DESIREE DIGHTON

Campus Box 8105 5 Premier Ct.
2211 Hillsborough Street Durham, NC
Raleigh, NC 27695-8105 217-377-7612
ddighto@ncsu.edu desireedighton@gmail.com


Academic Preparation

Ph.D. Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, anticipated May 2019.
Dissertation: Seeing through Digital Methods: The Networked Circulation of Anti-gentrification Rhetoric on (and off) Twitter

Chair: David Rieder

Committee: Helen Burgess, Victoria Gallagher, Paul Fyfe, and Douglas Walls

M.F.A. Fiction Writing. Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL, 2007.

B.A. Rhetoric. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, 2003. Undergraduate Honors Project directed by Professor Philip Graham Awarded Departmental Distinction


Research Interests:
Digital Rhetoric Visual Rhetoric
Circulation Studies Professional/Technical Writing
Digital Humanities Latinx Studies
Cultural Rhetorics Writing Across the Curriculum
Feminist Methodologies Writing in the Disciplines
Civic/Public Writing  


Academic Appointments

  • North Carolina State University
  • 2017-2019 Research Assistant, Campus Writing and Speaking Program
  • 2015-2019 Graduate Instructor, English and Professional Writing Department
  • 2015-2016 Course Release, Provost Fellowship for Outstanding Graduate
  •        Student and Research Assistant for Digital Scholarship in Praxis

  • Shaw University
  • 2010-2015 Assistant Professor of the Humanities, Shaw University
  • 2010-2011 Course Release, Writer and Editor, University President’s Report,
  •        SACS Compliance Report, and Quality Enhancement Program

  • Ball State University
  • 2008-2010 Assistant Professor of English, Department of Humanities

  • Richland Community College
  • 2007-2008 Adjunct Instructor in Writing, English Department

  • Southern Illinois University
  • 2004-2007 Graduate Instructor, English and Creative Writing Departments


Publications

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • Dighton, Desiree. (Proposal accepted. Forthcoming, Spring, 2019). Arranging a Rhetorical Feminist Methodology: Tableau, Twitter Data, and Anti-Gentrification Rhetoric. Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. Special Issue: Data Viz in Writing Studies.

  • Dighton, Desiree. All Along the Watchtower: Some Kind of Way Out of Basic Writing Using Emerging Technologies. International Journal of Business, Humanities and Technology. Vol. 2.1. January, 2012.


Publications in Progress

  • Dighton, Desiree. Making White People Afraid Again: The Affective Circulation of Anti-gentrification Rhetoric. Revising for submission to Rhetoric Society Quarterly with the goal of submitting January, 2019.

  • Dighton, Desiree. Circulation, social media data, and visualization: preparing students for new threshold concepts in undergraduate curricula. Revising for submission to Journal of Technical Writing and Communication with the goal of submitting March, 2019.



Awards and Funded Research

  • HASTAC Scholar (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory), Fellowship ($600) to support innovation in digital research, praxis, and pedagogy. (2017-2019).

  • Digital Humanities Summer Institute, University of Victoria, Canada, merit-based tuition scholarship ($800) to attend the week-long Wrangling Big Data for DH certificate program. (2018).

  • Computers and Writing, travel grant ($125) for conference expenses. (2018).

  • ENG/COM 395: Social Networks and the Rhetoric of Protest, North Carolina State University, this interdisciplinary course I designed was selected from a competitive applicant pool and taught in the spring of 2017.

  • NEH ODH Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities, “Space and Place in Africana/Black Studies: An Institute on Spatial Humanities Theories, Methods and Practice for Africana Studies,” fellowship and stipend ($3,800) to develop my digital project, The Big Social Data on Gentrification: What’s Cultural Critique Got to Do with It? (2016-2017).

  • University Provost Fellowship, One-year funding award for an incoming outstanding doctoral student ($20,000) with teaching release. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, (2015-2016).



Research and Administrative Experience

  • Research Assistant, Campus Writing and Speaking Program
  • North Carolina State University, 2018-2019

Under the direction of Dr. Chris Anson, Distinguished University Professor, Professor of English, and Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program.

