Selfe, Cynthia
From DigitalRhetoricCollaborative
Contents |
Biography
Cynthia Selfe is currently Distinguished Humanities Professor in the Department of English at The Ohio State University. She lives in Columbus, Ohio along with her husband and fellow scholar Richard “Dickie” Selfe and their two dogs Sparky and Lucy.
Selfe was an early champion of the field of computers and writing along with a number of other scholars, including her frequent collaborator Gail Hawisher and other pioneers such as Hugh Burns. Selfe has worked tirelessly to draw humanists’ attention to the socio-cultural milieu in which technology circulates, to consider how technology affects literacy in context, and to broaden humanists’ understanding of “the text” beyond paper-based and print-based genres. Selfe’s 1999 Chair’s address to the Conference on College Composition and Communication, “Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention” was influential in drawing disciplinary attention to technology in composition studies and the digital humanities.
Selfe completed her PhD at the University of Texas-Austin and worked for a number of years at Michigan Technological University before moving to The Ohio State University. Along with Gail Hawisher, Selfe founded the peer-reviewed journal Computers and Composition in the 1980s. She founded the Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives at http://daln.osu.edu/ along with H. Louis Ulman of The Ohio State University. She is also a founding co-editor of the Computers and Composition Digital Press (CCDP), a peer-reviewed scholarly press for born-digital publications that are reviewed and published through Utah State University Press.
Among OSU faculty, students, and staff, Selfe and her husband Dickie are well known for her annual Derby de Mayo party thrown in dual celebration of the Kentucky Derby and Cinco De Mayo. Cindy Selfe is known for making very strong (and delicious) margaritas. If you have the opportunity to try them, remember to dilute, dilute, dilute: the pitcher has the words “¾ water ¼ margarita mix” printed on it, but many folks enjoy this margarita at a ratio of 1 part water to 10 parts margarita mix.
Cindy’s in-office fridge is typically stocked with Coke Zero and apples of the Honeycrisp or Fuji variety, and her office chair is a black recliner with rainbow-colored polka dots. You can often find her in this chair video-conferencing with other scholars via Skype.
Awards and Honors
2000: Along with Gail Hawisher, her longtime collaborator, Selfe won the Technology Innovator Award from the CCCC Committee on Computers in Composition and Communication.
Bibliography
Single-Authored and Collaborative Books
Selfe, Cynthia L. Computer-assisted Instruction in Composition: Create Your Own. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 1986. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia. Creating a Computer-Supported Writing Facility: A Blueprint for Action. Houghton, Mich: Michigan Technological University, 1989. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century: The Importance of Paying Attention. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Gail E. Hawisher. Literate Lives in the Information Age: Narratives of Literacy from the United States. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004. Print.
Berry, Patrick W, Gail E. Hawisher, and Cynthia L. Selfe. Transnational Literate Lives in Digital Times. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2012. Internet resource.
Edited Collections
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe, eds. Critical Perspectives on Computers and Composition Instruction. New York: Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1989. Print.
Holdstein, Deborah H, and Cynthia L. Selfe, eds. Computers and Writing: Theory, Research, Practice. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1990. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe, eds. Evolving Perspectives on Computers and Composition Studies: Questions for the 1990s. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 1991. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Susan Hilligoss, eds. Literacy and Computers: The Complications of Teaching and Learning with Technology. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1994. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe, eds. Literacy, Technology, and Society: Confronting the Issues. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall, 1997. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe, eds. Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st Century Technologies.Logan: Utah State University Press, 1999. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe, eds. Global Literacies and the World-Wide Web. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L., ed. Resources in Technical Communication: Outcomes and Approaches. Amityville, N.Y: Baywood Pub, 2007. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, Gail E. Hawisher, and Derek V. Ittersum, eds. Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, ed. Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2007. Print.
Articles/Chapters in Edited Collections
Selfe, Cindy. “An Apprehensive Writer Composes.” When a Writer Can't Write: Studies in Writer's Block and Other Composing-Process Problems. Ed. Mike Rose. New York: Guilford Press, 1985. #-#. Print. Selfe, Cindy. "Redefining literacy: The Multilayered Grammars of Computers." Critical Perspectives on Computers and Composition Instruction. Eds. Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe. New York: Teachers College Press, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1989. Print.
