Dr. Susan K Miller-Cochran

Associate Professor & Director, First-Year Writing Program

• Vita: download vita

• Email: susan_miller@ncsu.edu
• Phone: 919-515-4160
• Office: Tompkins Hall 242A
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Biography

Susan Miller-Cochran is associate professor of English at North Carolina State University and Director of the First-Year Writing Program. She has recently taught Technology and Pedagogy (CRD 704), Composition Theory and Research (ENG 511), Teaching College Composition (ENG 624), and Writing Program Administration (ENG 583). Before joining the faculty at NC State in 2006, she was a faculty member in the Maricopa Community College District. She has served on the Executive Committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) and the Executive Board of the Council of Writing Program Administrators. She is currently Secretary of the Executive Board of the Carolinas Writing Program Administrators.

Interests

The intersections of technology, second language writing, and writing program administration.

Projects

• Studying the impact of NCSU's new Directed Self-Placement process for First-Year Writing
• Understanding the impact of networked technology on students' understanding of presence in the classroom
• Implementing a cross-cultural composition curriculum for ESL writers
• Understanding how students use technology when they compose 

 

Funded Research

North Carolina State University Diversity Mini-Grant, 2010-2011

Universal Design for Learning: Rethinking Difference and Access

Support for developing and facilitating a faculty workshop on Universal Design principles applied to English classes with a focus on disability issues. Co-Principal Investigator with Kevin Brock. $3,000.

College of Humanities and Social Sciences Scholarly Research Award, 2010

Assessing the Effectiveness of Directed Self-Placement for First-Year Writing Students

Support for collecting data to assess the validity and reliability of a self-assessment placement instrument and to assess the impact of Directed Self-Placement on student success and completion of ENG 101. Principal Investigator. $4,911.75

Council of Writing Program Administrators Research Grant, 2008

Speaking of Writing: A Digital Resource for Writing in the Disciplines

Support for interviewing faculty in a variety of disciplines about their writing practices, the writing conventions of their fields, and the writing they assign to their students. Co-Principal Investigator with Chris Anson, Matt Porter, and David Rieder. $1,992.

Publications

BOOKS

Miller-Cochran, Susan, and Rochelle Rodrigo. The Wadsworth Guide to Research. Boston: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.

Miller-Cochran, Susan, and Rochelle Rodrigo, eds. Rhetorically Rethinking Usability. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2009. Print.

ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS

Miller-Cochran, Susan. “Beyond ‘ESL Writing’: Teaching Cross-Cultural Composition at a Community College.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College, accepted for publication in September 2012 issue.

Miller-Cochran, Susan. “Beyond Typical Ideas of Writing: Developing a Diverse Understanding of Writers, Writing, and Writing Instruction.” College Composition and Communication, 62.3 (2011): 550-559. Print. [invited review essay]

DePew, Kevin Eric, and Susan Miller-Cochran. “Social Networking in a Second Language: Engaging Multiple Literate Practices through Identity Composition.” In Inventing Identities in Second Language Writing. Eds. Michelle Cox, Jay Jordan, Christina Ortmeier-Hooper, and Gwen Gray Schwartz. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2010. 273-295. Print.

Miller-Cochran, Susan. “Language Diversity and the Responsibility of the WPA.” In Cross-Language Relations in Composition. Eds. Bruce Horner, Min-Zhan Lu, and Paul Kei Matsuda. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 2010. 212-220. Print.

Anson, Chris M., and Susan Miller-Cochran. “Contrails of Learning: Using New Technologies for Vertical Knowledge-Building.” Computers and Composition, 26.1 (2009):38-48. Print.

Miller-Cochran, Susan. “Teaching Students the ‘Language of Response’: Group Conferences in L2 Writing Classes.” International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 18.3 (2009): 201-202. Print.

Miller-Cochran, Susan K., and Rochelle Rodrigo. “Introduction: Developing Connections between Rhetoric, Usability, and Writing.” In Rhetorically Rethinking Usability. Eds. Susan K. Miller-Cochran and Rochelle Rodrigo. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2009. 1-8. Print.

Cahill, Lisa, Susan Miller-Cochran, Veronica Pantoja, and Shelley Rodrigo. “Graduate Student Writing Groups as Peer Mentoring Communities.” In Stories of Mentoring. Eds. Michelle Eble and Lynee Gaillet. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2008. 153-58. Print.

Miller-Cochran, Susan K. “Review of English beyond the Basics.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 34.3 (2007): 334-335. Print. [invited book review]

Miller-Cochran, Susan, and Rochelle Rodrigo. “Determining Effective Distance Learning Designs through Usability Testing.” Computers and Composition 23 (2006): 91-107. Print.

Education

• Ph.D. in Rhetoric/Composition and Linguistics from Arizona State University, 2002
• MTESL in Teaching English as a Second Language from Arizona State University, 1998
• BA in English Literature from Taylor University, 1995