dawn shepherd, phd

admin & leadership

In addition to successfully carrying out my responsibilities in research and teaching, I have committed myself to program administration and leadership to maximize my efforts to do good.

While building and teaching excellent courses or researching and writing significant scholarship are often considered the hallmark of success for faculty members, I believe that I can make the biggest difference by doing the hard work of stewarding programs. As I see it, program administrators and directors at large colleges and universities are like middle managers in knowledge-based industries. And they matter. Now more than ever.

Director, BA in Professional & Public Writing

Department of Writing Studies | Boise State University (2024-now)

Degree program focused writing for professional and public situations. Focused on career-ready skills, community engagement, and real-world application.

Some current projects

• Overseeing curricular revisions, including designing and developing an innovative new course on AI and influence

• Working with the student success team to map career readiness and academic advising activities across the degree program

• Streamlining and documenting processes to ensure program sustainability

Program Launch Director, BA in Digital Innovation + Design

College of Innovation + Design | Boise State University (2021-2023)

Fully online program uses a micro-credentialing model and has a practical skills focus. Majors earn four certificates in areas like UX Design and Applied Leadership, starting in their first year.

My role is to ensure a successful launch of the degree.

Some highlights

• Designed, developed, and managed vertical student success curriculum with a focus on metacognition and transfer

• Launched marketing, advising, and recruiting operations, in coordination with internal partners

• Developed policy and processes for evaluating and implementing new certificate programs

Discipline Director, Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication (WRTC)

English Department | Boise State University (2020-2022)

Undergraduate programs that emphasize essential skills in writing, analysis, creative expression, and technology.

I manage course scheduling, monitor course enrollments, guide program assessment, recruit new students, and handle student course transfer/substitution.

Some highlights

• Tracked enrollment trends year over year and used creative problem-solving to course capacity challenges

• Supervised creation of curriculum resource and new instructor onboarding sites

• Supported design of new online technical communication certificates

Co-founder, The Write Class

College of Arts and Sciences | Boise State University (2014-now)

The Write Class is an online application that uses multiple measures for first-year writing placement. Used by colleges and universities across Idaho and the country.

My role includes new feature development, client support, and project management.

Some current and recent projects

• Onboarding new clients

• Revising algorithms and running scenarios to ensure placement satisfaction

• Defining and documenting business processes with Office of Technology Transfer

• Consulting with higher education leaders on issues related to equity and access in writing placement

Associate Director, First-Year Writing Program

English Department | Boise State University (2011-2021)

Boise State’s First-Year Writing Program serves over 2000 students each semester in four distinct course configurations (ENGL 101, 101Plus, 101Multilingual, and 102) and in-person, remote, hybrid, and online modalities.

In addition to collaborating on curriculum design, enrollment management, and instructor support, my primary responsibilities were designing and overseeing three online courses, documenting program policies, and managing the ENGL 101 Concurrent Enrollment Program.

Some highlights

• Co-led three-year programwide curriculum redesign

• Used procedural rhetoric approach to document all program policies and procedures and develop protocol for handling student requests

• Successfully advocated on both local and state level for curriculum and course placement changes that improved equity and access for first-year students

• Served as Higher Education Representative on statewide Grades 6-8 English Language Arts/Literacy Content Standards Review Committee

• As member of the General Education Committee, served on Assessment and chaired Faculty Development and Written Communication subcommittees

• Served on Provost’s Task Force charged with developing guiding principles for general education

Graduate Assistant Director, First-Year Writing Program

English Department | North Carolina State University (2008-2009)

I supported the program director in general program administration duties.

Some highlights

• Successfully assisted program director in gaining university approval for directed-self placement

• Co-wrote successful nomination for the Conference on College Composition and Communication Writing Program Certificate of Excellence

Graduate Consultant, Campus Writing & Speaking Program

College of Humanities and Social Sciences | North Carolina State University (2003-2004)

I supported the program directors on Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) initiatives.

Some highlights

• Provided individualized consultations with faculty from a variety of disciplines on writing pedagogy and assignment and assessment design

some publications of interest

My published scholarship focuses primarily on writing program administration and algorithmic culture. In the case of the former, I’m especially interested in how program policies can leverage statewide reform and national trends to improve equity and access for students locally. In the case of the latter, I explore how pervasive technologies like online dating work work as technologies of power.

Program leadership and policy reform

Corequisite Writing Courses: Equity and Access (2020)

Special issue of Composition Studies. Edited with Heidi Estrem and Samantha Sturman.

