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Faculty Emeritus, Professor
Year Started at JMU: 2001
oconnosh@jmu.edu
Contact Info

Education

M.F.A., Creative Writing, University of Virginia

B.A., Psychology, Brandeis University

Professional Focuses

Service learning, creative nonfiction, ESL, literature in the composition classroom, autobiography

Publications

Carry On: Pandemic Diaries website and blog: https://carryon.blog/ May 2020.

"An Owl Named Phoebe." http://exchange.prx.org/pieces/310845?m=false Feb 2020.

"Cucumbering." Writing on the Edge. Fall 2019. 

Second Chance website and podcast: https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/secondchanceproject/ Fall 2019.

"A Confusion of Messages: the Critical Role of Rhetoric in the Information Age" [lead chapter]. Writing Pathways to Student Success. Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado. Fall 2017. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/practice/pathways/ 

"The Role of Narrative in Student Engagement," Reflections: A Journal of Public Rhetoric, Civic Writing, and Service Learning. Vol. 17.1 Spring 2017.

“The Day the Convict Came to Class,” Writing on the Edge. Fall 2015.

“A Confusion of Messages: the Critical Role of Rhetoric in the Information Age.” Real-Life

 Writers: Composition Courses as Pathways to Student Success [chapter lead chapter in

 book]. Book accepted for publication by Lenses on Composition series at

Parlor Press <forthcoming>.

“A Resilient Ecology: The Magazine Project and First Year Writing” revise and resubmit for

 Composition Forum. Written with Cathryn Molloy and Sean McCarthy.

“Rhet/Comp 2.0: Mapping the Digital Landscape” under review for RHETORIC

 AND COMPOSITION 2.0: MAPPING THE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE anthology.

 Written with Seán McCarthy, Cathryn Molloy, and Susan Ghiaciuc.

“Falling.” Outside-In Magazine. http://outsideinmagazine.com/issue-sixteen/. Winter 2013/14

“Big A,” Serendipity Magazine

         Magazine-Volume-03-Issue-2---Stories-from-the-Fringe. Fall 2013

 “Making a Difference: Using Service Learning in First-Year Composition,”

Service Learning in the Composition Classroom. Fountainhead Press X Series for Professional Development, ed. Susan Garza, Fall 2013

“Garden Green.” Serendipity Magazine, Vol. 1, Number 4, Spring 2012

Vol.I-Issue4

“September on the Porch.” Serendipity Magazine. Volume 1, Issue 2, Autumn 2011.

“Momento Mori.” Serendipity Magazine. Vol. II, Issue 1, Summer 2011

“Go Ahead – Make Distinctions.” October 18, 2010. WMRA blog.

http://hopeful-ink.blogspot.com/

“September on the Porch.” September 23, 2010. WMRA blog.

http://hopeful-ink.blogspot.com/

“Rhetoric and Service Learning in Addressing the Challenges of Diversity.” The    

International Journal of the Arts in Society. Volume 4, Issue 5, Spring 2010. www.arts-journal.com

Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Violence and Community Center. Advice From

         Your Sisters. Spring 2010.

Life After Breast Cancer: Conversations. http://www.sdicancerresearch.org. Fall 2009

“The Lipstick Wars,” National Public Radio Commentary, WMRA, Sept. 19, 2008

“Making It Up As I Go,” Writing on the Edge, Volume 18, Number 2, UC/Davis, 2008

“Support Groups,” Virginia Insight, WMRA public radio, July 9, 2007

“Don’t Get Me an IPod,” National Public Radio Commentary, WMRA, Dec. 15, 2006

“Survivor,” Tough Times Companion, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Fall 2005

“Unwelcome Guest,” Commonweal, Spring 2005

“Economics Klein Style,” Columns, Fall 2001

 “A Place to Hang her Heart: Karen Austin in Hollywood,” Columns, Winter 2001

“Buller on Buller: an Interview,” Columns, Fall 2001

"Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, First Lady of Public Television," Mary Baldwin Magazine,

         Spring 2000

“Mary Hill Cole and the Portable Queen,” Columns, Summer 2000

“MBC Speaks Out on Breast Cancer,” Mary Baldwin Magazine, Fall 2000

"Quest, Learning to Connect the Intellectual and the Spiritual" The Mary Baldwin

 Magazine, Spring 1999

“Roderic Owen: Living the Life of the Liberal Arts,” Columns, Summer 1999

Fitness Guru Stresses Competition, Leadership,” Columns, Winter 1999

“Then and Now – A Look at Student Scrapbooks,” Columns, Winter 1999

“Talking, Writing and Living History: Douglas Summer Brown ’29,” Columns, Summer

         1998

“Valdimir Garkov:  Peeking Into the Soul of America,” Columns, Winter 1998

“The Stuff That Dreams are Made of:  Collectors and Collections,” Columns,

         Summer 1998

“VWIL – Doing it Our Way,” The Mary Baldwin Magazine, Fall 1997

“I Write: An Interview with David Bradley,” The Mary Baldwin Magazine,

         Spring 1997

“At Work in the Groves of Academe – The Life of a Professor at a Small Liberal

Arts College in Virginia,” Columns, Summer 1997

“A Place of My Own,” Columns, Winter 1997

“A Teacher Among Teachers,” Columns, Winter 1997

“Paul Ryan, Artist/Teacher,” Columns, Summer 1996

“Building Bridges at MBC,” Columns, Summer 1996

“Tandem Teaching,” The Mary Baldwin Magazine, Fall 1996

“First Day Diaries,” The Mary Baldwin Magazine, Fall 1996

“Vintage Dance, “ Columns, Winter 1996

“The Liveliness of Joe Garrison,” Columns, Winter 1996

“The Uncommon Art of the Common Man,“ The Mary Baldwin Magazine,

         November 1995

“A Passion for Justice: Judge Kim O’Donnell ’82,” The Mary Baldwin Magazine,

         May 1995

“Let the Magic Begin,” The Mary Baldwin Magazine, April 1994

"Exiled,” The Virginia Quarterly Review, 1993

“Light a Candle,” The Texas Review, Winter, 1991

“Ascent of Potato Hill,” Highland Voices, 1991 collection of short fiction.

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