Christine Alfano

Bio

Christine Alfano is a Senior Lecturer and has been the Associate Director for the Program in Writing and Rhetoric since 2014 and the Coordinator for SOAR Writing since 2020. She holds a BA from Brown University and PhD from Stanford; she first began teaching writing at Stanford in 1991 as a graduate student. Christine specializes in social media studies, digital rhetoric, video game studies, and technologies of writing. In her recent PWR courses, "Rhetorics of Online Persuasion," “The Rhetoric of Gaming," and "Social Media, Community, and Communication," Christine challenges students to explore how writing in different digital modes transforms the modern practice of communication and how we represent ourselves online and off.

Her ongoing research project involves studying effective pedagogical applications of technology for composition studies in the classroom; however, her most recent interest lies in supporting FLI students and others as they transition into the college environment. In the past, she received a grant from the Vice Provost for Online Learning (VPOL) to develop a series of video activities designed to support writers in their writing process and also received a Hoagland Curricular Innovation grant with a team from PWR to help develop and pilot an innovative writing studio class to support multilingual student writers. She was also co-director of Stanford's Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Project, which ran from 2009-2012.

She is the co-author (with Dr. Alyssa O'Brien) of the Envision textbook series, the most recent editions being Envision: Writing and Researching Arguments, 5th edition, and Envision In Depth, 4th edition.

Academic Appointments

• Senior Lecturer, Writing and Rhetoric Studies

Administrative Appointments

• Associate Director, Program in Writing and Rhetoric (2014 - Present)
• Writing Specialist, History Department (2013 - 2014)
• Assistant Director, Program in Writing and Rhetoric (2007 - 2010)