Megan McCool

Assistant Professor
Office: 309 O'Dowd Hall
Email: [email protected]

Biography

Megan McCool (she/her) earned her Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Indiana University. Her research focuses on community-engaged writing practices and pedagogies and how writing instructors can develop more opportunities for student learning around nonviolent and feminist approaches to social change, particularly when in collaboration with survivors of gender-based violence. In particular, she is interested in the ways that care, both as a feeling and as a practice, is central to the work of community-engaged writing. Her work has appeared in “Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric,” “Community Literacy Journal,” and “Xchanges,” and she has presented at national conferences in the field writing and rhetoric such as the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Conference on Community Writing, and Rhetoric Society of America.

McCool has taught courses in first-year writing, professional writing, business writing, basic writing, and community-engaged writing. In all of her courses, she is committed to enhancing student learning through practices of community-engaged learning (CEL), a form of academic instruction that seeks to develop opportunities for civic involvement that deepens student learning and benefits local communities. She works to incorporate experiential learning, service-learning, and/or collaboration with community organizations and nonprofits in her courses and to use her knowledge of writing and rhetoric to support ongoing community efforts for positive social change.

While at Indiana, McCool had various service and administrative roles, including serving as a member of IU’s Service-Learning Program Advisory Board and as the Assistant Coordinator of the Professional Writing Program.

Education

Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Indiana University, 2025
MA in English (Rhetoric Concentration), Indiana University, 2021
BA in English, Rockhurst University, 2016

Courses

WRT 1060: Composition II
WRT 3086: Business Writing
WRT 3030: Literacy, Technology, and Civic Engagement