Featured Faculty: Dr. Danielle Nielsen

Dr. Danielle Nielsen, Associate Professor of English

• PhD in English with a concentration in Writing, History, and Theory, Case Western Reserve University
• MA in English, Case Western Reserve University
• BA in English, Nebraska Wesleyan University

What projects are you currently working on?

For the past couple of years, I have been working to build our new English major with an emphasis in professional writing. This spring, one of our first majors will graduate, and we’ve been eagerly recruiting incoming students for the program.

My recent research complements my teaching. I’ve been working on a collaborative piece with Dr. Diane Nititham and Dr. Marc Polizzi from the Department of Political Science and Sociology on interdisciplinary team teaching, and this semester Dr. Nititham and I are co-teaching a HUM 211 course. Similarly, Dr. Nititham and I are working on a piece about Keanu Reeves, the genre of memes, and what this has to tell us about celebrity culture. This work stems from co-taught lectures we have given in her Pop Culture class every semester for the past few years.

Conference on Academic Research in Education where Dr. Nititham, Dr. Polizzi, and Dr. Nielsen presented their interdisciplinary team teaching work.

What do you enjoy about teaching?

I teach a variety of writing courses like ENG 105, honors composition, grant and proposal writing, and this semester, I have had the opportunity to teach a contemporary rhetoric course. I try to make sure my courses are audience centered, and provide authentic writing opportunities for my students. So, those in my grant writing classes work with local non-profit organizations and actually research and write grants for them (some of them have even been funded). I appreciate the opportunity to see students engage with their community through their writing; it helps them understand the importance of good communication and think about the type of work they can do in their own communities.

Students on Dr. Nielsen’s CCSA trip to London in 2017.

Why is English an important area to study?

I’m a rhetorician – in other words, I’m fascinated by how words work in the world. Because communication is important for all of us, whether it’s written or verbal, English, rhetoric, and writing classes are valuable for everyone. We spend the majority of our time communicating or considering our communications with others, and my work just asks us to consider a little more carefully how and why we do and say what we do.