Fields: Composition Pedagogy, Writing Program Administration, Narrative Theory, Community-engaged Scholarship, Digital Archives, Environmental Rhetoric, Wildlife Advocacy
Biography:
Kate Comer teaches courses on writing and rhetoric and serves as the Director of Composition. Originally from New Jersey, she has also lived in Bermuda, Colorado, Ireland, Ohio, and Miami Beach, and she became an Irish citizen in 2019. Her research connects theories and practices of inclusive pedagogy, public engagement, and strategic storytelling. She is currently working on a book about the Blackfish effect, community rhetoric, and sustainable advocacy. An avid nature lover, Kate serves on the Board of Director of DamSense, a nonprofit dedicated to saving critically endangered orcas and salmon, and volunteers weekly in the Bird Alliance of Oregon’s Wildlife Care Center.
Selected Publications:
- “Habits of Mind as Heuristic for Asset-Based Reflection in First-Year Writing: Students’ Perspectives,” with Paige Banaji. Composition Forum, 2025.
- “Unruly Practice: Critically Evaluating the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives,” with Michael Harker and Ben McCorkle. Across the Disciplines [Special issue: Unsettling the Archives], 2021.
- The Archive as Classroom: Pedagogical Approaches to the DALN, co-edited with Michael Harker and Ben McCorkle. Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State UP, 2019.
- “Roles and Relationships: Possibilities for Student Participation in Writing Program Administration,” in The Rhetoric of Participation: Interrogating Commonplaces in and Beyond the Classroom. Eds. Paige V. Banaji, Lisa Blankenship, Katie DeLuca, and Lauren Obermark. Computers and Composition Digital Press/Utah State University Press, 2019.
- “Illustrating Praxis: Comic Composition, Narrative Rhetoric, and Critical Multiliteracies.” Composition Studies, 2015.
- “The Pedagogy of the DALN: A Survey,” with Michael Harker. Computers and Composition: An International Journal, 2015.
On the PSU faculty since 2017.