Patricia Bizzell
Encyclopedia
Patricia Bizzell, Ph.D. is Professor of English and Chairperson of the English Department at College of the Holy Cross
, where she has taught since 1978. She founded and directed the Writer's Workshop, a peer tutoring facility, and a writing-across-the-curriculum program. She has also directed the College Honors and English Honors programs. She currently teaches first-year composition
, rhetoric
and public speaking, nineteenth-century American literature and women's literature.
A prolific scholar and author, Bizzell has authored or co-authored half a dozen books, written dozens of articles and book chapters, written more than a dozen book reviews and review essays, and presented a large number of papers at academic conferences. Her curriculum vita is available online.
Bizzell is the subject of a profile chapter in the forthcoming book Women's Ways of Making It in Rhetoric and Composition, eds. Michelle Ballif, Diane Davis, and Roxanne Mountford (Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum). Her current research interests include the question of how the increasing diversification of academic discourses affects the teaching of writing to college students.
College of the Holy Cross
The College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
, where she has taught since 1978. She founded and directed the Writer's Workshop, a peer tutoring facility, and a writing-across-the-curriculum program. She has also directed the College Honors and English Honors programs. She currently teaches first-year composition
Composition (language)
The term composition , in written language, refers to the collective body of important features established by the author in their creation of literature...
, rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
and public speaking, nineteenth-century American literature and women's literature.
A prolific scholar and author, Bizzell has authored or co-authored half a dozen books, written dozens of articles and book chapters, written more than a dozen book reviews and review essays, and presented a large number of papers at academic conferences. Her curriculum vita is available online.
Bizzell is the subject of a profile chapter in the forthcoming book Women's Ways of Making It in Rhetoric and Composition, eds. Michelle Ballif, Diane Davis, and Roxanne Mountford (Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum). Her current research interests include the question of how the increasing diversification of academic discourses affects the teaching of writing to college students.
Teaching positions
- Chair, Department of English, College of the Holy CrossCollege of the Holy CrossThe College of the Holy Cross is an undergraduate Roman Catholic liberal arts college located in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA...
, 2001-2005 - Professor of English, Holy Cross, 1988-present: composition, rhetoric, American Literature
- Director, English Honors Program, 1999-2000
- Director, College Honors Program, 1994-1998
- Director, Writing Programs, 1981-1994 (Writer's Workshop and Writing-across-the-Curriculum Program)
- Associate Professor, Holy Cross, 1981-1988
- Assistant Professor, Holy Cross, 1978-81
- Assistant Professor, Rutgers UniversityRutgers UniversityRutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, 1975-78, and Director, Remedial Writing Program, 1975-77, and Teacher Training Program, 1977-78
Professional affiliations and activities
- President, Rhetoric Society of AmericaRhetoric Society of AmericaThe Rhetoric Society of America is an academic organization for the study of rhetoric.The Society's constitution calls for it to research rhetoric in all relevant fields of study, identify new areas of study, encourage experimentation in teaching rhetoric, facilitate professional cooperation and...
, 2004-2006 - Program Chair, RSA 2004 biennial national conference
- President, Board of Directors, Alliance of Rhetoric Societies, 2006 (ARS)
Academic background
- Ph.D. in English Literature, Rutgers University, 1975.
- B.A. summa cum laude, Wellesley College, 1970.
- Currently enrolled in the M.J.L.S. (Masters, Jewish Liberal Studies) program at Hebrew CollegeHebrew CollegeHebrew College is an accredited college of Jewish studies in Newton Centre, near Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1921, Hebrew College is committed to Jewish scholarship in a transdenominational academic environment. The president of the college is Rabbi Daniel Lehmann...
Prizes and external grants received
- Winner, National Council of Teachers of EnglishNational Council of Teachers of EnglishThe National Council of Teachers of English is an American professional organization dedicated to "improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education...
Outstanding Book Award, 1992, for The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present (co-authored with Bruce Herzberg).
- Winner, National Council of Writing Program Administrators Best Book Award, 2000, for Coming of Age: The Advanced Writing Curriculum, eds. Linda Shamoon, Sandra Jamieson, Rebecca Howard, and Robert Schwegler, which included Bizzell's essay "Writing as a Means of Social Change".