Holdstein, Deborah H, and Cynthia L. Selfe. Computers and Writing: Theory, Research, Practice. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1990. Print.
Hilligoss, Susan and Cynthia L. Selfe. “Studying Literacy with Computers.” Literacy and Computers: The Complications of Teaching and Learning with Technology. Eds. Cynthia L. Selfe and Susan Hilligoss. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1994. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. Literacy, Technology, and Society: Confronting the Issues. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall, 1997. Print.
Selber, Stuart A. Computers and Technical Communication: Pedagogical and Programmatic Perspectives. Greenwich, Conn: Ablex Pub. Corp, 1997. Print.
Forces of conservatism and change in computer-supported communication facilities : programmatic and institutional responses to change / Richard J. Selfe & Cynthia L. Selfe
Yancey, Kathleen B, and Brian A. Huot. Assessing Writing Across the Curriculum: Diverse Approaches and Practices. Greenwich, Conn: Ablex Pub. Corp, 1997. Print. Contextual evaluation in WAC programs / Cynthia L. Selfe --
McCracken, H T, Richard L. Larson, and Judith Entes. Teaching College English and English Education: Reflective Stories. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 1998. Print. Collaborative computer encounters : teaching ourselves, teaching our students / Gaile E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. Passions, Pedagogies, and 21st Century Technologies. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1999. Print.
Introduction. The passions that mark us : teaching, texts, and technologies / Gail E. Hawisher, Cynthia L. Selfe --
Lest we think the revolution is a revolution : images of technology and the nature of change / Cynthia L. Selfe --
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. Global Literacies and the World-Wide Web. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Conclusion : hybrid and transgressive literacy practices on the Web / Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe. Yagelski, Robert, and Scott A. Leonard. The Relevance of English: Teaching That Matters in Students' Lives. Urbana, Ill: National Council of Teachers of English, 2002. Print.
Critical technological literacy and English studies : teaching, learning, and action / Richard J. Selfe and Cynthia L. Selfe
Harrington, Susanmarie. The Outcomes Book: Debate and Consensus After the Wpa Outcomes Statement. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2005. Print.
Expanding our understanding of composing outcomes / Cynthia L. Selfe and Patricia Freitag Ericsson
Selfe, Cynthia L, Gail E. Hawisher, and Derek V. Ittersum. Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. Multimodal Composition: Resources for Teachers. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2007. Print. Thinking about multimodality / Pamela Takaayoshi & Cynthia L. Selfe -- Words, audio, and video : composing and the processes of production / Cynthia L. Selfe, Stephanie Owen Fleischer, & Susan Wright
Blair, Kristine, Radhika Gajjala, and Christine Tulley. Webbing Cyberfeminist Practice: Communities, Pedagogies, and
Social Action. Cresskill, N.J: Hampton Press, 2009. Print. Response : Paying attention to digital media : three feminist corollaries / Cynthia Selfe --
Journal Articles
Newkirk, Thomas R, Thomas D. Cameron, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "What Johnny Can't Write: a University View of Freshman Writing Ability." English Journal. 66 (1977). Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Billie J. Wahlstrom. Beyond Bandaids and Bactine: Computer-Assisted Instruction and Revision. , 1979. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Sue Rodi. "An Invention Heuristic for Expressive Writing." College Composition and Communication. 31.2 (1980): 169-74. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Freydoon Arbabi. "Writing to Learn: Engineering Student Journals." Engineering Education. 74.2 (1983): 86-90. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "Decoding and Encoding: a Balanced Approach to Communication Skills." Engineering Education. 74.3 (1983): 163-64. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Kathleen E. Kiefer. "Editorial." Computers and Composition. 1.1 (1983): 1. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia. "Software for Hardnoses: Cai for College Composition Teachers." Educational Technology. 24.9 (1984): 25-29. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "The Predrafting Processes of Four High and Four Low-Apprehensive Writers." Research in the Teaching of English. 18.1 (1984): 45-64. Print.
Petersen, Bruce T, Cynthia L. Selfe, and Billie J. Wahlstrom. "Computer-assisted Instruction and the Writing Process: Questions for Research and Evaluation." College Composition and Communication. 35.1 (1984): 98-101. Print.
