Dr. Helmbrecht became an Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Writing Program in September 2004. As Director, she oversees Cal Poly’s composition courses, as well as trains and mentors the English Department’s TAs. In addition, she is currently assisting with university-wide assessment efforts. Dr. Helmbrecht’s primary fields of expertise include Composition Theory and Pedagogy (more specifically: Writing Assessment, Rhetorical Theory, Feminist Pedagogy, Women’s Rhetoric: Writing Across the Curriculum, Visual Rhetoric) and Media Studies (more specifically: Film Studies, Feminist Film Theory, Television Studies). Her current research examines the rhetorical moves made by young women who write and distribute “zines.” Her scholarship has been published in respected journals in her field, including Feminist Teacher and Teaching English in a Two-Year College. She, along with her co-author Dr. Meredith Love (Francis Marion University, South Carolina), will also have an article, titled “The BUSTin’ and Bitchin’ Ethe of Third-Wave Zines,” featured in an upcoming issue of College Composition and Communication, the most prestigious journal in her field.
Articles
Teaching the Conflicts: (Re)Engaging Students with Feminism in a Postfeminist World (with Meredith A. Love), Feminist Teacher (2007)
A Mediatic Pedagogy: Rhetoricizing Images Within Composition Curriculum, Dissertation (2004)
My dissertation explores how students’ interactions with visual media inform their subject positions as students,...