Dr. Erica Cirillo-McCarthy

Director, University Writing Center & Assistant Professor, Department of English

Dr. Erica Cirillo-McCarthy
(615) 898-2921
Room 362a, James E. Walker Library (LIB)
MTSU Box 70, Murfreesboro, TN 37132
Office Hours

Spring 2024: Wednesdays, 10-12pm, Tues/Thurs, 2:30pm-3:30pm, in person/zoom/phone, and by appointment

Degree Information

  • PHD, University of Arizona (2012)
  • MA, Florida Atlantic University (2006)
  • BA, Florida Atlantic University (2003)

Areas of Expertise

Writing center pedagogy 

Feminist rhetorical theory

Multimodality

Archival research methods

Biography

Erica Cirillo-McCarthy directs the University Writing Center and is an Assistant Professor in the English department. She teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in writing and rhetoric for the English department and the new Public Writing and Rhetoric major. Her scholarship has been published in Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, the WPA Writing Program Administration, and other edited collections. She earned her PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, and the teaching of English from the University of Arizona.

Publications

"Snapping from the Center: Institutional Absurdity and Equitable Writing Center Administration." WPA: Writing Program Administration, vol. 47, no.1, Fall 2023, (p 163-176). with Amanda Fields, Celeste DelRusso, and Elizabeth Leahy. 

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"Snapping from the Center: Institutional Absurdity and Equitable Writing Center Administration." WPA: Writing Program Administration, vol. 47, no.1, Fall 2023, (p 163-176). with Amanda Fields, Celeste DelRusso, and Elizabeth Leahy. 

"Writing Center Reporting Strategies That Subvert Institutional Absurdities." The Peer Review, vol. 7, no. 1, 2023. With Celeste DelRusso, Amanda Fields, and Elizabeth Leahy. 

"Developing an Antiracist, Culturally Responsive Graduate Mentoring Process through Critical Reflection.Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, vol. 19, no. 2, 2022. 

"Listening, Reflecting, Responding: Toward a Metic Intelligence for Writing Center Administrators." Emotions and Affect in Writing Centers, Eds. Janine Morris and Kelly Concannon. South Carolina: Parlor Press, 2022 (p. 237-253). with Elizabeth Leahy. 

"How Can CTLs Create and Support a Culture of Faculty Writing?" Journal on Centers for Teaching and Learning, 13, 17-28, (February) 2022. With Tom Brinthaupt, Sheila Otto, and Jason Martin. 

"Recursive Interventions: A Coalitional Approach to Antiracist Pedagogy at Middle Tennessee State University." Special Issue: Black Lives Matter and Anti-Racist Projects in Writing Program Administration WPA: Writing Program Administration, vol. 44, no. 3, Summer 2021. With Erica Stone. 

"Let's Meet in the Lounge: Toward a Cohesive Tutor Pedagogy in a Writing and Speaking Center." What We Teach and How: Educating Writing Tutors. Eds. Ted Roggenbuck & Karen Johnson. (January) 2019. With Sarah Pittock.

“Rhetorics of Interruption: Navigating Sexism in the Academy.” Surviving Sexism in Academia: Strategies for Feminist Leadership. Eds. Holly Hassell and Kirsti Cole. New York: Routledge, 2017. With Elise Versoza-Hurley & Amanda Wray. 

 “‘We Don’t Do That Here’: Calling Out Deficit Discourses in the Writing Center To Reframe Multilingual Graduate Support.” Access and Equity in Graduate Writing Support Special Issue of Praxis: a Writing Center Journal 14.1 (December) 2016. With Celeste DelRusso & Elizabeth Leahy.

“Multimodal ≠ Multivocal: Incorporating an Ethic of Inclusion to Facilitate Critical Framing.” Multimodality Special Issue of Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies 3.1. (July) 2015.

Kairos and Stasis Theory: A Pathway towards Writing Center Vitality.” Writing Center Theory and Practice Special Issue of Academic Exchange Quarterly 18.4 (Winter) 2014.

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Presentations

Selected Conference Presentations:

"Getting a Handle: Building Hope Kits as a Strategy for Interrupting Despair." Conference on College Composition and Communication. Chicago, IL. 15-18 February 2023. With Biven Alexander and Sami Grayson, graduate students. 

"Navigating the Waters of Tutoring: Writing Center Archives as a Bridget for the First Year Tutor." Southeast Writing Center Association 2023 conference. Memphis, TN. 8-11 February 20...

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Selected Conference Presentations:

"Getting a Handle: Building Hope Kits as a Strategy for Interrupting Despair." Conference on College Composition and Communication. Chicago, IL. 15-18 February 2023. With Biven Alexander and Sami Grayson, graduate students. 

"Navigating the Waters of Tutoring: Writing Center Archives as a Bridget for the First Year Tutor." Southeast Writing Center Association 2023 conference. Memphis, TN. 8-11 February 2023. With Morgan Stence, undergraduate student, and Sami Grayson, graduate student. 