The University program was the first in the nation to integrate oral and written communication across the curriculum using the departmental mode. Key responsibilities include:
– Collaborating with the CWSP team to select invited speakers, seminar leaders, and workshop facilitators
– Designing publicity material for the web
– Redesigning the CWSP website
– Organizing and assisting in dozens of invited talks, several workshops, and two semester-long faculty development seminars to improve writing and speaking in courses across the curriculum
  • In this role, I assisted with the CCCC grant-funded research project: Talking About Writing: Mining Key Concepts in Students’ Reflections on Drafts in Progress (Dr. Chris Anson, P.I.). Key responsibilities:
    – Transcribing student audio reflections of drafts in progress
    – Coding transcripts using grounded theory and inductive analytical framework
    – Analyzing results with research team
    – Presenting preliminary results at conferences


  • Provost Fellowship and Research Assistant
  • North Carolina State University, 2015-2016
Under the direction of Dr. Paul Fyfe (Digital Humanities Certificate Director and Associate Prof. of English). Key responsibilities:
– Organizing and assisting with monthly events to highlight digital scholarship across campus
– Writing an ACLS Extension Grant Application to extend the digital project #myshawu, which I created while I was Assistant Professor at Shaw University


  • Special Projects Assistant to the President
    Shaw University, 2011
     
    – Collaboratively researching, writing, and editing the University’s SACS Compliance Report
    – Developing and implementing the University’s QEP program, a writing- focused initiative, which involved developing a Writing Center and Writing Center-integrated first-year writing courses
    – Writing job descriptions for a writing center director and tutors, as well as serving on the hiring committee for the writing center director
    – Collaborating with the Writing Center Director and tutors on the outcomes and assessment of the Writing Center, FYW courses, and QEP goals
    – Leading faculty development and mentoring teaching staff for FYW courses, including developing course and QEP assessment materials and rubrics


  • Project Manager, #myshawu Project
    Shaw University, 2013-15
     
    – Designing a student-centered campus history photography project using Instagram and Lentil, an open-source tool, to collect, visualize, and archive over 3,000 images
    – Integrating this project into FYW course design to mutually support project and course goals, including improving student writing and first-year student retention
    – Presenting this project at national and international conferences, both in the fields of writing studies and digital humanities
    – Coordinating and mentoring student-conducted oral history projects with distinguished Shaw alumni



Courses Taught

North Carolina State University

  • ENG 426: Analyzing Style, Spring 2019

  • Formulated for Language, Writing, and Rhetoric majors, this upper-level course focuses on the canon of style, providing students with its theoretical history, including its classical forms, as well as updated theories of style in visual rhetoric, from typography to memes, and in material rhetoric, from public spaces, urban planning documents to memorials. Additionally, we discuss epistemological connections to style, such as the way in which style inspires feelings of objectivity in science-inspired plots typical in visualizations, and the way in which style across genres can activate cultural and gender biases. Major assignments involve opportunities to analyze classical and contemporary texts, as well as to emulate and extend these styles by collaborating, emulating, and remixing media and texts, incorporating found objects, and using digital modes to connect stylistically across media, to illuminate key theories from the course, and to apply stylistic choices appropriate to the students’ chosen genre and/or interests.

  • ENG/COM 395: Social Networks and the Rhetoric of Protest, Spring 2018

  • I designed this special topics course in rhetoric and digital media for upper-level undergraduates in both English and Communication majors, as well as majors across other curricula. The course provides a background in rhetorical theory and methods students can use to analyze the images, text, video, sound, and symbols of protest, counter-protest, and repression that circulate through social networks. Major assignments include collaborative work using traditional scholarly methods and modes as well as the application of computational tools to gather social media data for student-led analysis, argumentation, and/or creative data remix, which can include other technology, visualization, or hand-made objects. Students’ final projects were presented and/or performed at an open-to-the-public exhibition in Hill Library. This course was designed to provide theoretical grounded in rhetoric, as well as critical and practical application of that knowledge to social media, data analytics and visualization, gearing this study and application towards students’ areas of interests and intended careers.

  • ENG 331: Communication for Engineering and Technology (Five sections taught from Summer 2016-Spring 2018)

  • This upper-level writing course is designed for engineers and students in related technical fields. Student assignments involved writing and communicating in engineering and technology genres, including communications they can expect to perform after graduation and in the workplace: job application packets, technical and instructional documentation, informal and formal proposals for grant funding based on student designs, and designing documents and visualizations. In addition, this course is designed to scaffold students’ critical thinking about the modes and means by which they create and disseminate knowledge in their respective fields to different audiences.


