Sarah L. Yoder

Having joined the Westmont community in 2008, Sarah Yoder is one of the newest members of the English department and is grateful to be among such good company. As an undergraduate, Sarah studied at Northwestern College, a Christian liberal arts college much like Westmont, and had such wonderful faculty mentors that she decided to pursue a teaching career. She spent a semester studying at Trinity College in Carmarthen, Wales, an experience which fueled an interest in Welsh literature and cultural history as well as related interests in neo-Celtic and postcolonial literatures, national rhetorics, and the politics of creative writing. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in English at Texas Christian University, specializing in Rhetoric and Composition. At Westmont, Sarah teaches composition and literature courses and directs the campus writing center, the Writers' Corner. She also plays horn in the Westmont Chamber Orchestra and enjoys jogging and hiking in such a beautiful part of the country.

Vita

Education

• Ph.D., Texas Christian University, 2008
• B.A., Northwestern College, 2002
• Central College Study Abroad; Trinity College (Carmarthen, Wales), 2001
• Summer Study Abroad; Mexico City, 1999

Recent Publications and Presentations

• Co-editor [with Richard Leo Enos et al.]. The Rhetoric of St. Augustine of Hippo: De Doctrina Christiana and the Search for a Distinctly Christian Rhetoric. Rhetoric and Religion Series. Waco: Baylor UP, 2008 [forthcoming].
• “The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales (1882-1887)”; “Wales: A National Magazine for the English-Speaking Parts of Wales (1894-1897)”; and “Young Wales (1895-1904).” Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism. Ed. Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor. London: The British Library and Ghent: Academia Press [hard copy]; ProQuest [online], 2008 [forthcoming].
• Associate Editor. Advances in the History of Rhetoric: The First Six Years [1997-2002]. Ed. Richard Leo Enos, David E. Beard, Sarah L. Yoder, and Amy K. Hermanson. West Lafayette: Parlor Press, 2007.
• “Postcolonial Nation-Building and the Fin de Siècle Literary Press: The Case of Wales and the Red Dragon” [presentation]. Research Society for Victorian Periodicals. New York, Sept. 2006.

• “Confounding Logic, Remaking Rhetoric: New Rhetoricians’ Response to the Confines of Modern Reason” [presentation]. Rhetoric Society of America Conference. Memphis, May 2006.
• “Narrations of Literacy: Reassessing Literacy through Welsh Bilingual Policy Debates” [presentation]. Conference on College Composition and Communication. Chicago, March 2006.
• “In Search of Textual Gardens: Mary Daggett Lake’s Garden Rhetoric—Writing Conviction Through Place” [presentation]. Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s) Conference. Houghton, MI; Oct. 2005.

Additional Writing and Publishing

• Editor, Staff Writer, and Photographer. Sioux County Capital-Democrat. Orange City, IA: Pluim Publishing, 2001-2006 [seasonal/contract work].
• The Right Thing: The Ken and Elaine Jacobs Story [video script]. Orange City, IA: Festive Media, 2003.
• Publicity for David Auburn’s Proof. Sarasota, FL: Florida Studio Theatre, 2002.
• “farmhouse poems—beginnings, again” [First Place Poetry Award]. Spectrum. Orange City, IA: Pluim Publishing, 2002.
• “haiku, hatched in Wales” [poetry series]. Spectrum. Orange City, IA: Pluim Publishing, 2002.

Professional Service and Development

• “Wales Writes Back: National Periodicals as a Response to Empire” [presentation]; British Studies Research Colloquia; TCU, 2007
• “Teaching Students How to Conduct Research and Evaluate Sources” [presentation]; TCU Composition Program, 2007
• Faculty Search Committee; TCU English Department, 2006-2007
• Selection Committee, TCU Creative Writing Awards, 2005-2007
• “Approaches to Teaching Public Discourse Analysis” [presentation]; TCU Composition Program, 2005
• Volunteer, Write to Succeed program [writing workshops for victims of domestic violence); Women’s Haven of Tarrant County, Fort Worth, TX, 2004
• Assistant to the Director, El Centro Luterano [The Lutheran Center]; Mexico City, Summer 2000

Awards

• Pass with distinction, doctoral dissertation and qualifying exams
• Dissertation Fellowship; TCU English Department, 2007-2008
• Nokia Research Award [supporting dissertation research at the National Library of Wales], 2006
• VanArsdel Prize [runner-up]; Research Society for Victorian Periodicals, 2006
• Graduate Teacher of the Year [finalist]; TCU Composition Program, 2006
• Graduate Student of the Year; TCU Department of English, 2005-2006
• Australia Tarver Award [Best Critical Essay on Race, Postcolonialism, or Multi-Ethnic Studies]: “Reassessing Celticism: James Bryce as Celtic Iconoclast”; TCU Creative Writing Awards, 2005
• William L. Adams Writing Center Prize [Best Essay on Rhetoric and Composition]: “The Problematics and Possibilities of Border-Crossing Pedagogy”; TCU Creative Writing Awards, 2005
• Lillian and Rupert Radford Fellowship in Rhetoric and Composition; TCU, 2003-2004
• Co-Winner, Faculty Honors Award; NWC, Class of 2002
• Jackson Hospers Memorial Prize for Poetry; NWC, 2002
• Beacon Award for Campus Journalism; NWC, 2002