Kenneth Walker, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Kenneth Walker, Ph.D.

Professional Info: Curriculum Vitae
Email: kenneth.walker@utsa.edu
Phone: (210) 458-4374
Office: MH 4.04.02

Research in Progress

I am a rhetorical scholar and practitioner with expertise in environmental and ecological approaches to rhetoric, science, and technology. Broadly, I consider how environmental and ecological rhetorics affect cultural and political change from the perspective of critical cultural theory and science and technology studies. I am particularly interested in the rhetorics and politics of climate and climate change from local, regional, and global standpoints. Originally from the Great Basin in Nevada, I currently have three areas of active research: 1) Local histories and futures of climate and climate change in South-Central Texas and the Southwest, particularly as they function across cultural communities and in political discourses; 2) Public science communication and science writing in transdisciplinary science teams seeking to foster underrepresented student success in STEM education; 3) User experience, content strategy, and information design in social and environmental justice approaches to technical and scientific communication.


Specializations

Environmental and Ecological Rhetorics, Rhetorical Theory and Practice, Rhetoric of Science, Technical and Scientific Communication, Science and Technology Studies, Writing Studies.


Honors, Grants, and Awards

As director of the science and environmental communication laboratory at UTSA, I am currently in the first year of a National Science Foundation (NSF) and United States Department of Agriculture (UDSA) funded program on diversifying STEM education through Hispanic-Serving Institutions. I am also a two-time fellow with the Carson Scholars Program at the University of Arizona. I have won an INTRA grant for my research at UTSA, and multiple article of the year awards from the Association for the Rhetoric of Science, Technology, and Medicine (ARSTM) and the Association for the Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW).


Teaching

At the undergraduate level, I teach courses in technical writing and communication (Eng 2413), environmental rhetoric in technical and professional communication (Eng 3383/3413), and rhetorical-cultural theory (Eng 4913). At the graduate level, I teach courses in writing and literacy pedagogies (Eng 5813), histories of rhetoric (Eng 5133), and environmental justice rhetorics (Eng 6023). I advise students conducting research in rhetorical theory and race, environmental justice, environmental humanities, place-based and regional rhetorics, and ecology.


Prospective Students

I am currently accepting a few BA, MA, and PhD students with interests in one or more of the following areas: border rhetorics and de/coloniality, environmental and ecological rhetorics, social and environmental justice in technical and professional communication, and applied environmental humanities.
Previous/Current Students: Michael Gallaway (PhD), Jasmin Hale (BA), Gabriel Aguilar (BA), and Katie Sanchez (BA).


Representative Publications

Climate Politics on the Border book cover
2021. Climate Politics on the Border: A Pluriversal Rhetorical Praxis. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, Series in Rhetoric, Culture and Social Critique.

2020. Divergence and Diplomacy as a Pluriversal Rhetorical Praxis of Coalitional Politics, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 50(4), 225-239.

2020. “Seeding Success for Underrepresented Students: Informal STEM Learning through Community Science, Avian Ecology, and Ethnic Studies.” ($269,000), Co-PI. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Education Grant. w/ Jennifer Smith (PI), Annette Portio (Co-PI), and Amelia King-Kostelac (Co-PI). Submitted 28 January 2020. Fully Funded 15 June 2020. (Competitive grant; 33% of contribution).

(2018). Advancing and Strengthening Science Identity through Systematic Training (ASSIST). ($500,000), Co-PI. National Science Foundation (NSF), Research Traineeship (NRT), Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE). w/ Janis Bush (PI), Amaury Nora (Co-PI), Sue Hum (Co-PI), and Jeffrey Hutchinson (Co-PI). Submitted 25 October 2017. Fully Funded 31 July 2018.

(2018). Validating the consequences of social justice pedagogy: Explicit values in course-based grading contracts. Michelle F. Eble and Angela M. Haas (Eds.), Key Theoretical Frameworks for Teaching Technical Communication in the 21st Century. Logan, UT: Utah State UP. w/ Cruz Medina.

(2017). Rhetorical Principles on Uncertainty for Transdisciplinary Engagement and Improved Climate Risk Communication. Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry (POROI), 12(2), 1-13.

(2017). A Year of Deliberating Danger(ously): A Network Topology of the Loaded Climate Dice. Lynda Walsh & Casey Boyle (Eds.), Topologies as Techniques for a Post-Critical Rhetoric. New York, NY: Palgrave-Macmillian. pp. 175-196.

(2016). Mapping the contours of translation: Visualized un/certainties in the ozone hole controversy, Technical Communication Quarterly, 25(2), 104-120.

(2016). Perspectives on uncertainty for technical communication scholars, Technical Communication Quarterly 25(2), 71-86. w/ Lynda Walsh.

(2013). International citizen science for tiger conservation. Public Library of Science (PLoS) Citizen Science Blog. April 1st, 2013. 1000-word blog. w/ Ashwin Naidu and Ashley R. Kelly.

For more information and links to publications, see my website.


Biography

I am from the deserts of Nevada where rivers flow from the mountains into a great basin and do not return to the ocean. These regions taught me how environments are sites of inquiry and practice for democracy, political economy, cross-cultural transactions, ecology, spiritual guidance, and living the good life. My academic career centers around these inquires and practices in my scholarship on environmental and ecological rhetorics and in my practice as an engaged member of transdisciplinary environmental science teams and multiple community organizations in San Antonio and across the Southwest. Because my own academic training fostered cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural thought and practice with an emphasis on rhetoric and democratic politics, I also seek to cultivate these characteristics in my own students.

back to top