Sara Biggs Chaney has a new role at the IWR: Assistant Director of Program Development.
Chaney brings wonderful credentials to her new role with the Institute. In 2008, she defended her dissertation for a PHD in English with a concentration in Composition, Literacy and Culture from Indiana University, Bloomington. Chaney received distinction for both her dissertation and her oral performance during her defense.
Chaney's dissertation, Rhetorics of Resistance: Reading Student Publics in the Writing Classroom, investigates the relationship between student performance in the college writing classroom and student participation in other writing publics within the university. In multiple case studies of the print and digital student public, Chaney argues that a closer analysis of student public writing can help us understand how and why some students struggle in the college writing classroom. At Indiana, Chaney also worked closely with the Directors of Composition on curriculum development and TA training. She assisted in the redesign and pilot of an introductory and advanced college writing course. Chaney also taught courses in technical writing, community service writing, and writing for education majors.
Since completing her degree, Chaney has been exploring new directions in research. Currently she is interested in multimodal composition and neurodiversity. It is Chaney's contention that a multimodal approach to composition will be essential in helping neurodiverse writers succeed.
Here at the Institute, Chaney has been teaching Writing 2-3 and has been involved in that program's curricular innovations-most notably The Cite is Right, a game show developed by Chaney, Karen Gocsik, Laura Braunstein, and Barbara Knauff to teach the principles of proper citation to first-year students. She has also been serving on the Steering Committee and several subcommittees. In her new role, Chaney will work on projects related to inquiry, assessment, research, and faculty development. We're very pleased to welcome Sara Chaney to the IWR administrative team.
