Daphne Desser teaches graduate courses in rhetoric, writing and difference, and theories and practices of teaching writing. She has taught undergraduate courses in rhetorical traditions, legal rhetoric, argumentative writing, and writing pedagogy.

Presently serving as Director of First-Year Writing, Daphne has been active in writing program administration, having served as the director of the Writing Center, as director of the Portfolio Placement Program, and the director the English 100/101 tutoring program.

Her academic writing explores various aspects of identity construction and negotiation in such diverse writing contexts as electronic media, computer games, family letters, and the composition classroom. She is currently working on a co-edited book titled Teaching Writing in a Globalized World: Remapping Composition Studies.

Significant Recent Publications

“On Location in Hawai‘i: The Hapa Experience and Relational Authority in the Writing Classroom.” Composing Other Spaces: Place-Based Essays. Ed. John Paul Tassoni and Douglas Reichert Powell. Cresskill: Hampton P, 2009. 37-56.

“Politics, Gender, Literacy: The Value and Limitations of Current Histories of Women’s Rhetorics.” College Composition and Communication.  60.1. 2008. 182-92.

“Fraught Literacy: Competing Desires for Connection and Separation in the Writings of American Missionary Women in 19th Century Hawai‘i.” College English. 69.5. 2007. 443-69.

“On Silence and Listening: ‘bewilderment, confrontation, refusal, and dream.’” JAC: A Journal of Composition Theory. 26.1-2. 2006. 311-26.

“Teaching Writing in Hawai‘i after Pearl Harbor and 9/11: How to ‘Make Meaning’ and ‘Heal’ Despite National Propaganda.” Trauma and the Teaching of Writing. Ed. Shane Borrowman. Albany: SUNY P, 2005. 85-97.

“‘ Why not Leeloh?’ and Other Disasters: Children’s Computer Games as a Site of Cultural Contestation, Corporate Corruption, and, Despite all That, Cognitive Development.” Works and Days Special Issue: “Capitalizing on Play: Politicized Readings of the Computer Game Industry.” 43/44. 22 (2004): 37-53.

Areas of Interest
Rhetorical history, theory, and criticism, writing and difference, identity construction and negotiation in composition studies, writing pedagogy

Education
BA, MA, PhD, University of Arizona

Awards
Chancellor's Citation for Meritorious Teaching, 2007 2007