Tyler S.

Branson
Lorraine Sherley Research Fellow
Graduate Instructor
Department of English
Texas Christian University
(682) 936-0150
TylerSBranson@gmail.com
3321 Riveroad Ct. #504 Fort Worth, TX 76116
http://tylersbranson.wordpress.com

EDUCATION
PhD, Rhetoric and Composition Texas Christian University

2015

Dissertation: How Writing Goes Public: Agitation, Intervention, and Disruption in

Public Arguments about Writing
Abstract
Drawing upon three moments in the history of composition, this dissertation
argues that writing studies practitioners engage in public debates about writing
across three overlapping categories: agitation, intervention, and disruption. These
multiple and dynamic categories of engagement reveal the complex ways scholars
can bridge/confront/connect different publics and also complicate adages in the
field about writing studies lack of public relevance
Committee: Carrie Leverenz (Chair), Charlotte Hogg, Joddy Murray, Sarah Robbins

MA, American Studies

University of Kansas

2011

BA, English, History

University of Oklahoma

2009

PUBLICATIONS
Book Chapters
Branson, Tyler S. and Sarah. R. Robbins. Going Public in the Humanities: Undoing
Myths and Facing Challenges. The Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and
Community Engagement. Eds. Corey Dolgon, Timothy K. Eatman, and Tania D. Mitchell.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016
Branson, Tyler S. Twenty-first-Century Digital Publics and Nineteenth-Century
Transatlantic Public Spheres. Teaching Transatlanticism: Resources for Teaching
Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Print Culture. Eds. Linda Hughes and Sarah Robbins.
Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 2015
Book Reviews
Branson, Tyler S. Rev. of The Technology of Nonviolence: Social Media and Violence
Prevention by Joseph G. Bock. Journal of Hate Studies (2013). Print

[co-author] Rev. of Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke: At the Roots of the Racial Divide
by Bryon Crable. The Kenneth Burke Journal, 9:1 (2013). Online at:
http://www.kbjournal.org/review-ralph-ellison-and-kenneth-burke-bryan-crable
Other Publications
Branson, Tyler S. Living in the Gaps: On Teaching the Messiness of Culture Blog of the
American Studies (2012). Online at: http://amsjournal.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/onteaching-living-in-the-gaps-on-teaching-the-messiness-of-culture/

CONFERENCES
Papers Presented
Dangerous Documents: Writing about Difference and Risk-Taking in Rhetoric and
Composition Conference on College Composition and Communication, Tampa, FL, 2015
(accepted).
Twenty-first-Century Digital Publics and Nineteenth-Century Transatlantic Public
Spheres, a special session of the Modern Language Association Annual Convention,
Vancouver, BC, Canada, 2015.
When Writing Went Public: Linda Brodkey and the Contested Definitions of Writing
Thomas R. Watson Biennial International Conference, Louisville, KY, 2014.
Space, Race, and Assessment: Measuring Public Humanities through Program
Evaluation Race, Ethnicity, and Place Conference, Fort Worth, TX, 2014.
Writing Citizenship: Writing and Reflection as a Heuristic for Fostering Global
Citizens Conference of College Teachers of English, Abilene, TX, 2013
Race, Situated Knowledge, and Technological Practice of Occupy the Hood
Computers and Writing Conference, Raleigh, NC, 2012
The Self in 140 Characters or Less: The Value of Digital Discourses in American
Studies Mid America American Studies Association, Lawrence, KS, 2011

TEACHING
Arguing in Public: Rhetoric, Identity and Knowledge in the Public Sphere, Texas
Christian University, Spring 2014
Writing as Argument, Texas Christian University, Fall 2013
Writing as Inquiry, Texas Christian University, Summer 2013, Spring 2013, Fall 2012
Engaged Global Citizenship, Texas Christian University, Fall 2012, Spring 2012
Introduction to American Studies, University of Kansas, Summer 2011
American Identities, University of Kansas, Spring 2011, Fall 2010

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Workshops
Data, Math, Visualization, and Interpretation of Networks: An Introduction Digital
Humanities Summer Institute, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC Canada, 2014
Graduate Research Network Forum Rhetoric Society of America Conference, Senior
Scholar: Dr. Jenny Rice, San Antonio, TX 2014
GA/TA/PhD Professional Development Pedagogy, Koehler Center for Teaching
Excellence, Texas Christian University, 2013