    Shaw University (5/5 course load over 5 years, except for one-semester course release in 2011)

  • ENG 110: Introduction to Academic Writing
  • ENG 111: College English and Composition
  • ENG 112: College Composition and Argument
  • ENG 113: College Composition and Research
  • ENG 309: Advanced Rhetorical Theory
  • HUM 110: Introduction to the Humanities


    Ball State University (4/4 course load over 2 years, with overload in the first year, 5/4)
  • ENG 101: Rhetoric and Composition
  • ENG 102: College Research
  • ENG 210: Rhetoric and Writing
  • ENG 285: Introduction to Creative Writing
  • ENG 307: Advanced Fiction Writing


    Southern Illinois University (2/2 course load, in addition to graduate coursework)
  • ENG 101: Rhetoric and Composition
  • ENG 102: College Research
  • ENG 120H: Honors English
  • ENG 204: Literary Perspectives on the Modern World
  • ENG 381A: Introduction to Fiction Writing



Invited Conference Presentations

  • “Sketchnoting, Mobility, and Writing a Spatial Self,” with Stacey Pigg, co-panelists Chen Chen, and Kendra Andrews (NCSU), Thomas R. Watson Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, October 22, 2016.

  • “Writing Pedagogy and the Digital Humanities,” Panel Presentation, Duke University, University Libraries Digital Scholarship Services, Durham, NC, February 10, 2014.



Selected Conference Presenations

  • “Authenticating Pedagogies and Performing 21st C. Literacies: Disrupting Digital Praxis, Social Media Data Analytics”, and Multimodal Composition, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Pittsburgh, PA, March 14, 2019.

  • “Playing with Twitter: The Practical Wisdom of Social Media Research,” panel presentation with Dan Anderson (UNC) and Grant Glass (UNC),Computers and Writing, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, May 25, 2018.

  • “Critical Literacy: Social Networks and the Rhetoric of Protest,” Conference on Community Writing, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, October 21, 2017.

  • “Writing Gentrification: the Big Social Data Discourse,” Digital Praxis Poster, Conference on College Composition and Communication, Portland, OR, March 17, 2017.

  • “The shawu150 Project: Viewing DH from an HBCU,” Keystone Digital Humanities Conference, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, July 24, 2015.

  • “DH on the Fringes: Using Smartphones and Ruby on Rails to Archive First-Year Experience at the South’s Oldest HBCU,” International Digital Humanities Conference, Lausanne, Switzerland, July 7, 2014.

  • “Towards a Pedagogy of Composing and Archiving Representations of 1st Year Life,” Annual Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association Conference, Chicago, IL, April 18, 2014.

  • “#myshawu #realize #iopener,” Paper Presentation, Annual Southwest Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association Conference, Albuquerque, NM, February 21, 2014.



Coursework

  • North Carolina State University
  • Core Courses in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media
  • History and Theory of Communication Technology (Andrew Johnston)
  • Rhetoric and Digital Media (David Reider)
  • Communication in Networked Society (Adriana de Souza e Silva)
  • Technologies and Pedagogies in the Communication Arts (Chris Anson)

  • Issues in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media (Jessica Jameson)

  • Concentration in Digital Humanities
  • Big Data, Algorithms, and Society (Zeynep Tufekci, UNC)
  • Digital Humanities and American Studies (Seth Kotch, UNC)

  • Quantitative Methods: Empirical Research in Composition (Nancy Penrose)

  • Concentration in Rhetoric and Writing Studies
  • Critical Pedagogy (Beth Sondel)
  • Rhetorical Criticism (Emily Winderman)
  • Technofeminism (Stacey Pigg)
  • Visual Rhetoric (Victoria Gallagher)



Professional and Literary Writing and Editing Experience

2007-Present, Assistant Editor, Narrative Magazine

Narrative sets the gold standard in online literary magazine publication. Cofounded by Tom Jenks and Carol Edgarian, Narrative stories have recently been included in Best American Short Stories and nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
– Distributing general submissions and managing an editorial team
– Promoting pieces for publication and contest consideration


2007 Simon Fraser University Book Publishing and Editing Immersion Certificate

SFU Publishing and Editing Immersion—Originally Banff Publishing Workshops-is an intensive business and editing model taught by industry professionals from the publishing houses of Knopf, Simon & Schuster, Random House and HarperCollins designed to train the next generation of publishing professionals.
– Created and gave multi-media sales presentations
– Substantively and stylistically edited book manuscripts to organize content, suggest changes, and check for proper grammar, usage, and style
– Composed print material for media and sales kits
– Created original catalogue copy using Adobe Creative Suite
– Managed publishing projects from concept through profit and loss analysis marketing, and editorial to production


