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(last updated October 2019)

Education

2017                                          PhD in English (Rhetoric and Composition; technical communication)
                                                  Certificate in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Fall 2015
                                                  Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL
 
                                                  Dissertation: Memes and 4chan and Haters, Oh My! Rhetoric, Identity,
                                                  and Online Aggression
                                                  Committee: Jessica Reyman (chair); Michael Day; Kristen Myers
​                       
2011                                          MA in English (19th Century British Literature)
                                                  University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
                                                                       
2008                                        BA in English
                                                  Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL

Research Interests

My research explores the intersection of rhetoric, identity, and aggression in digital spaces. My dissertation examined Internet memes, collective identities, and haters to uncover ways to resist and counter online aggressions—particularly those surrounding gender identity—in digital spaces.

Academic Appointments

Illinois State University, Assistant Professor of Technical Communication and Digital Rhetorics, 2017 - Present

• Affiliate Faculty status with Women's and Gender Studies

Publications

Digital ethics: Rhetoric and responsibility in online aggression. (2019). Co-edited with Jessica Reyman. Routledge.

2017. "Digital Social Media and Aggression: Memetic Rhetoric in 4chan’s Collective Identity." Computers and Composition (45): 85-97.

2016. "Breastfeeding, Authority, and Genre: Women’s Ethos in Wikipedia and Blogs,” with Alison Lukowski. In Establishing and Evaluating Digital Ethos and Online Credibility. 329-347.

Awards and Grants

National
2018. 2017 Hugh Burns Best Dissertation Award, Computers and Composition.

2016. Gloria Anzaldúa Rhetorician Award, Conference on College Composition and Communication
        
Institutional
2019. Nominated for the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teaching by a Pre-Tenured Faculty Member, ISU (application under review)

2019. Sigma Tau Delta Outstanding Faculty Member Award, ISU
 
2019. Exceptional Teacher of the Year Award—Assistant Professor, ISU English department
 
2019. Pre-Tenure Faculty Initiative Grant, ISU
            $3500 awarded to fund manuscript project

2018. 2017-2018 Outstanding Dissertation Award in Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, Northern Illinois University

2018. New Faculty Initiative Grant, ISU
            $3500 awarded to fund Digital Ethics edited collection
 
2017. New Faculty Startup Support, ISU
            $3500 awarded to supplement conference travel funding for AY 2017-2018 and AY 2018-2019

​2017. Outstanding Women Student Award, NIU’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women

2016. Dr. Mary Sue Schriber Junior Scholar in Women’s Literature and Language Scholarship, NIU            ​
            $2000 award given to one graduate student per year; entails a research presentation
 
2016. Director's Outstanding Graduate Assistant Award for Excellence in Teaching First-Year Composition, NIU 
 
2015. Arnold B. Fox Graduate Research Writing Award (second place), NIU

2016, 2015, 2014 Graduate Student Travel Grant, NIU

Presentations

National and International Conferences
Sparby, Erika M. (October 2019). "Ethical meming—How can we meme inclusively?" Invited keynote presentation at LangRhet. Ann Arbor, MI.

“Toward a Theory of Digital Aggression and Memetic Screens” at Computers and Writing, June 2019, East Lansing, MI
 
“Toward an Ethic of Self-Care and Protection When Researching Digital Aggression” as part of a co-organized panel on “New Ethical Frameworks for Researching Digital Aggression” at Computers and Writing, June 2019, East Lansing, MI
 
“Political Memes and the Party Divide: A Case Study of Kim Davis and Hillary Clinton Memes,” at the Digital Rhetoric/Digital Media in the Post-Truth Age symposium, March 2019, Tuscaloosa, AL

​“Toward a Theory of Memetic Screens” at the Rhetoric Society of America Conference, June 2018, Minneapolis, MN (accepted, but was unable to attend because of family emergency)

“Behind the Scenes of Digital Aggression Research: Identity, Method, Action, and Self-Care” Roundtable, at Computers and Writing, May 2018