"Preserving Self and Center: Equitable Writing Center Assessment that Rejects Absurdity." Conference on College Composition and Communication. Remote. 10-12 March 2022. 

"Reframing our Value: Radically Reimagining Writing Center Assessment." International Writing Center Association 2021 Conference. Remote. 20-23 October 2021. 

"Metic Administration: Engaging Emotion to Identify Strategic and Compassionate Responses to Conflict." Conference on College Composition and Communication. Remote. 7-10 April 2021. 

"Emotions and Affect in Writing Center Administration: A Roundtable on the Emotional Dimensions of Administrative Work." Southeast Writing Center Association 2021 Conference. Remote. 11 February 2021. 

"National Day on Writing: Collaboration and Research." IWCA Collaborative@CCCC. Conference on College Composition and Communication. Pittsburgh, PA. 13 March 2019.

“Staying Positive When Everything Seems Negative: Addressing the Affective Dimension of Reading Anonymous Faculty Survey Responses on Student Writing." Southeastern Writing Center Association 2019 Conference. Myrtle Beach, SC. 21-23 February 2019.

"Radical Archivists: Building a Willfulness Archive to Combat Sexism and Exclusion in the Academy." National Women's Studies Association Conference 2018. Atlanta, GA. 8-11 November 2018. 

“When Pathos is King: Counter-Reason and the Fall of Ethos.” Rhetoric Society of America. Minneapolis, MN. 31 May-3 June 2018.

“Revolution Revisited: Theresa Enos’ Gender Roles and Faculty Lives in Rhetoric and Composition 2017.” Feminisms & Rhetorics Conference. 4-7 October 2017. Dayton, OH.

4C17 Featured Session: “Cultivating Rhetorics of Interruption as Feminist Praxis in Rhetoric and Composition Studies.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Portland, OR. 15-18 March 2017.

“Graduate Student Writers and Interdisciplinary.” International Writing Center Association Conference. Special Interest Group Facilitator. 13-16 October 2016. Denver, CO.

“Frames and Codes: Institutional Ideology and Sustainability in Writing Center Mission Statements.” Rhetoric Society of America. 26-29 May 2016.

 

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Research / Scholarly Activity

Current Research Projects:

Writing Center Digital Historiography: This research project documents the 45-year history of the Margaret H. Ordoubadian University Writing Center, collecting oral histories and artifacts to archive the UWC digitally. This archive will be accessible to the public and other writing center administrators and tutors. 

 

Special Projects

2022-2023:

Project Manager for NEH-funded University Writing Center Postdoc position as part of an omnibus grant in 2022 ($64,000). This postdoc will support multilingual writers across campus and provide training for faculty on multilingual pedagogy and global literatures. 

NEH Information:

Middle Tennessee State University Outright: $499,997
[ARP-Organizations]
Project Director: Leah Lyons
Project Title: Global Cultures, Political Communication, a...

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2022-2023:

Project Manager for NEH-funded University Writing Center Postdoc position as part of an omnibus grant in 2022 ($64,000). This postdoc will support multilingual writers across campus and provide training for faculty on multilingual pedagogy and global literatures. 

NEH Information:

Middle Tennessee State University Outright: $499,997
[ARP-Organizations]
Project Director: Leah Lyons
Project Title: Global Cultures, Political Communication, and Women’s Suffrage
Project Description: The employment of four humanities professionals, three graduate
students, and additional undergraduate students to support five humanities projects at
Middle Tennessee State University.

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Courses

Spring 2024

PWR 3000: Public Writing and Rhetoric

Writing Internship

Dissertation hours

Fall 2023

PWR 3000: Public Writing and Rhetoric

Directed Reading on Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

Dissertation hours

Spring 2023

ENG 6/7811: Geographies of Rhetoric and Composition: Spaces, Places, Locations

Dissertation hours

Master's thesis hours

Fall 2022<...>

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Spring 2024

PWR 3000: Public Writing and Rhetoric

Writing Internship

Dissertation hours

Fall 2023

PWR 3000: Public Writing and Rhetoric

Directed Reading on Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

Dissertation hours

Spring 2023

ENG 6/7811: Geographies of Rhetoric and Composition: Spaces, Places, Locations

Dissertation hours

Master's thesis hours

Fall 2022

ENG 3555: Tutoring Pedagogy 

Directed Reading on Spatial Rhetorics

Independent Study on Archival Research Methods (undergraduate)

Dissertation hours

Master's thesis hours

Summer 2022

ENG 1010 online

Spring 2022

ENG 4605: Advanced Composition

Dissertation hours

Masters Reading hours

Fall 2021

ENG 3555: Tutoring Pedagogy 

Directed Reading on Multimodality

Previous Teaching

Undergraduate

ENG 1010: First Year Composition

ENG 1020: Research and Argumentation

Graduate

ENG 6/7815: Archival Research Methods (spring 2020)

ENG 6/7811: Geographies of Rhetoric and Composition: Spaces, Places, Locations (spring 2021)

Directed Reading on Oral History in Rhetoric & Composition (spring 2021)

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