion for writing, I decided to culminate my involvement in Kennesaw State University’s Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW) program with a capstone project in the form of a professional portfolio of automotive writing comprising an assortment of genres, each related not only to the unifying power of freedom automobiles represent to many people in many ways, but also indicative of the particular written forms to which my journey through the MAPW program had exposed me.  Echoing the themes in my coursework, the four principle pieces that made up this portfolio were 1) a series of car and truck reviews published on a popular automotive website during my time in the program, 2) a paper-based automotive repair shop communication/workflow system, 3) a vocational writing course design for automotive-industry technical college students, and 4) a fully functional travel website featuring information and reviews of automotive-themed entertainment destinations throughout the United States.