Current Research Overview
My dissertation, Mapping the “Complex of Dialogues,” examines how mid-level university administrators are implementing and interacting with sexual violence policy. I engage institutional ethnography as my methodology and draw on various methods of textual analysis, storying, site observations, and interviews. I map how texts, social relationships, and policy all interact with one another to create everyday practices, such as how these mid-level administrators support survivors and train staff within their organization to report instances of violence. My findings illustrate that (1) universities’ values and missions do not always align with their actions and (2) administrators want to enact care-based practices to care for students, yet they are not provided with the necessary tools to do that work. I conclude this dissertation by offering tangible suggestions and changes—such as revisions to training and policies and educational materials—that can serve as a starting place for universities to enact a care-based, intersectional approach to sexual violence prevention and response.
This focus on transforming places and institutions emerges in my other scholarly work where I specifically have looked at the field of rhetoric and composition and writing centers. For instance, my chapter in the forthcoming collection, There Are Writing Emergencies, presents specific tools and resources (e.g., active heuristics, trauma-informed response) for writing program administrators and teachers for responding to sexual violence. In addition, my collaborative articles in Peitho and Praxis call for writing centers to become more equitable and transformative justice spaces than they currently are. My plans for scholarship are to expand my dissertation’s participant and number of institutions and create a book-length project that is directed to both academic and public audiences to raise awareness about college sexual violence and response. I also plan to continue to work in coalition through collaborative articles in places like Writing Center Journal and to adapt my institutional research in Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management to complicate and change higher education policies and praxis toward more equitable and transformative justice principles.
This focus on transforming places and institutions emerges in my other scholarly work where I specifically have looked at the field of rhetoric and composition and writing centers. For instance, my chapter in the forthcoming collection, There Are Writing Emergencies, presents specific tools and resources (e.g., active heuristics, trauma-informed response) for writing program administrators and teachers for responding to sexual violence. In addition, my collaborative articles in Peitho and Praxis call for writing centers to become more equitable and transformative justice spaces than they currently are. My plans for scholarship are to expand my dissertation’s participant and number of institutions and create a book-length project that is directed to both academic and public audiences to raise awareness about college sexual violence and response. I also plan to continue to work in coalition through collaborative articles in places like Writing Center Journal and to adapt my institutional research in Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management to complicate and change higher education policies and praxis toward more equitable and transformative justice principles.
Current Works
Public-Facing Articles
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Journal Articles
- Meadows, Bethany. “Accessible Design Checklist: Overview.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Accessible Design Checklist: Text and Content.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Accessible Design Checklist: Multimedia.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Choosing a Physical Space: Accessible Presentations Guide.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Planning for Accessible Presentations: Accessible Presentations Guide.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Delivering Accessible Presentations: Accessible Presentations Guide.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Inclusive Pedagogy: Overview.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Inclusive Pedagogy: Centering Intersectionality.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Inclusive Pedagogy: Syllabi.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Inclusive Pedagogy: Assignments and Assessments.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Inclusive Pedagogy: Classroom Activities.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Unpacking Problematic Language: Overview.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Unpacking Problematic Language: Disability.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Unpacking Problematic Language: Gender and Sexuality.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Unpacking Problematic Language: Race, Language, Nationality.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Unpacking Problematic Language: Socio-Economic Status.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Unpacking Problematic Language: Trauma.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
- Meadows, Bethany, and Jeremy Van Hof. “Civil Discourse in the Classroom Guidebook.” iTeach at the Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, 2024.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Journal Articles
- Sanders, Nick, and Bethany Meadows. “Conjuring Complexity: A Three Realm Approach to Engage Contemporary Political Landscapes.” MLA. [under review]
Meadows, Bethany, and Kimberly Groves. “Building Inclusive Classrooms: Equipping Educators with an Introductory Social Justice Lesson Plan.” Writing Spaces, October 2024. [forthcoming]
Hawks, Amanda, and Bethany Meadows. “We Don’t Need More “Safe” Spaces; We Need Transformative Justice.” Peitho Journal, vol. 26, no. 1, Fall 2023. - Meadows, Bethany. "Removing Agency and Perpetuating Violence: Rape Culture in University Student Handbooks." Present Tense, vol. 9, no. 3, 2022.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Survival and Surviving the Certain Uncertainties.” Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics, vol. 7, no. 1, 2022.
- Meadows, Bethany, and Trixie Long Smith. “Myth Busting the Writing Center: A Critical Inquiry of Ideologies and Practices.” Praxis, vol. 19, no. 1, 2022.
- Meadows, Bethany. “Cracks in the System: Ethics and Tensions of Mandatory Reporting for Writing Center Professionals.” Dangling Modifier, Spring 2021.
Past Projects
Photo of me presenting the in the "Trump vs. #NotOkay" panel by Mary McGinnis (2017) is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND-4.0
Dissertation & Theses
Dissertation: ”Mapping the “Complex of Dialogues”: Institutional Ethnography of Mid-Level Administrators’ Experience with Sexual Violence Policy”
Guidance Committee: Trixie Long Smith (chair), Stuart Blythe, Stacia Moroski-Rigney, Grace Pregent & Bill Hart-Davidson
Master's Thesis: “Critical Discourse Analysis of Institutions of Higher Educations’ Student Handbook
Policies for Sexual Misconduct and Violence”
Chair: Dr. Jennifer Grouling Snider
Undergraduate Honors Thesis: “History versus Film: An Examination of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Rhetoric and Ava DuVernay’s Selma.”
