Our joint partnership between the Department of English and the School of Education means that students can take advantage of a broad range of faculty strengths and interests, from rhetorical theory and history to new media work to disability studies to composition pedagogy.
A particular strength of our program is the opportunity for students to gain expertise in conducting quantitative and qualitative research on writing in colleges and the schools. Our faculty are committed to working with you to craft an individualized program appropriate to your interests and needs. Feel free to contact any of us to discuss the program.

Laura Aull
English Faculty
Composition, applied linguistics, corpus linguistics, writing assessment, writing analytics, genre analysis…Read more

Anne Curzan
acurzan@umich.eduEducation and English Faculty
History of English, language and gender, corpus linguistics, lexicography, pedagogy…Read more

Barry J. Fishman
fishman@umich.eduEducation Faculty
Technology, video games as models for learning, teacher learning, design-based implementation research…Read more


David Gold
dpg@umich.eduEnglish Faculty
History of rhetoric, women’s rhetorics, composition pedagogy…Read more

Scott Richard Lyons
lyonssr@umich.eduEnglish Faculty
Native American and global indigenous studies, critical theory, rhetoric…Read more

Elizabeth Birr Moje
moje@umich.eduEducation Faculty
Adolescent and disciplinary literacy, literacy and cultural theory, research methods…Read more

Alisse Portnoy
alisse@umich.eduEnglish Faculty
Rhetoric and composition; rhetorical activism and civil rights movements…Read more

Mary J. Schleppegrell
mjschlep@umich.eduEducation Faculty
Functional linguistics, second language learning, discourse analysis, language development…Read more

Megan Sweeney
meganls@umich.eduEnglish Faculty
African American literature and culture; ethnography; pedagogy; critical prison studies…Read more

Ebony Elizabeth Thomas
ebonyt@umich.eduProgram Co-Chair | Education Faculty
Ebony is an expert on children’s literature, youth media, and fan culture. Read more...

Thomas Toon
ttoon@umich.eduEnglish Faculty
Language variation and socio-historical linguistics (especially the influences of literacy on processes of language change); Read more…

Daniel Valella
dvalella@umich.eduEnglish Faculty
U.S. minority literatures, rhetorical theory, comparative ethnic studies, queer of color critique. Read more...

M. Remi Yergeau (they/them/theirs)
myergeau@umich.eduEnglish Faculty
Rhetoric & writing studies, digital studies, queer rhetorics, and critical disability studies…Read more