Petersen, Bruce, Cynthia Selfe, and Billie Wahlstrom. "Reply by Bruce Petersen, Cynthia Selfe, and Billie Wahlstrom." College Composition and Communication. 36.3 (1985): 347-48. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "Creating a Computer Lab That Composition Teachers Can Live with." Collegiate Microcomputer. 5.2 (1987): 149-58. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "Creating a Computer-Supported Writing Lab: Sharing Stories and Creating Vision." Computers and Composition. 4.2 (1987): 44-65. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia. "Computers in English Departments: the Rhetoric of Technopower." ADE Bulletin. 90 (1988): 63-67. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Billie J. Wahlstrom. "Computers and Writing: Casting a Broader Net with Theory and Research." Computers and the Humanities. 22.1 (1988): 57-66. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and J D. Eilola. "The Tie That Binds: Building Discourse Communities and Group Cohesion Through Computer-Based Conferences." Collegiate Microcomputer. 6.4 (1988): 339-48. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "The Humanization of Computers: Forget Technology, Remember Literacy (Computers in the Classroom)." English Journal. 77.6 (1988): 69-71. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Letter from the Editors." Computers and Composition. 7.1 (1989): 5-6. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Letter from the Editors." Computers and Composition. 7.2 (1990): 5-6. Print.
Cooper, Marilyn M, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Computer Conferences and Learning: Authority, Resistance, and Internally Persuasive Discourse." College English. 52.8 (1990): 847-69. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Reply by Gail E. Hawisher and Cynthia L. Selfe." College Composition and Communication. 42.4 (1991): 502-3. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "The Rhetoric of Technology and the Electronic Writing Class." College Composition and Communication. 42.1 (1991): 55-65. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Paul R. Meyer. "Testing Claims for On-Line Conferences." Written Communication. 8.2 (1991): 163-92. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Marilyn M. Cooper. "Cynthia L. Selfe and Marilyn M. Cooper Respond." College English. 53.8 (1991): 953-55. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Voices in College Classrooms: the Dynamics of Electronic Discussion." Quarterly of the National Writing Project and the Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy. 14.3 (1992): 24. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "Re-defining Literacy: the Multi-Layered Grammars of Computers. (focus: Technology in Education)." Education Digest. 57.5 (1992). Print.
Schwartz, Helen, Cynthia Selfe, and James Sosnoski. "Electronic Department." Works and Days. 12 (1994): 1-2. Print.
Schwartz, Helen, Cynthia Selfe, and James Sosnoski. "The Electronic Department." Works and Days: Essays in the Socio-Historical Dimensions of Literature and the Arts. 12 (1994): 261-86. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "Three Voices on Literacy, Technology, and Humanistic Perspective." Computers and Composition. 12.3 (1995): 309-310. Print.
Selber, Stuart A, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Contexts for Faculty Professional Development in the Age of Electronic Writing and Communication.(symposium Part Iii)." Technical Communication. 42.4 (1995). Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Gail E. Hawisher. "Letter from the Editors." Computers and Composition. 12.1 (1995): 1-2. Print.
Holdstein, Deborah H, Richard Lanham, Paul LeBlanc, Cynthia L. Selfe, Susan Hilligoss, Myron Tuman, and Myron Tuman. "Technology, Utility, and Amnesia." College English. 57.5 (1995). Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "CCCC Chair's Letter." College Composition and Communication. 50.2 (1998): 300-304. Print.
Moran, Charles, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Teaching English Across the Technology/wealth Gap." English Journal. 88.6 (1999): 48-55. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "Technology and Literacy: a Story About the Perils of Not Paying Attention." College Composition and Communication. 50.3 (1999): 411-36. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia. "Paying Attention to the Professional Development of Graduate Students: Designing a Seminar That Works." Kairos: a Journal for Teachers of Writing and Webbed Environments. 5.2 (2000). Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and G D. Atkins. "To His Nibs, G. Douglas Atkins-Just in Case You're Serious About Your Not-so-Modest Proposal." Jac: a Journal of Composition Theory. 20.2 (2000): 405-26. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Collaborative Configurations: Researching the Literacies of Technology." Kairos: a Journal for Teachers of Writing and Webbed Environments. 7.3 (2002). Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Gail E. Hawisher. "A Historical Look at Electronic Literacy: Implications for the Education of Technical Communicators." Journal of Business and Technical Communication. 16.3 (2002): 231-76. Print.