Committee Members: Dr. Maura Grady (chair), Dr. Linda Joyce Brown, and Dr. Christopher Swanson
Invited Speaking Engagements
Invited Speaker: Gender and Sexuality Campus Center, Michigan State University | April 2021
"Active Listening and Trauma-Informed Tutoring"
Invited Speaker | University of South Carolina Beaufort, ENGL B215: Writing Center Practicum | December 2020
"Ethical Pedagogies: Self-Care and Trauma Informed Practices"
Co-Speaker | Ball State Writing Program | Muncie, IN | April 2020
Conference and Paper Presentations
International and National Conferences
Regional Conferences
Dissertation: ”Mapping the “Complex of Dialogues”: Institutional Ethnography of Mid-Level Administrators’ Experience with Sexual Violence Policy”
Guidance Committee: Trixie Long Smith (chair), Stuart Blythe, Stacia Moroski-Rigney, Grace Pregent & Bill Hart-Davidson
Master's Thesis: “Critical Discourse Analysis of Institutions of Higher Educations’ Student Handbook
Policies for Sexual Misconduct and Violence”
Chair: Dr. Jennifer Grouling Snider
Undergraduate Honors Thesis: “History versus Film: An Examination of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Rhetoric and Ava DuVernay’s Selma.”
Committee Members: Dr. Maura Grady (chair), Dr. Linda Joyce Brown, and Dr. Christopher Swanson
Invited Speaking Engagements
Invited Speaker: Gender and Sexuality Campus Center, Michigan State University | April 2021
"Active Listening and Trauma-Informed Tutoring"
Invited Speaker | University of South Carolina Beaufort, ENGL B215: Writing Center Practicum | December 2020
"Ethical Pedagogies: Self-Care and Trauma Informed Practices"
Co-Speaker | Ball State Writing Program | Muncie, IN | April 2020
Conference and Paper Presentations
International and National Conferences
- Meadows, Bethany, Amanda Hawks, Katie Heeder, and Bailey Griffin. “Reckoning with the Institution: Implementing Transformative Justice through Black Feminist Praxis.” Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference, October 2023, Atlanta, GA.
- Meadows, Bethany, Amanda Hawks, and Nick Sanders. “Reckoning Pasts to Reimagine Disciplinary Futures: Black Feminist Methodologies, Sexual Violence Response, and white Racial Un/learning.” College Composition & Communication Conference, February 2023, Chicago, IL.
- Griffin, Bailey, Amanda Hawks, and Bethany Meadows. “Dismantling White Mainstream English in Writing Centers: A Collaborative Workshop on Linguistic Justice.” Workshop at International Writing Center Association Collaborative, February 2023, Chicago, IL.
- Meadows, Bethany, and Nick Sanders. “‘Write using correct Standard English grammar’: A Content Analysis of Oppressive Ideologies in Two-Year College Writing Curricula.” Two-Year College English Association National Conference, February 2023, Chicago, IL.
- Hawks, Amanda, and Bethany Meadows. “We Don’t Need More “Safe” Space; We Need Strategies for Transformative Justice and Survival.” International Writing Centers Association, October 2022, Vancouver, BC.
- Meadows, Bethany, et al. “Interjecting and Intersecting: Writing Center and Writing Program Commonplace(s).” College Composition & Communication Conference, 2020 [Conference Cancelled].
- Meadows, Bethany, panelist. “Intersectional Rhetorics in DIY Feminism: Past, Present, and Future.” Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference, November 2019, Harrisonburg, VA.
- Meadows, Bethany, et al. “‘10 Points to Gryffindor!’: A Workshop on Gamifying Professional Development.” International Writing Centers Association, October 2019, Columbus, OH.
- Meadows, Bethany, panelist. “The Art of Perception, Emotional Intelligence, and Silence in Online Tutoring Sessions.” International Writing Centers Association, October 2019, Columbus, OH.
- Meadows, Bethany, roundtable presenter. “Trump vs. #NotOkay Movement: The Rhetoric of Rape Culture and Its Myths.” Research Network Forum, March 2019, Pittsburgh, PA.
- Meadows, Bethany, panelist. “Film Studies: Heroes, History, and Time.” National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, November 2017, Atlanta, GA.
Regional Conferences
- Hallman, Rebecca, and Bethany Meadows. “Redefining and Reviewing Literacy: A Look at Multiple Forms of Literacy in Writing Center Work.” East Central Writing Center Association Conference, April 2023, West Layfette, IN.
- Hawks, Amanda, Fatima Konaré, and Bethany Meadows. “Using Trauma-Informed Listening and Storytelling to Address Harm in Writing Centers: A Workshop.” East Central Writing Center Association Conference, March 2022, East Lansing, MI.
- Denzler, Lucas, and Bethany Meadows. “Practical Empathy: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Trauma in the Writing Center.” East Central Writing Center Association Conference, March 2020, Indianapolis, IN.
- Meadows, Bethany, panelist. “Tending to the Toolbox.” East Central Writing Center Association Conference, April 2019, Dayton, OH.
- Meadows, Bethany, panelist. “Are Post-Session Student Surveys Useful?: An Examination of Self-Assessment and Gendered Language in Student Surveys” East Central Writing Center Association Conference, April 2019, Dayton, OH.
- Meadows, Bethany, and Maura Grady. “Using Reflection to Build Student Confidence in the Writing Process.” East Central Writing Center Association Conference, March 2018, Columbus, OH.
