Kim Savelson

Bio

Kim Savelson holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature, and an M,A. in English and Women's Studies. She received her B.A. in English from UC Berkeley.
Kim has been a full time member of the faculty in the Stanford Program in Writing and Rhetoric since 2005. She teaches students how to engage in deep, innovative research in the context of writing and rhetoric courses. She maintains a particular emphasis on helping students communicate with wider audiences, outside the academy, through narrative technique and storytelling.

Her second year course is "design thinking for research, writing and oral presentation." She also teaches two advanced PWR courses, "Design Thinking & Science Communication," and "Storytelling & Science." Currently, Kim's first year course is "Health Communication and Innovation."

Other courses Kim has taught at Stanford are "Imagining Others: Cosmopolitanism Today," and "Happiness Studies," which also share a strong emphasis on social innovation, story, ethics and the public good. Before coming to Stanford, she taught at Harvard University, Brandeis University and UCLA.

Her book "Where the World is Not: Cultural Authority and Democratic Desire in 20th Century American Literature and Thought" (Ohio State University Press, 2009) focuses on the debates around public education in the US during the rise of pragmatism. The inquiry ranges across intellectual history, science and technology studies, and literary criticism to dilate the questions revolving around "education" and "culture" in the 20th Century.

Academic Appointments

• PWR Advanced Lecturer, Writing and Rhetoric Studies

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

SPECIALIZATION: Design Thinking for Writing & Research; Science and Health Communication; Storytelling; Creativity Studies; Innovation Across the Disciplines