“When Trolls Become Technical Communicators: A Case Study of iOS8 and Wave,” at the Association for the Teachers of Technical Writing Conference, March 2018

"Meming/Counter-Meming: Remixing Negative Memes to Deconstruct Stereotypes" at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 2017, Portland, OR

"Fake Geek Girl, Remixed: Resisting Negative Stereotypes through Counter-Memes" at Cultural Rhetorics, October 2016, East Lansing, MI

"Anonymity, Design, and Identification: The Rhetorical Construction of Identity on Digital Social Media" at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, April 2016, Houston, TX

"Digitizing Analog Networks to Share and Reflect on Student Writing" with Michael Day, Alison Lukowski, and Dustin ​Marquis at Computers and Writing, May 2015, Menomonie, WI

"Where Do Women Work? – Wikipedia, Blogs, and the Space of Authority," with Alison Lukowski at the Conference on College Composition and Communication Feminisms Workshop, April 2014, Indianapolis, IN

Workshops/Working Groups
Digital Aggression Working Group, Computers and Writing, 2019

Indigenous Working Group, Rhetoric Society of America Project in Power, Place, and Publics, 2019

Local Speaking Invitations
Sparby, Erika M. (November 2019). “Digital rhetorics and an ethic of responsibility in online aggression.” Invited presentation for ISU English Department’s faculty speaker series. Normal, IL.

"Online Aggression and What We Can Do About It," with Jessica Reyman, NIU STEM Cafe, March 2019

Presentation on methods and methodology used in my dissertation, for Bob Broad’s ENG 497 Research Methods in Composition Studies course at ISU, Spring 2018

Panelist at a roundtable about the first-year faculty experience, for ISU’s Graduate School, Spring 2018

“Meme/Counter-Meme: Remixing Negative Memes to Deconstruct Stereotypes,” for the ISU Sigma Tau Delta initiation ceremony, Fall 2017
​
Panelist at the “Navigating the Writing Process” workshop, for ISU’s Graduate School, October 2017

Panelist at the “Preparing for the Job Market” workshop, for NIU’s English department, May 2017

Panelist at the “How do I get published?” workshop, for NIU’s Graduate School and Office of Research Compliance, April 6, 2017

"Design, Ethos, and Identification: Memetic Identity Performance on Digital Social Media." For Jessica Reyman's ​ENGL 703 Seminar in Digital Rhetoric at NIU, March 29, 2016

"Methods and Methodology in Rhetoric." For Courtney Gallaher's WOMS 630 Feminist Research course at NIU, March 22, 2016 and March 29, 2017

"Eportfolio Integration." For First Friday Professional Development with NIU's First-Year Composition Program. ​February 13, 2015

"FYComp Writing in the Domains," with Kelsey Williams For NIU's First-Year Composition Retention Summit. January 9, 2015

"Integrating ePortfolios in the FYC Classroom." For First Friday Professional Development with NIU's First-Year Composition Program. October 6, 2014
​
"Using Blogs in the Classroom." For First Friday Professional Development with NIU's First-Year Composition Program. ​​March 3, 2014

Professional Activities

Organizational Membership
Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW)
Society of Technical Communication (STC)
Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)
National Council of Teachers of English (NTCE)
Rhetoric Society of America (RSA)
 
Illinois State University
Co-Faculty Advisor, Rhetoric Society of America, ISU Chapter, 2018 - Present
Faculty member, Rhetoric Society of America, ISU Chapter, 2017 – Present
Faculty Advisor, Nintendo Appreciation Club, ISU, 2018 - Present

Northern Illinois University
Member, Digital Humanities Initiative, NIU, Fall 2016 - Spring 2017
           
​Founding Member, Rhetoric Research Forum, NIU, Fall 2016 - Spring 2017
 
First-Year Composition pedagogical training:
Week-long workshop and two-course sequence on teaching first-year composition courses and classroom visits from First-Year Composition administrators
 
