Faculty Featurette
Miranda L. Egger
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This month we had the privilege of interviewing Miranda L. Egger who is a Rhetoric and Composition Instructor in the Department of English.
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You have a background in English, but what drew you into teaching composition?
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I’m like so many Rhetoric & Writing teachers: I fell in love with English at a time when English only meant Literature (in school). Even through my undergraduate study (in Mississippi), English courses were always Literature based. Soon after I graduated, I moved to Colorado, started graduate work, and met my mentor (Dr. Richard VandeWeghe). He’s the one who bridged Literature and Rhetoric for me. After one class, I switched my concentration and I’ve never looked back.
I suppose what those two disciplines have in common is that reading and writing is at their core, but where they differ, as it pertains to this question (because they differ in many, many other ways), is often in what sorts of texts, textual environments and rhetorical purposes they privilege.
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Recently you’ve become Assistant Director of Composition—what challenges and opportunities do these new responsibilities entail?
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My favorite thing about being the Assistant Director of Composition is the chance to work with new teachers. We have a small group of new Teaching Assistants (which is a misnomer, since they are fully responsible for an entire section of Core Composition I; they aren’t assisting anybody) each fall and I most love being a thinking partner as they do the hard work of turning theory into praxis. Dr. Herring (the Director) and I are dedicated to giving them enough structure to avoid feeling paralyzed by the volume of options (well, sometimes) and still find autonomy to develop their own teaching approach.
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In addition to your work directly with the English Department, you’re also a member of the National Writing Project’s Denver site. Tell us about your work with the Denver Writing Project.
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The Denver Writing Project, housed in the English Department at the University of Colorado Denver, began in the year 2000 and is a professional development network that serves teachers of writing at all grade levels, primary through university, and in all subjects. The mission of the project is to help Denver area students become strong writers and effective 21st century communicators. We pursue this goal by focusing the knowledge, expertise, and leadership of Denver’s educators on sustained efforts to improve writing and learning for all learners. We also conduct summer institutes, school-year programs, youth writing camps, and professional research in order to develop the leadership and innovative approaches that are vital to teaching and learning in the digital age.
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You’ve also demonstrated a commitment to professional development and are now a Ph.D. candidate at Old Dominion University. What attracted you to their program?
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Old Dominion University has been an awesome experience. My field—Rhetoric & Writing Studies— offers limited Ph.D. options in Colorado. But since I’m pretty firmly rooted here with my family, I had to find an alternative. Old Dominion offers one of the few programs with synchronous online classes for those of us who live at a distance. I met with my peers every week, just like I would if I physically lived in Norfolk, Virginia and I participated in each class session just as I would if I were a traditional student, but I participated via WebEx instead. I also traveled to Virginia in the summers to fulfill the residency requirements and to further interact with faculty and peers. Old Dominion offers working adults an opportunity to continue their own education in a way that traditional Ph.D. programs don’t yet.
Their program is also termed English Studies—which means that I have the freedom to tailor my course of study from variety of disciplinary perspectives: Rhetoric & Writing Studies, Digital Rhetoric, Cultural Studies, Digital Humanities, Linguistics, and Literature.
It’s been an intense experience, but I have no regrets. I just need to survive the workload!
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With as many different and demanding roles in your life right now, what kind of time can you find for a break? Were you able to get to the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival this year?
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There aren’t many chances to take a break these days, and when I do, I’ve got to be strategic: yoga, riding my bike, trying a new recipe. But there is an end in sight. I’ve got Candidacy Exams coming up in the next few weeks and I think there just might be a brief break on the other side of those exams. I may spend a week straight watching bad Lifetime movies and drinking cheap Chardonnay.
Oh, and I did go to Folks Festival, but this year, I only made it to the show on Friday night. I had to pack 3 days of festival antics into one night; I achieved my goal. :)
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