SERVICE
Engagement Projects
Contagion, Quarantine, and Social Conscious: A Roundtable Discussion, Texas Christian
University, 2014
Part of a team assembled by the Dean of the Honors College to organizes and develop a
roundtable discussion on Albert Camuss acclaimed novel The Plague read in the context
of the global Ebola crisis, featuring speakers from literature, public health, theology, and
biology. Primarily responsible for designing and maintaining a digital component to the
roundtable, found at http://jvrfiresides.wordpress.com/
STAAR Writing Academy: Eagle Mountain Saginaw Independent School District, Fort
Worth, TX, 2014
Served as a writing consultant for a group of high school seniors across the district that
failed the STAAR test, the state-mandated standardized test in Texas. We reviewed
previous tests, examples, and rubrics, and practiced effective writing techniques
throughout this day-long workshop
Work on Grant Funded Projects
Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Grant, Texas Christian University, 2014
Worked as the Project Assessment Coordinator to devise and conduct research that
assessed student and community impact of a visiting literary figure to TCU in the spring
of 2014
Creativity Grant, Texas Christian University, 2014
Continuing funding for web-based content management of
teachingtransatlanticism.tcu.edu, an archive of transatlantic teaching materials and
digital supplement to the edited collection Teaching Transatlanticism: Curricular
Conversations on 19th Century Anglo-American Print Culture in the fall of 2014

Instructional Development Grant, Texas Christian University, 2013

Initial funding for work as the web editor and content manager for
teachingtransatlanticism.tcu.edu in the summer of 2013
Invited Campus/Departmental Talks
Am I a Digital Humanist? Digital Scholarship Roundtable: Digital Frontiers, Texas
Christian University, 2015
Whats Not in My Dissertation A Roundtable Discussion of the American Culture
Interest Group, Texas Christian University, 2015
Rethinking Publicly Engaged Scholarship Texas Christian University, 2014
Ditching the Textbook: Strategies, Stories, and Stresses of a Textbook Free Writing
Course Texas Christian University, 2014
Studying for Comprehensive Exams: Tips and Tricks Texas Christian University, 2013
Community Engagement in First-year Composition: Issues, Tensions, and Reflections
on Engagement and Service Learning Assignments Texas Christian University, 2013
Cool Tools: Digital Organizational Tools Workshop Texas Christian University, 2012
Elected Positions
President, Winifred Bryan Horner Rhetoric Society, Texas Christian University, 2013
Composition Committee, Texas Christian University, 2013
Service to the Department
Project Assessment Coordinator, Global Citizenship Visiting Scholar Ngugi wa Thiongoo,
Texas Christian University, 2014
Co-editor/Designer, Advertisement for the Rhetoric Society of America 2014 program,
Texas Christian University, 2014
Co-editor/Designer, Teaching Transatlanticism web project, Texas Christian University,
2013
Lecture Series Coordinator, Winifred Bryan Horner Rhetoric Society, Texas Christian
University, 2012
Director of Communications, American Studies Association of Graduate Students,
University of Kansas, 2010

AWARDS AND HONORS

Awards
Lorraine Sherley Research Fellowship, Texas Christian University, 2015
The Tate Prize in Composition Studies, Texas Christian University, 2014
Outstanding Graduate Student, Third and Fourth Year, Texas Christian University, 2014
Outstanding Graduate Student, First and Second Year, Texas Christian University, 2012
Rupert and Lillian Radford Fellowship, Texas Christian University, 2011
Grants
MLA Travel Grant, Modern Language Association Travel Grant Program, 2015
International Travel Grant, Department of Graduate Studies and Research, Texas
Christian University, 2015
Institute for Critical and Creative Expression Funding Award for Research, Texas
Christian University, 2014
Travel grant, Department of English, Texas Christian University, 2012, 2013, 2014

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Rhetoric Society of America (RSA)

Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)
Modern Language Association (MLA)

REFERENCES
Carrie Leverenz
Associate Professor
Rhetoric and Composition
Department of English
Texas Christian University
c.leverenz@tcu.edu
(817) 257-6242

Charlotte Hogg
Associate Professor
Director of Composition
Department of English
Texas Christian University
c.hogg@tcu.edu
(817) 257-6257

Sarah R. Robbins
Lorraine Sherley Professor of Literature
Acting Dean
J.V. Roach Honors College
Texas Christian University
s.robbins@tcu.edu
(817) 257-6489