KIRSTI K.
COLE
About
I work on how universities teach communication and how they value the people who teach it.
Since 2010 I have taught composition theory to each year’s new teaching assistants, first at Minnesota State University, where I directed Writing Across the Curriculum, and since 2023 at North Carolina State University, where I am Professor of English and Co-Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program. The two programs differ in nearly every respect except the question they raise, which is how an institution comes to recognize, or fails to recognize, the communication instruction it depends on.
Most of my week belongs to faculty in engineering, the sciences, design, and the humanities who want their students to write and speak well and have been given neither the time nor the structures to teach it. At CWSP I direct the programs that supply those structures: WOLF, our written and communication enriched curriculum partnership with departments and programs, and the Communication Teaching Certificate. I also lead CWSP’s AI literacy and policy work with faculty and departments, and with colleagues across campus I co-lead initiatives on ethical and inclusive instruction in writing and speaking.
In my scholarship I pursue the same question through institutional ethnography and feminist rhetorical analysis, across writing program administration, the rhetorics of motherhood, the medical humanities, and the university’s response to generative AI. The Glitch Curriculum: How Universities Read Themselves in the AI Moment is under review in the Critical University Studies series at Johns Hopkins University Press. I co-authored the AWAC Statement on Artificial Intelligence Writing Tools (2025) and served as an elected member of the Modern Language Association’s AI and Research Working Group (2025–2026).
Research
Composing Change: Institutional Ethnography, Feminist Inquiry, and Digital Futures
- Guest Editor with Holly Hassel, "When Words Become Work," Composition Studies 54.2 (2026). View issue → (opens in a new tab)
- Invited Keynote, Write@UGA Conference, February 2026
- "The Labor of Strategic Translation," CCC, forthcoming
- AWAC 2024 Exemplary Enduring WAC Program Award
- "Discursive Archetypes: Kamala Harris and Repositioning Stepmotherhood," Peitho, forthcoming
- Refiguring Motherhood Beyond Biology (Routledge, 2023)
- Invited roundtable, IAMAS 2024, Boston University
- Book manuscript under review: The Glitch Curriculum: How Universities Read Themselves in the AI Moment (JHUP)
- "AI Literacy Is Not One Thing," Pedagogies, under review
- Co-author, AWAC Statement on AI Writing Tools in WAC Settings (2025)
- Guest Editor with Chris Anson, JOWR 17.3 (2026)
- Invited Presentation, Ethics and Agentic AI Symposium, NC State (May 2026)
- MLA AI and Research Working Group, elected member (2025–2026)
- Reimagining Graduate Education in Writing Studies (Routledge, 2026)
- "Cyborg Composing and Posthuman Research Methods," TextGenEd (2026)
- "Reflective Multimodal Feedback Practices," TextGenEd (2025)
- Bad Ideas about Scientific Writing (with Kristin Bivens), under consideration, WAC Clearinghouse
- Cole & Wagner. "Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Digital Rhetoric, Misinformation, and Trust." In Trust under Threat (Waxmann Verlag, 2024)
- Bivens, Cole & Koerber. "Activism by Accuracy: Women's Health and Hormonal Birth Control." In Women's Health Advocacy (Routledge, 2020)
- Graduate Certificate in Medical Writing & Editing, University of Chicago (2021)
- n.d.Cole. "AI Literacy Is Not One Thing: Conceptual, Structural, and Operative Levels for Higher Education Governance." Pedagogies.under review
- 2026Cole & Anson. "The Labor of Strategic Translation: Writing Programs and the Politics of Institutional Language." College Composition and Communication.forthcoming
- 2026Cole, Hassel, et al. "Strategic Friction: Writing and Literacy Programs and the Acceleration Imperative." WPA Journal.forthcoming
- 2026Cole & Renegar. "Discursive Archetypes: Kamala Harris and Repositioning Stepmotherhood." Peitho.forthcoming
- 2026Cole, Hassel, Felber, Kim, Libertz, Wooten & Pavesich. "From Position to Practice: An Introduction to When Words Become Work." Composition Studies 54.2. Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2026Cole. "Cyborg Composing and Posthuman Research Methods." TextGenEd Continuing Experiments, August 2026. Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2026Schwartzman & Cole. "A Modest Futurist Manifesto for Reimagining Communication Centers in a Critical AI Landscape." Communication Center Journal 11(1). Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2025Cole, Van Scooter, et al. "Reflective Multimodal Feedback Practices in Human and AI Writing Contexts." TextGenEd Continuing Experiments. Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2019Renegar & Cole. "'Evil is Part of the Territory': Inventing the Stepmother in Self-Help Books." Women's Studies in Communication. Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2020Bivens, Cole & Heilig. "The Activist Syllabus as Technical Communication and the Technical Communicator as Curator of Public Intellectualism." Technical Communication Quarterly. Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2015Cole. "'It's Like She's Eager to be Verbally Abused:' Twitter, Trolls, and (En)gendering Disciplinary Rhetoric." Feminist Media Studies 15.2. Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2026Cole & Van Scooter. "Navigating Visibility Matrices: Institutional Literacy and Contingent Labor in Writing Programs." In Precarious Pedagogies. University of Colorado Press.forthcoming