DeVoss, Dànielle N, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "'this Page Is Under Construction': Reading Women Shaping On-Line Identities." Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture. 2.1 (2003): 31-48. Print.
Longo, Bernadette, Donna Reiss, Cynthia L. Selfe, and Art Young. "The Poetics of Computers: Composing Relationships with Technology." Computers & Composition. 20.1 (2003). Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, Cynthia L. Selfe, Brittney Moraski, and Melissa Pearson. "Becoming Literate in the Information Age: Cultural Ecologies and the Literacies of Technology." College Composition and Communication. 55.4 (2004): 642-92. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia, and Gail Hawisher. "The Influence of Gunther Kress' Work." Computers and Composition: an International Journal for Teachers of Writing. 22.1 (2005): 1-100. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "On Editing and Contributing to a Field: the Everyday Work of Editors." Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture. 4.1 (2005): 9-26. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, Cynthia L. Selfe, Yi-Huey Guo, and Lu Liu. "Globalization and Agency: Designing and Redesigning the Literacies of Cyberspace." College English. 68.6 (2006): 619-36. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Gail E. Hawisher. "Letter from the Editors." Computers & Composition. 23.4 (2006). Print.
Anderson, Daniel, Anthony Atkins, Cheryl Ball, Krista H. Millar, Cynthia Selfe, and Richard Selfe. "Integrating Multimodality into Composition Curricula: Survey Methodolgy and Results from a CCCC Research Grant." Composition Studies. 34.2 (2006): 59-84. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Gail E. Hawisher. "Moving from 20th to 21st Century Research Contexts." Kairos: a Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy. 11.2 (2007). Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Letter from the Editors." Computers & Composition. 24.1 (2007). Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Letter from the Editors." Computers & Composition. 24.2 (2007). Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Letter from the Editors." Computers & Composition. 24.4 (2007). Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "Letter from the Editors." Computers & Composition. 25.4 (2008). Print. Lee, Valerie, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Our Capacious Caper: Exposing Print-Culture Bias in Departmental Tenure Documents." ADE Bulletin. 145 (2008): 51-58. Print.
Selfe, Richard, and Cynthia Selfe. ""convince Me!" Valuing Multimodal Literacies and Composing Public Service Announcements." Theory into Practice. 47.2 (2008): 83-92. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Gail E. Hawisher. "Letter from the Editors." Computers & Composition. 25.2 (2008). Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Letter from the Editors." Computers & Composition. 26.2 (2009). Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Letter from the Editors." Computers and Composition. 26.4 (2009): 205-206. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "Letter from the Editors." Computers & Composition. 26.4 (2009). Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "The Movement of Air, the Breath of Meaning: Aurality and Multimodal Composing." College Composition and Communication. 60.4 (2009): 616-663. Print.
Blair, Kristine L, Gail E. Hawisher, and Cynthia L. Selfe. "The Electronic Landscape of Journal Editing: Computers and Composition as a Scholarly Collective." Profession. 2009.1 (2009): 160-167. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Gail E. Hawisher. "Letter from the Editors." Computers and Composition. 27.2 (2010): 75-76. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L, and Gail E. Hawisher. "Letter from the Editors." Computers and Composition. 27.4 (2010): 247-248. Print.
Selfe, Cynthia L. "Response to Doug Hesse." College Composition and Communication. 61.3 (2010): 606-610. Print.
Hawisher, Gail E, Cynthia L. Selfe, Gorjana Kisa, and Shafinaz Ahmed. "Globalism and Multimodality in a Digitized World: Computers and Composition Studies." Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture. 10.1 (2011): 55-68. Print.
Blair, Kristine L, Cynthia L. Selfe, and Gail E. Hawisher. "Letter from the Editors." Computers and Composition. 28.1 (2011): 1-2. Print.
Blair, Kristine L, Cynthia L. Selfe, and Gail E. Hawisher. "Letter from the Editors." Computers and Composition. 28.2 (2011): 77-78. Print.