2005-2007 Crab Orchard Review, Assistant Editor and Special Projects Consultant

Crab Orchard Review—A biannual national literary magazine published by Southern Illinois University’s Department of English. Work published has been awarded, nominated for, or received honorable mention in Best American Poetry and the O. Henry Prize.
– Served as first-reader for fiction and nonfiction submissions
– Made decisions regarding acceptable material for publication
– Managed incoming calls and correspondence
– Supervised interns and editorial assistants, including training staff on university and publication policies, as well as software and computer procedures
– Created, entered and maintained data
– Copyedited, proofread, and fact-checked documents
– Assisted in document layout and design using Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign and Acrobat


2005-2007 President, Graduate Writers Forum

Graduate Writers Forum—Student Organization of Southern Illinois University
– Created and directed literary events for Southern Illinois University’s graduate program in Creative Writing
– Corresponded and communicated with professional authors and editors to solicit their work and appearance
– Created and presented budgets and funding proposals to SIU’s Fine Arts Committee, Graduate Student Council and Department of English
– Secured contracts with professional writers and editors
– Acted as liaison between public, professionals, and faculty
– Coordinated flights, lodging and transportation for participants
– Wrote press releases
– Collaborated on marketing and promotional print material such as brochures, departmental newsletters, and posters for events


2005-2006 Assistant Director, Young Writers Workshop

Young Writers Workshop—National creative writing camp for high- school students sponsored by Southern Illinois University English Department and the Division of Continuing Education
– Assisted the director on development, advancement, planning, promotion and implementation of university sponsored poetry and prose writing camp
– Corresponded with donors regarding fundraising
– Assisted in creation of budgets including marketing and scholarships
– Assisted in fundraising, which involved public grants and private contributions
– Presented proposals to SIU’s Continuing Education Board of Directors
– Trained staff and volunteers on principles, procedures, and policies of the university and event
– Wrote press releases.



Creative Publications and Awards

Dighton, Desiree. (2014). MIA. The Circus Book. December. Web.

Dighton, Desiree. (2012). Little Known Fact. Union Station Magazine. Vol. 5. Web.

Dighton, Desiree. (2011). In the Cemetery Where Jim Morrison is Buried. Prime Mincer. Vol. 1. Print.

Dighton, Desiree. (2009). In the Cemetery Where Jim Morrison is Buried. Glimmer Train Magazine. Winner, Best Start Contest.

Dighton, Desiree. (2009). A Garden Story, American Short Fiction. Finalist, Shorter Fiction Award.

Dighton, Desiree. (2009). MIA, Santa Barbara Writers Conference Contest, Finalist, Fiction Award.

Dighton, Desiree. (2008). Little Known Fact, Glimmer Train Magazine. Finalist, March Open Fiction Contest.



Selected Professional Service and Professional Development Activities

  • Outside Reviewer, Julia Hoover, Undergraduate Honors Project in Social Media Virality, School of Business, Monmouth University, 2018-1019.

  • Graduate Student Representative, Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Program Committee 2017-2018.

  • Editor, SACS Compliance Report, Shaw University, Raleigh, NC, 2011-2013.

  • Participant, Teaching and Technology, Faculty Resource Network Summer Seminar, New York University, NY, Summer 2012.

  • Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Institute on Quality Enhancement and Accreditation, Dallas, TX, 2012.

  • Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges Annual Conference, Orlando, FL, 2011.

  • Symposium on the Future of the Humanities, the Council of Independent Colleges and The School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, 2011.

  • Grant Writing Workshop, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 2011.



Community Service

  • Volunteer, Protect Durham Housing, Durham, NC         2017-present

  • Volunteer, Saluki Writers, Carbondale Illinois Public Schools     2005-2007

  • Volunteer, Americorps Project, Eastern Illinois Foodbank        2004-2005

  • Volunteer ESL Tutor, Central Illinois Refugee Program         2003-2004

  • Volunteer ESL Tutor, Thomasboro Public Elementary School      2003-2004



Affiliations/Memberships

  • HASTAC Scholar Fellowship            2017-2019

  • Rhetoric Society of America               2015-present

  • Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations     2014-present

  • Associated Writers and Writing Programs       2004-present