- 2026Cole & Van Scooter. "Running on Coffee, Guilt, and Calendar Reminders: Neurodivergent Academic Motherhood Across Career Stages." In Narratives of Persistence and Survival. Lexington Books.forthcoming
- 2026Cole. "A Writing Studies Approach to AI Literacy: Writing Theory and Writing Process (ENG 422)." In Teaching AI: Syllabi, Pedagogy, and Best Practices in Higher Education. EdTech Books. Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2026Anson & Cole. "Generative AI Does All the Work for the Writer: Writing with AI Requires Human Rhetorical Agency." In Bad Ideas about AI and Writing, pp. 119–28. WAC Clearinghouse. Read online → (opens in a new tab)
- 2026Cole & Henderson Lee. "Creating Collaborative Conditions." In Reimagining Graduate Education in Writing Studies. Routledge. Publisher page → (opens in a new tab)
- 2024Cole & Wagner. "Crisis Pregnancy Centers: Digital Rhetoric, Misinformation, and Trust." In Trust under Threat. Waxmann Verlag. Open access → (opens in a new tab)
- 2023Moreland, Lee & Cole. "(E)merging Expertise: Multivocal, Multimodal Preparation of Graduate Teaching Assistants." In Professionalizing Multimodal Composition. Utah State UP. Publisher page → (opens in a new tab)
- 2020Bivens, Cole & Koerber. "Activism by Accuracy: Women's Health and Hormonal Birth Control." In Women's Health Advocacy. Routledge. Publisher page → (opens in a new tab)
- 2026Engineering Information Foundation (EiF), VANTAGE. Co-PI with Alice Cheng and Roy Schwartzman. $24,999.awarded
- 2026Academic Innovation Accelerator Program, CHASS Curriculum Accelerator: Powering Human-Focused AI. Co-PI with James Mulholland and Huiling Ding. NC State University. $20,000.awarded
- 2026OASIS Teaching Innovation Grant, NC State University. $2,400.awarded
- 2026NC State Foundation Grant, The AI Writing Studio. Co-PI with Bethany Van Scooter. $25,000.submitted
- 2026National Humanities Center Residential Fellowship, AY 2027–28, to support The Glitch Curriculum.submitted
Teaching
Pedagogy Grounded in Practice, Equity, and Rhetorical Agility
I teach with the conviction that writing is never neutral, since it shapes who we are, how we are perceived, and how we navigate the world. Across undergraduate and graduate levels, I design courses that foreground rhetorical awareness, student agency, and the social dimensions of writing.
My teaching is grounded in feminist, inclusive, and antiracist pedagogies that equip students to engage critically and creatively with their academic, civic, and professional communities. I integrate multimodal composition, digital tools, and AI literacy into my curriculum, emphasizing ethical use and critical reflection.
I also invest deeply in mentoring graduate instructors and future faculty, modeling collaborative curriculum design and sustained pedagogical inquiry. I direct two doctoral dissertations, and in Fall 2026 I lead independent studies in cultural rhetorics (ENG 636) and AI literacy (CRD 810).
Consulting
I partner with faculty, departments, writing programs, and institutional leaders to co-develop responsive, research-driven communication strategies that foster equity, effectiveness, and sustainability. Through hands-on workshops, institutional partnerships, and project-based consulting, I help individuals and organizations design initiatives that are rhetorically sound, evidence-based, and truly transformative.
Faculty-driven consulting for institutional change. We help departments and academic leaders implement effective shared governance structures that reflect the realities of faculty labor, institutional policy, and disciplinary expertise.
- Shared governance audits and redesign
- Chair and committee training sessions
- Faculty mentoring programs for emerging leaders
- Strategic visioning retreats for departments or cross-campus units
WOLF, Written and Oral Literacy Facilitation, is CWSP's faculty development program, pairing faculty with trained liaisons to audit communication practices, design scaffolded assignments, and build evidence of student learning. The program runs in three phases and adapts to any discipline, from first-year writing to capstone courses.
- Faculty liaison partnerships for course and assignment redesign
- Department-level communication curriculum audits
- Communication Teaching Certificate (C2TC): written, digital, oral, and AI modules
- AI Policy Lab workshop facilitation
- Visit cwspwolf.com → (opens in a new tab)
Ethical editing for medical, technical, and scientific communication. Drawing on health humanities, feminist theory, and rhetorical analysis, our editorial practice ensures research communicates with precision and integrity across scholarly, clinical, and public spheres.
- Manuscript review and revision for publication
- Translational editing for interdisciplinary and public audiences
- Grant proposal editing and feedback
- Ethics and style review for health communication texts
- Health humanities and science communication consulting