Panel Moderator, Midwest Conference on Language, Literature, and Media, NIU, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Editorial Staff for Style, Volume 46, Issues 3 and 4 (Fall/Winter 2012), NIU, 2012
 
University of Colorado
Certificate in College Teaching:
Certification through the Graduate Teacher Program of 20+ hours of pedagogy workshops, one semester of weekly pedagogy seminars, two video-taped consultations, and two recommendation letters of teaching excellence from home department

Teaching Experience

All university courses independently designed and taught unless otherwise specified
Illinois State University, 2017 - Present
Technical Writing I (ENG 249 | online)
​Rhetorical Theory and Application (ENG 283)
Technical Writing II (ENG 349)
Visible Rhetorics (ENG 350)
Hypertext/Digital Rhetorics (ENG 351)
Technology and English Studies (ENG 467)

Northern Illinois University, 2012 – 2017
Writing for Electronic Media (ENGL 424)  
Technical Writing (ENGL 308)   
Introduction to Rhetoric and Composition (ENGL 103) 
Introduction to Researched Writing in the Domains (ENGL 104/203)     
Introduction to the Basics of Grammar (ENGL 207)                                            Teaching Assistant
 
University of Colorado, 2009
Introduction to Literary Theory (ENGL 1010)                                                        Teaching Assistant
 
Institute of Reading Development, Summer 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017; Fall 2015

Mentorship

​MA Students Mentored
            Brittany Larsen, thesis advisor (in progress)
            Sydney Klem, thesis advisor (in progress)
            Timothy Wyland, portfolio advisor (in progress)
 
PhD Students Mentored
            Teigha Van, teaching internship advisor (completed spring 2019) and dissertation committee member (in progress)
            Charles Woods, teaching internship advisor, specialization exam advisor, and dissertation director (planned)
            Courtney Cox, English studies exam advisor (planned)
            Matthew Schering, teaching internship advisor (planned)

Service

Professional
Reviewer for Rhetoric Review, October 2018 – Present
Founding an official working group for digital aggression research to convene yearly at the Computers and Writing conference, May 2018 – Present
Judge for Hugh Burns Dissertation Award, Spring 2019
Invited reviewer for Computers and Composition, August 2018
Invited reviewer for conference proposals, 2018 and 2019 ATTW conferences
 
Institutional
Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, NIU
Member, 2015 – 2017
Media Intern, Spring 2015
 
Participant in Illinois Regional Eportfolio Partnership (IREP), NIU, Spring 2015
IREP was an initiative to connect surrounding community colleges with NIU through a shared eportfolio system to allow students to easily transfer among colleges and to NIU
 
Department
Department Council, ISU
​Member, August 2018 - Present

Professional Growth Committee, ISU
Member, August 2017 – August 2018
 
Curriculum and course development for ENG 351, Fall 2017 - Spring 2018
 
First-Year Composition Committee, NIU, 2013 – 2017
Assessment Subcommittee, 2013 – 2017
Textbook Subcommittee, 2013 – 2017
Handbook Subcommittee, Spring 2014, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017
Working Conditions Subcommittee, 2014 – 2017
            Chair, Fall 2014 – 2017
Showcase of Student Writing Subcommittee, 2013 – 2014, 2015 – 2017
 
Eportfolio Coordinator for FYCC, NIU, 2014 – 2016
Updated programmatic assessment rubric and scoring mechanism
 
First-Year Composition Eportfolio Assessment, NIU
Group Leader, 2013 – 2017
Assessor, 2012 – 2017
 
Graduate Student Advisor for Sigma Tau Delta, Xi Delta, NIU, 2012 – 2013
 
MA student-faculty liaison, University of Colorado, 2009 – 2010
           
Reactivated Sigma Tau Delta, Alpha Iota Sigma, University of Colorado, Fall 2008
            President, Fall 2008 – Spring 2009
            Graduate Student Advisor, Spring 2009 – Spring 2011

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