Biography
Andrew (Andy) Bowman is a PhD candidate in the Center for Writing Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After growing up in Houston, Andy earned his BA in Rhetoric, History, and Government at the University of Texas at Austin. There he developed a deep appreciation and love for rhetoric and its use as a framework for understanding community decision making. After graduating, he worked for the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities organizing teacher professional development for middle- and high-school humanities teachers. His research looks at how students groups argue with university administrators and the role collective action (i.e. protest, strike, occupation) plays in shaping college campuses. He reconstructs the rhetorical histories of campus student activism through an ethnographic archival lens. Broadly, Andy scholarly interests include: protest rhetoric, cultural rhetorics, theories of embodiment, composition pedagogy, professional writing, and writing program administration. Andy is the current co-steward for the English department in the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), and he also serves as the part-time staff organizer for the Campus Faculty Association (CFA) at the UIUC.
Research Interests
protest rhetoric, cultural rhetorics, queer histories and archival practices, composition pedagogy, professional writing, writing program administration
Education
- MA in English, Center for Writing Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2018
- BA in Rhetoric, History, Government, & Humanities, University of Texas at Austin, 2013
Courses Taught
- Rhetoric 101: Principles of Writing
- Rhetoric 102: Principles of Research
- Rhetoric 105: Writing and Research
- Business & Technical Writing 250: Principles of Business Communication
- Writing/Informatics 303: Writing Across Media
Additional Campus Affiliations
Recent Publications
Bowman, A., & Kovanen, B. (2020). Subterranean fire: The percolating currents of graduate labor activism in rhetoric and composition. Xchanges, 15(1). http://www.xchanges.org/media/blogs/xchanges/15_1/bowman-kovanen_subterranean-fire_15-1.pdf
Kovanen, B., & Bowman, A. (2021). Organizing-as-Process: Building Towards Collective Action in Labor and Beyond. Spark: A 4C4Equality Journal, 3(1). https://sparkactivism.com/volume-3-call/building-towards-collective-action-in-labor-and-beyond/