I am currently an Associate Professor of English and Writing Program Director at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. I teach courses in rhetorical history and theory, writing as social action, composition, writing pedagogy, and research methods in writing studies. As a professor at a Jesuit university, I have also studied the Jesuit rhetorical tradition of eloquentia perfecta and am currently researching emblemata as multimodal compositions and Jesuit rhetorical texts, imagery, and spaces in renaissance Europe. One of my main research interests is the study of parrhesia, which means to speak out in situations that involve risk to the speaker. (My book, The Theory, History, and Practice of Parrhesia — The Rhetoric of Resistance is forthcoming from Palgrave Macmillan.) I also study nineteenth-century women’s rhetorics and the rhetoric of science as it pertains to Darwinism, looking closely at how scientific discoveries can be appropriated as the basis for pseudo-scientific claims to justify racism, sexism, eugenics, and the mistreatment of various marginalized populations. In an overlap between my teaching and research, I conduct classroom research in areas such as empathy as the basis of ethical argumentation, student perceptions and critical service learning, and multimodal reflection as rhetorical act. I am also interested in the possibilities of multimodal rhetoric, composition as embodied practice, and the potential of irenic, dialogic rhetoric to positively influence dialog within the public sphere.
I sometimes create video scholarship, too, including a documentary about women’s literacy in the nineteenth century called “History and Memory: The Notebook of Emma Cecelia Stadtmiller, 1888″ and a co-authored video entitled “Existential Wordplay: Humans, Creativity, and AI Writing Games.”
Please feel free to explore this website for more information about me and my professional work. I can be reached at freyr1@xavier.edu
Renea Frey 