Reclaiming Writing Placement (2018)

Article in WPA: Writing Program Administration. Written with Heidi Estrem and Samantha Sturman

• Recipient of 2020 Kenneth Bruffee Award for exceptional scholarship in the journal

Retention, Persistence, and Writing Programs (2017)

Edited collection published by Utah State University Press. Edited with Todd Ruecker, Beth Brunk-Chavez, and Heidi Estrem

Relentless Engagement with State Educational Policy Reform: Collaborating to Change the Writing Placement Conversation (2014)

Article in WPA: Writing Program Administration. Written with Heidi Estrem and Lloyd Duman.

Participation and Collaboration in Digital Spaces: Connecting High School and College Writing Experiences (2014)

Chapter published in The Next Digital Scholar: A Fresh Approach to the Common Core State Standards in Research and Writing (edited by James P. Purdy and Randall McClure). Written with Rachel Bear, Heidi Estrem, and James E. Fredricksen

Rhetoric and digital media

Building Relationships: Online Dating and the New Logics of Internet Culture (2016)

Book published by Lexington Books.

Understanding How Algorithms Work Persuasively through the Procedural Enthymeme (2016)

Article published in Computers and Composition. Written with Kevin Brock.

Questions for Genre Theory from the Blogosphere (2009 and 2012)

Chapter published in Genres in the Internet: Issues in the Theory of Genre (edited by Janet Giltrow and Dieter Stein). With Carolyn R. Miller.

Translated into Portuguese by Leonardo Mozdzenski and Judith Hoffnagel for Gênero Textual, Agência e Tecnologia (edited by Angela Paiva Dionisio).

Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog (2004, 2009, and 2012)

Chapter published in Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs (edited by Laura Gurak, Smiljana Antonijevic, Laurie Johnson, Clancy Ratliff, and Jessica Reyman). Written with Carolyn R. Miller.

Republished in Norton Book of Composition Studies (edited by Susan Miller).

Translated into Portuguese by Leonardo Mozdzenski and Judith Hoffnagel for Gênero Textual, Agência e Tecnologia (edited by Angela Paiva Dionisio).

awards

2020 Kenneth Bruffee Award for Exceptional Scholarship

Awarded for the article “Reclaiming Writing Placement” in WPA Journal. Written with Heidi Estrem and Samantha Sturman

Article abstract: Writing assessment research has long described the harmful effects of using standardized test scores for writing placement. Now, national higher education reform efforts are critiquing the use of these tests as well. In this article, we explore how external pressures in higher education offer new spaces for WPAs to advocate for richer placement processes. We propose that placement is a moment where faculty can and should shape the conversation in order to help others – policy makers, non-profit agencies involved in remediation reform – see placement anew. Finally, we describe our own locally developed writing placement process as one possible placement approach that encourages student reflection and draws on faculty expertise.

Kenneth Bruffee Award recognizes exceptional scholarship published in WPA: Writing Program Administration. The award seeks to honor research that is cutting edge, methodologically rigorous, and has the potential to broadly impact writing programs and the discipline.

2016 Council on Basic Writing Award for Innovation

Awarded for Writing Plus Initiative in the Boise State First-Year Writing Program. With Heidi Estrem and Karen Uehling.

The Writing Plus included three projects designed to address the needs of under-confident, at-risk, or struggling writers.

• Credit-Bearing Coursework: ENGL 101Plus

• Learning-Centered Placement: The Write Class

• Supporting At-Risk Writers: The PLUS Project

Award for Innovation recognizes writing programs for innovations that improve educational processes for basic writers through creative approaches. Criteria include results and benefits, portability, and originality.

Conference on College Composition and Communication Writing Program Certificate of Excellence (2008-2009)

Awarded to the North Carolina State First-Year Writing Program. With Program Director Susan Miller-Cochran and program faculty.

Certificate of Excellence is awarded annually to up to twenty writing programs and uses an exhaustive set of criteria to evaluate nominees.

academic appointments

Boise State University

Professor (2023-now)
Department of Writing Studies

Associate Professor (2016-2023)
Departments of English and Writing Studies

Assistant Professor (2011-2016)
Department of English

North Carolina State University

Graduate Teaching Assistant (2007-2011)
Departments of Communication and English

Louisburg College

Assistant Professor (2004-2007)
Humanities Division

Part-time Instructor (2004-2005)
Humanities Division

education

PhD

Communication, Rhetoric, & Digital Media
North Carolina State University, 2012

MA

English, concentration in Rhetoric and Composition
North Carolina State University, 2004

BA

English Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1993