SCHEDULE OF PRESENTATIONS
February 6, 2026
Clifton Court Hall, University of Cincinnati,
​Cincinnati, OH
8:30 - 9:00 | Coffee and Registration
9:00 - 9:10 | Opening Remarks
Moderator: Tyler Branson, Associate Professor, UC
Panel: THEORY BUILDING
9:15 - 10:15
​Bethany Hellwig, “Capitalist Realism and the Rhetorics of Socialist ‘Utopia’”
Bethany Hellwig (she/her) is a PhD student in Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Cincinnati. She studies labor conditions in higher education with a focus on affect and activism.
Christine Ochs-Naderer, “Intentionally Left Blank: Seeking Meaning in the Unwritten, Unarchived, and Undocumented”
Christine Ochs-Naderer is a third-year PhD student in English Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Cincinnati. Her research explores storytelling, memory, and relationships through personal objects and everyday things. Christine is especially interested in projects that integrate participatory art, collage, and mixed media into academic research and writing.
Ryleigh Thornton, “Equalizing Language from Orwell to ChatGPT”
Ryleigh Thornton is a first-year graduate student pursuing her Master's of English at the University of Louisville. Her research interests include science fiction, modernism, and languages.
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Q&A
Moderator: Christopher Carter, Professor of English, UC
Panel: COMPOSITION IN THE AGE OF AI
10:20 - 11:00
Mozaffor Hossain, “Help Pedagogy and The Acceptance of GenAI”
Md Mozaffor Hossain is first-year PhD student in Rhetoric and Composition at Ohio University.
Jennifer Mason, “Composing Utopias: Praxis, Workflow Literacy, and AI in the Writing Classroom”
Jennifer Mason is a PhD student in Rhetoric & Composition at the University of Louisville researching how writers negotiate authorship, ownership, and responsibility in AI-mediated writing processes. She is also co-founder and CEO of TitleWise Technologies, which designs workflow solutions for the real estate and legal sectors.
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Q&A
Speaker: Professor Angela Laflen, California State University
Lecture & Keynote Address: STORYTELLING IN THE AGE OF DATAFICATION AND AI
11:00 - 12:00
Angela Laflen is Associate Professor of English at California State University, Sacramento, and author of Critical Data Storytelling in the Composition Classroom (Utah State UP 2025). A timely framework for integrating data literacy into multimodal composition pedagogy, Laflen’s study demonstrates that, in an era dominated by big data and AI, the need to understand how to work with data is no longer limited to scientists and mathematicians. At the heart of Laflen’s approach is critical data storytelling—a practice that equips students with the skills to understand, interpret, and ethically communicate with and about data through various multimodal formats.​
Q&A
12:15 - 1:15 | Lunch
Moderator: Leah Rubinsky, Assistant Professor Educator, UC
Panel: REFLECTIONS & PEDAGOGY
1:20 - 2:30
Braydon Dungan, “For GTAs by a GTA: The Teacher Modeling Model (TMM)
for Introductory and Intermediate Composition”
Braydon Dungan is a second-year Rhetoric and Composition PhD student at the University of Cincinnati. Braydon's research interests include the K–16 education continuum, women's sporting rhetoric, and first-year composition pedagogies.
Nikki Barnhart, “The Power of Personal Narrative”
Nikki Barnhart is a second-year PhD candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Cincinnati, specializing in Fiction, with research interests in narrative studies.
Mialise Carney, “The Hard Work of Intellectual Freedom: A Case for Feminist Themed First-Year Writing Courses in the Age of Ohio’s Senate Bill 1”
Mialise Carney is a writer and PhD student in creative writing and literature at the University of Cincinnati. She teaches writing and reads for The Cincinnati Review
Q&A
Moderator: Laura Micciche, Professor of English, UC
Panel: EMBODIMENT AND AFFECT
2:40 - 4:00
Van Orhari, “Quhearing Utopia: Locating Futurity through Queer Listening in Vaporwave Production Techniques”
Van Orhari is a media theorist and sound artist at Florida State University. Her research focuses on software, noise, intersubjectivity, and technical mediation.
Alifya Lotia, "The Now of Utopia: Affective Openings in the Writing Classroom"
Alifya Lotia is a Master’s student at Virginia Tech and an instructor in the first-year writing classroom. Her work engages with affect theory, first-year writing, pedagogy, and GTA training.
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Blake Steinnecker, Anna D’Orazio, Braydon Dungan,“The Tattooed Body: A Tableau for Lifespan Writing”
Blake Steinnecker is a PhD student in Rhetoric and Composition studies at the University of Cincinnati. His research interests include education policy and the material realities of writing and pedagogy.
Anna D’Oraziois a PhD student in Rhetoric and Composition studies at the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests include writing through the lifespan, literacy studies, writing transfer, technical/professional writing, and student-centered pedagogies.
Braydon Dungan is a second-year Rhetoric and Composition PhD student at the University of Cincinnati. Braydon's research interests include the K–16 education continuum, women's sporting rhetoric, and first-year composition pedagogies.
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Meredith Hughes, “Becoming My Own Advocate: An Autoethnographic Look at Patient Self-Advocacy for Patients with Chronic Illness and Comorbid Obesity”
Meredith Hughes (she/her) is an educator, writer, and first-year PhD student in Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Cincinnati. Her research interests are the interplay of patient self-advocacy and obesity, process pedagogy, and arts-based pedagogy.
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Q&A