Ann O Watters

Bio

Dr. Ann Watters has taught English, Pedagogy, Writing, and Rhetoric for over 35 year at Stanford University in the English department and the undergraduate writing program, now the Program in Writing and Rhetoric. In the writing program from 1988 to 1995 she served as director and associate director, co-teaching the graduate pedagogy workshops and supervising graduate teaching fellows; she also developed the computers and writing program and the community service writing project.

She has authored or co-edited eleven books in the discipline of writing and rhetoric and also authored a number of software programs including a multi-media program, "The Art of Persuasion." In recent years her courses have included "The Science of Writing and the Writing of Science," "Psychology and Persuasion," and "Global Exchange: Reading and Writing in a World Context." Latest courses have focused on cross-cultural issues and the psychology of influence and persuasion.
She is also a licensed psychologist in private practice.

As lecturer emerita she continues to teach as needed; in Winter 2024 she taught PWR2: Psychology and Persuasion. In Spring Quarter 2026 she is teaching two sophomore-level courses in writing and rhetoric. She will be teaching in the Program in Public Policy in Autumn, 2026.

She can be reached via email, watters@stanford.edu.

Academic Appointments

• Lecturer, Program in Writing and Rhetoric

Administrative Appointments

• Teaching Administrator/Associate Director, Undergraduate Writing Program (1988 - 1991)
• Interim Director, Undergraduate Writing Program, Stanford University (1991 - 1992)