Board Member Profile: Rachel Spear

Rachel-SpearRachel Spear

 

Education

Ph.D., Louisiana State University

Ed.S., Louisiana State University

M.A., Louisiana State University

B.A., Millsaps College

 

Dr. Rachel N. Spear serves as an At-Large CarolinasWPA board member in South Carolina. Rachel describes CarolinasWPA as the “ideal organization for collaboration, connection, and community.” Her goal as one of the South Carolina representatives is to increase the presence and participation of SC writing faculty and administrators in the organization. She also wishes to strengthen the ease of communicating and working with others with like interests.

 

Rachel’s research interests include writing pedagogy and writing studies, with a focus that relies on interdisciplinary studies to investigate women’s life-writing post-trauma and the transformative benefit of writing one’s story. Her recent publications and conference presentations include “Let Me Tell You a Story’: On Teaching Trauma Narratives, Writing, and Healing” in Pedagogy; “Can’t We JUST Write!?: The Risks and Rewards of Using Mindfulness and Expressive Writing in Revision Workshops” at CCCC; and “Changing Rape Culture through Curriculum and Collaboration” at NeMLA.

 

In addition to her research and work with CarolinasWPA, Rachel is an Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of the Composition Program at Francis Marion University. She also serves as the Women’s and Gender Studies Caucus Board Representative for the Northeast Modern Language Association.