technical communication scholar researching data system design and data rhetorics; teaching business, technical, & multimedia writing.
current position
Assistant Professor of English, HSSA Dept — August 2022-current
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, IN
education
Ph.D. in English (Rhetoric and Composition) — August 2022
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
Specializations: Professional Writing; Digital Rhetorics; Cultural & Public Rhetorics
Dissertation: Numerical and Narrative: Using Technical Communication Methods to Unblackbox Data Systems
Committee: Jennifer Bay (chair), Patricia Sullivan, Thomas Rickert, Bradley Dilger
M.A. in English (Rhetoric and Composition) | Purdue University — August 2017
B.A. in English | Southern Illinois University — May 2015
B.A. in German Studies | Southern Illinois University — May 2015
selected publications
Atherton, R. (2022). Toward Data Justice: Understanding Police Shooting Data Systems and Narratives. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 1–17.
Bay, J., & Atherton, R. (2021). Rhetorics of data in not-for-profit settings: How community engagement pedagogies can enact social justice. Computers and Composition.
Atherton, R. (2021). “Missing/Unspecified”: Demographic data visualization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 35(1), pp. 80-87.
Karabinus, A., & Atherton, R. (2019). Communally designed deception: Participatory technical communication practices in an amateur game design community. Technical Communication 66(3), pp. 257-271.
academic appointments at purdue
Professional Writing Instructor (2018 — 2021)
Taught a total of 7 sections of Business Writing, Technical Writing, and Multimedia Writing, both in-person and online. Assisted in developing new outcomes for PW service courses.
Assistant Director of Rhetoric & Composition (2019 — 2021)
Cultivated community in the R/C graduate program through annual events like the welcome picnic and the biannual Hutton lecture series. Mentored graduate students in areas like coursework selection, publishing, conference presenting, prelim exams, and success in grad school. Redesigned the program’s two websites.
Introductory Composition Instructor (2015 — 2018)
Taught a total of 6 sections of Introductory Composition, both in-person and online. Piloted the online FYC option with two other instructors and developed curriculum specific to online instruction.