Dr. Kali Jo Wacker '16

Education:
Ph.D., University of Kansas
Museum Studies Graduate Certificate, University of Kansas
B.A., Northwestern College

712-707-7038
kali.wacker@nwciowa.edu

Dr. Wacker graduated from Northwestern College in 2016 with bachelor's degrees in journalism and graphic design. She pursued graduate and doctoral studies at the University of Kansas, earning a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition, where she focused on museum technologies and multimodal composition, a study of diverse modes of communication (linguistic, visual, auditory, gestural, spatial and material). An active writer and artist, she has taught courses in writing, communications, and art, and her current scholarship focuses on intersections of writing, design, digital media, and popular and material culture.

+Publications and presentationsMind Crafted: Teaching Storytelling in 3D with Multimodal Composition and Virtual Reality, Popular Culture Association Conference, New Orleans, LA, Forthcoming April 2025.'Once Upon a Design: Increasing Student Autonomy through Fairy Tale Adaptation,' Session Chair, Popular Culture Association Conference, San Antonio, TX, April 2023."Exploring Urban Networks of Power in Disney's Cityscapes: A Case Study of Paris & Its Animated Material Rhetorics," Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference, Las Vegas, NV, November 2021."Following Suit: A Pursuit of Material Process in Multimodal Composition." TRACE Journal, vol. 4, March 2020."Comic Relief in Disney: Navigating Language, Laughter, & Social Justice," Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference, San Diego, CA, November 2019."Positioning Emojis as Adverbials in a Hybrid Grammar," Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States Annual Conference, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, July 2019."Faith, Dust, and Freshman Trust: Situating Disney as a Rhetorical Tool," Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference, Bellingham, WA, November 2018."Identity & Composition: A Maker's Perspective, Part 2," Thomas R. Watson Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, October 2018."Embodying the '-ing': Crafting a New Identity for Composition Scholars, Part 1," College Composition and Communication Conference, Kansas City, MO, March 2018."Handcrafted Rhetorics: DIY and the Public Power of Made Things," College Composition and Communication Conference, Kansas City, MO, March 2018."Reverse Transfer: Using Social Media to Teach Academic Paper Principles." NETSOL: New Trends in Social and Liberal Sciences, vol. 2, no. 2, December 2017, pp. 1–15., doi:10.24819/netsol2017.06.

+Professional experienceCommunications & Design Graduate Fellow, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Kansas, 2017–2021Graduate Teaching Fellow, English department, University of Kansas, 2016–2021

+HonorsPeter Collins Travel Grant for Early-Career Faculty, Popular Culture Association, 2023Argersinger Dissertation Award Finalist, University of Kansas, 2022Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools Excellence in Teaching Award Nomination, University of Kansas, 2021Carlin Graduate Teaching Award, University of Kansas, 2021Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, English Department, University of Kansas, 2020Stephen F. Evans Excellence in Course Development Award, English Department, University of Kansas, 2020Graduate Student Scholarship, Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, 2019The Selden L. Whitcomb Fellowship, English Department, University of Kansas, 2018The Outstanding Instructor Award, English Department, University of Kansas, 2018