Claire Oldham

Ph.D. Student
Graduate Assistant
Office: 267 Bessey Hall
Email: oldhamcl@msu.edu

Research Areas

Cultural Rhetorics, Intercultural Communication Education

Profile

Claire is interested mainly in researching Cultural Rhetorics as it manifests itself in the art, practice, and analysis of storytelling. She was first introduced to cultural rhetorics by studying maps (i.e. the relationship between rhetorical creation, story, place, artistic expression, color symbolism, and cultural identity) when she wrote a seminar paper about hand painted, customizable maps during the first year of her master’s degree. She taught First Year Writing at Texas Tech during her master’s degree as well and was very inspired by first year students—she looks forward to continue to teach First Year Writing at Michigan State. During her BA, Claire was very interested in intercultural communication education due to the three years she lived in Belize when she was in high school. Besides the brief stint of living out of the country, Claire has lived her entire life in Texas so for her Michigan is definitely a new experience, but learning about new places and meeting new people are some of her favorite things to do!

Education

M.A. in Technical Communication, Texas Tech University

Representative Work

“At the Intersection of Identity and Expression: A Study of Mapmaking as a Cultural Rhetorics Practice.” 2019 Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference: DIY Feminist Activism, Harrisonburg, VA, November 2019.

“High Impact Practices Outside the Classroom: Student Ownership and Engagement in Higher Education.” Association of Rhetoric and Writing Studies (ARWS) Conference, Austin, TX, October 2018.

“Building Scholarly Ethos: Yes, Undergraduates Can!” (poster presentation). Association of Rhetoric and Writing Studies (ARWS) Conference, Austin, TX, October 2018.

“Reinventing Rhetorical Education through “Remix”: Hacking Our Way into Intercultural Technical Communication and Rhetorical Expertise.” Co-presented with Sarah Terry. Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) Conference, Minneapolis, MN, May 2018.