University Writing Center

Associate Professor of English, Texas A&M University
Executive Director, University Writing Center

Education

• Ph.D. in English and Rhetoric, 1988 The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712
• MA in English, 1982 The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
• BA in English and Philosophy, 1977 (cum laude) Wilkes College, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702

Research and Teaching Interests
Literacy, language variety and standard English, discourse analysis, technical and business writing, computers and writing, research methodology in rhetoric and composition, tutor and teacher training, writing program/center administration and assessment, history and theory of rhetoric.

Books

• Cultural Divide: Case Studies of African American College-Level Writers. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook-Heinemann, 1993
  Honorable Mention, 1993, W. Ross Winterowd Award for best book on composition theory.
• The Holt Guide to Using Daedalus. NY: Harcourt Brace, 1995.

Edited Volumes

• Uses for Journal Keeping: An Ethnography of Writing in a University Science Class. Co-edited with Barbara Johnstone. By Anne C. Johnstone. Ablex Writing Research Series. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1994.
• Attending to the Margins: Writing, Researching, and Teaching on the Front Lines. Co-edited with Michelle Hall Kells. CrossCurrents Series. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999.
• Latino/a Discourses and Teaching Composition as a Social Action. Co-edited with Michelle Hall Kells and Victor Villanueva. CrossCurrents Series. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2004. (Going into 2nd printing, 2005)

Chapters in Books

• “Discourse and Cultural Bumping: Introduction.” Co-authored with Michelle Hall Kells. Latino/a Discourses and Teaching Composition as a Social Action. Eds. Michelle Hall Kells, Valerie Balester, and Victor Villanueva. CrossCurrents Series. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2004. (In 2nd printing)
• “Ebonics, Standard American English, and the Power of First-Year Composition.” Co-authored with Ellen Weber. Against the Grain: A Volume in Honor of Maxine Hairston. Eds. Ralph Voss, David Jolliffe, Michael Keene, and Mary Trachsel. Hampton Press, 2002. 197-210.
• “Writing about Race and Ethnicity.” In Coming of Age: The Advanced Writing Curriculum. Eds. Linda K. Shamoon, Rebecca Moore Howard, Sandra Jamieson, and Robert A. Schwegler. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Boynton/Cook. 2000. CD-Rom. Print-linked publication. Coming of Age won the Council of Writing Programs Administrations Outstanding Book Award for 2001.
• “Voices from the Wild Horse Desert: Introduction.” Co-authored with Michelle Hall Kells. In Attending to the Margins: Writing, Researching, and Teaching on the Front Lines. Eds. Michelle Hall Kells and Valerie Balester. CrossCurrents Series. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999. xiii-xxiii.
  “Vir Bonus Agendi Peritus.” Co-authored with Philip Sipiora. In Discourse Studies in Honor of James Kinneavy. Ed. Rosalind Gabin. Potomac, Maryland: Scripta Humanistica, 1995. vii-xxvii.
• “A Reexamination of Attitudes Toward Black English Vernacular.” In Constructing Rhetorical Education: From the Classroom to the Community. Eds. Marie Secor and Davida Charney. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991. 63-85.
• “The Evolving Computer Classroom for English Studies.” In Ten Approaches to Computer Composition Classrooms. Ed. Linda Myers. Buffalo, NY: SUNY Press, 1993. 135-48.

Refereed Articles

• “A View of Status and Working Conditions: Relations Between Writing Program and Writing Center Directors.” Co-authored with James McDonald. Writing Program Administration 24.3 (Spring 2001): 59-82. Winner of International Writing Centers Association Best Article of Year for 2001-02.
• “The Problem of Method: Striving to See with Multiple Perspectives.” Response to “History in the Spaces Left: African American Presence and Narratives of Composition Studies.” CCC 52:1 (September 2000): 129-32
• “Research Portfolios: Connecting Projects to Products.” Co- authored with Lynn M. Burlbaw. The Journal of Staff, Program, and Organization Development 13.1 (1995-96): 15-23.
• “Revising the ‘Statement’: On the Work of Writing Centers.” CCC 43.2 (May 1992): 167- 71.
• “Sharing Authority: Collaborative Teaching in a Computer-Based Classroom.” Co-authored with Kay Halasek and Nancy Peterson. Computers and Composition 9.3 (August 1992): 25-39.
• “Hyperfluency and Stylistic Growth.” Language and Education 5.2 (1991): 1-14.

Invited Articles
“Electronic Discourse for Writing Consultants.” The Writing Lab Newsletter 18.9 (May 1994): 10-12.

Reviews

• “Introducing Wadworth InSite” Kairos 8.2 (2003) <http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/8.2/binder.html?reviews/balester/index.htm>
• The Politics of Writing Centers. Eds. Jane Nelson and Kathy Evertz. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton-Cook, 2001. Rhetoric Review 21.2 (2002): 289-92.
• The Kinneavy Papers: Theory and the Study of Discourse. Eds. Lynn Worsham, Sidney I Dobrin, and Gary A. Olson. NY: SUNY Press and the Association of Teachers of Advanced Composition, 2000. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 3.31 (2001), 325-30.
• At the Point of Need: Teaching Basic and ESL Writers. Marie Wilson Nelson. Composition Chronicle 5.3 (April 1992): 11-12.
• You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. Deborah Tannen. Composition Chronicle 4.3 (April 1991): 11-12.

Recent Presentations