Brenda Rinard

Brenda Rinard is a lecturer in the University Writing Program where she teaches Advanced Composition (UWP 101), Writing in Elementary and Secondary Education (UWP 104D), Writing in the Legal Professions (UWP 104B), Writing in the Biological Sciences (UWP 102B), Writing in Sociology (UWP 102K), and two graduate seminars, Writing a Journal Article in the Humanities and Social Sciences and Introduction to Graduate Writing (STEM). Brenda is currently the Assistant Director of UWP's Writing Across the Curriculum Program.

Brenda was nominated in 2012 and 2014 for the ASUCD Excellence in Education Award. Brenda is also a teaching consultant for the Area Three Writing Project, a regional affiliate of the National Writing Project.

Before coming to the UWP, Brenda spent thirteen years at Stanford University’s Pre-Collegiate Studies Program where she developed writing curricula for academically talented, international learners, taught several writing and literature courses, and spent four years as the Writing Program Administrator for the writing program.

Brenda's professional interests include rhetoric, genre theory and pedagogy, multilingual writing, and writing across the curriculum. She has presented her work at several conferences including College Composition and Communication, American Association of Applied Linguistics, Ethnography in Education, and Reading and Writing across the Curriculum. She recently completed work on a three-year Spencer-Teagle research grant (P.I. Chris Thaiss) that explored how to incorporate process writing into a large-enrollment lecture course in sociology at UC Davis. Her current research interests focus on how facilitating genre awareness may lead to workplace transfer.

Brenda is also an avid science fiction fan, gardener, and animal lover. When not teaching, researching, and writing, Brenda spends time with her husband and two cats in midtown Sacramento.

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. in Education: Language, Literacy, and Culture, University of California, Davis (December 2010)  

Dissertation:  The Persuasive and Evaluative Essays of Adolescent English Learners: How Context Shapes Genre

MA in English Composition, San Francisco State University (June 2002)

Thesis: The Writing Processes of Gifted - Identified Students: The Importance of Instruction         

BA in English with high honors, University of California, Berkeley (June 1997)

Minor in Religious Studies, Emphasis in multicultural literature

Honors Thesis: Wordsworth the Environmentalist: Nature and Nostalgia in Romantic Discourse

PRESENTATIONS:

College Composition and Communication Conference (2016)

"Preventing Plagiarism: How WAC Programs Can Help"

Crossing Boundaries: Transforming STEM Education Conference (2015)

"A Rhetorical Approach to Teaching Professional Writing to Advanced STEM Undergraduates"

Area Three Writing Project (2015)

“Everyday Writing: A Bridge to Professional Genres”  

UC Davis Child Family Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (2014)

“Writing SBIR Grants” 

Northern California Writing Across the Curriculum Conference (2014)

“Implementing WAC in Large Lecture Courses”

College Composition and Communication Conference (2014)

“Researching Genre across Contexts: Implications for Crucial Transitions”

College Composition and Communication Conference (2013)

“Genre Awareness as a Threshold Concept: Upper-Division Composition and Workplace Transfer”

College Composition and Communication Conference (2012)

“Transitioning from High School to College: Explicit Genre Instruction and Second Language Writing”

Reading and Writing across the Curriculum Conference (2011)

“Improving Student Writing in Large Lecture Course: Student Views and Institutional Constraints”

Sociology in Education (2011)

“Testing and Social Stratification”

College Composition and Communication Conference (2010)

“Measuring Writing Improvement in a Large-Enrollment Lecture Course: Early Results from a Three-Year Study”

Computers and Writing Conference (2009)

“‘I am Proud Today’: Students Finding Voice through Technology and Writing”

Spencer-Teagle Annual Meeting (2008, 2009, 2010)

Systematic Improvement of Undergraduate Education in Research Universities

 “Improvement in Student Writing in a Large Enrollment Sociology Course”

American Association of Applied Linguistics (2008)

“Formula or Future? Secondary ELD Teachers and Explicit Genre Pedagogy”

Ethnography in Education Research Forum (2008)

“Looking at Literacy: Teaching Adolescent English Learners the Genres of Schooling”

Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2005)

“Task Representation in Academic Writing”

The National Association for Gifted Children (2004)

“‘Giftedness’ and Writing”

Pedagogy in Practice (2003)

“Facilitating Metacognition: What the ‘Smart’ Kids Taught Us”

SERVICE:

Departmental Service:

UWP Assessment Committee (2014-2015)

UWP Curriculum Committee (2011 - Fall, 2015)

UWP UC Writing Conference Committee (2013)

UWP ESL Lecturer Hiring Committee (Summer, 2013)

University Service:

Reader, Prized Writing  (2016-present)

Reader, Advanced Composition Challenge Exam (2012-present)

Pilot Instructor, CANVAS (Fall, 2014)

UC Davis Undergraduate Council: Federation Representative (2013-2015)

UC Davis ACE Committee: Federation Representative (2102-2014)

Professional Service:

Reviewer, Gifted Child Quarterly 

Reviewer, NCTE

Active Member, Northern California Writing Program Administration Association