Kenneth Walker, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, English

Contact

Bio

I am from the deserts of Nevada/Alta California/Washoe Territory where rivers flow from the mountains into a great basin and do not return to the ocean. These regions taught me how place, space, and environments are sites of inquiry to critically examine settler colonialism, democratic politics, racialized economies, cross-cultural coalitions, slow 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 critical 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

My community-engaged research in borderlands rhetorical ecologies combines transnational praxis with transdisciplinary environmental humanities through rhetoric and writing studies. Born in the Great Basin in Nevada/Alta California/Washoe Territory, I currently have three areas of active research: 1) a grant-funded transdisciplinary environmental justice project called the #UrbanBirdProject—a community-engaged nature and culture program that integrates Avian Ecology, Mexican American Studies, and Indigenous Studies through local, migratory, and culturally significant birds; 2) Transnational climate and environmental justice rhetorics, especially how local communities respond to extreme weather events to foster coalitions, cooperation, and resurgence; and 3) user experience, content strategy, and information design in critical-cultural approaches to digital storytelling with technical/scientific communication..

Teaching

At the graduate level, I teach courses in Rhetorical Theories & Methods (English 6013), Histories of Rhetoric (English 5133); Environmental Justice Rhetorics (English 6023); and Writing Pedagogies (English 5183). At the undergraduate level, I teach courses in technical writing and communication (Eng 2413), environmental rhetoric (Eng 3383/3413), and intersectional environmentalisms (Eng 4913). I advise students conducting research in racial rhetorical criticism, environmental justice, transdisciplinary environmental humanities, and ecology.

Prospective Students
My humanities research studio is currently accepting a few BA students and one MA student with interests in one or more of the following areas: borderlands rhetorics and (de)coloniality, transdisciplinary environmental humanities, environmental justice rhetorics, technical and professional communication, and ecocriticism.

Previous/Current Students: Carolina Hinojosa (PhD in progress), Olarotimi Ogungbemi (PhD in progress), Michael Gallaway (PhD, Professional Lecturer at DePaul University), Lyndsey Lepovitz (MA, Grant Development Coordinator at UTSA), Christina Jordan (MA), and Jasmin Hale (BA), Gabriel Aguilar (BA, PhD Student at Penn State University), and Katie Sanchez (BA, MA Student at Texas Tech U).

Research Interests

Rhetoric, Ecology, & Borderlands
Transdisciplinary & Transnational Environmental Humanities
Critical-Cultural Science & Technology Studies
Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Writing

Degrees

Ph.D. Rhetoric and Composition, University of Arizona (2015)
M.A. English. University of Nevada, Reno (2009)
B.A. Nature and Culture. University of California, Davis (2005)

Honors and Awards

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Presentations

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Grants, Patents and Clinical Trials

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Publications

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Kenneth Walker, Ph.D.