Bio: Peter Mortensen

Peter Mortensen is an Associate Professor of English, where he directs the Freshman Rhetoric and Academic Writing Programs. (The programs offer most of the courses that satisfy the university's Composition I requirement.) He has research interests in the history of rhetoric and literacy (Imagining Rhetoric: Composing the Women of the Early United States [coauthored, 2002]) and in qualitative studies of writing and reading (Ethics and Representation in Qualitative Studies of Literacy [coedited, 1996]). Mortensen's work in writing program administration allows him to observe how certain aspects of university planning and policymaking play out in the lives of students, staff, and faculty.