Department of English
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Phone: (713) 743-3004
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Paul Butler

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Associate Professor

Associate Professor Paul Butler

Paul Butler is widely known for his work on the history, theory, and pedagogy of style in rhetoric and composition and for his books Out of Style and Style in Rhetoric and Composition. He has presented his scholarship at national and international conferences on topics ranging from style and the public sphere to global economic literacy, part of his new community-based initiative, “Writing to Work,” which draws on the WAC and WID movements. His interests also include digital style, multimodal composition, and visual rhetoric.

A member of the College English editorial board, he is a reviewer for several journals, and his essays appear in a number of publications, including JAC, Rhetoric Review, and WPA. He serves in national roles for the Research Network Forum and the CCCC Newcomers’ Committee. At UH, he chairs the English Department’s Lower Division Committee, is working to develop its undergraduate concentration in Writing Studies, and helped design its Ph.D. program in Rhetoric, Composition, and Pedagogy.


Education

  • Ph.D., Syracuse University
  • M.A., J.D., University of Colorado, Boulder
  • M.A., Middlebury College
  • B.A., Colorado College

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Selected Publications

Out of Style: Reanimating Stylistic Study in Composition and Rhetoric Style in Rhetoric and Composition: A Critical Sourcebook

Books

  • Style in Rhetoric and Composition: A Critical Sourcebook. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010.
  • Out of Style: Reanimating Stylistic Study in Composition and Rhetoric. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2008.

Articles

  • “Style’s Centrality in Composition Studies.” Foreword to The Centrality of Style. Ed. Michael Duncan and Star Medzerian Vanguri. New York: Parlor Press (forthcoming 2013).
  • “The Sound of Silence.” Authorship Contested: Cultural Challenges to Ownership, Originality, and Identity. Eds. Amy Robillard and Ron Fortune (accepted; edited collection under review for 2014 publication).
  • "Reconsidering the Teaching of Style." English Journal 100.4 (2011): 77-82.
  • "Revisiting the Evidence: A Reply to Donald Lazere.” JAC: A Quarterly Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics 31.1-2 (2011): 314-22.
  • "Forget about Community: Narrative, Ethnographic Writing, and (Alternative) Discourse." Open Words: Access and English Studies 4.2 (2010): 23-47.
  • "The Stylistic (Re)Turn in Rhetoric and Composition." Style in Rhetoric and Composition: A Critical Sourcebook. Ed. Paul Butler. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2010. 1-10.
  • "Style and the Public Intellectual: Rethinking Composition in the Public Sphere.” JAC: A Quarterly Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics 28.1-2 (2008): 55-84.
  • “Style in the Diaspora of Composition Studies.” Rhetoric Review 26 (2007): 5-24.
  • “The GED as Transgender Literacy: Performing in the Learning/Acquisition Borderland.” Reflections: Writing, Service-Learning, and Community Literacy 6.1 (2007): 27-39.
  • “Composition as Countermonument: Toward a New Space in Writing Classrooms and Curricula.” WPA: Writing Program Administration 29.3 (2006): 11-24.
  • “Copyright, Plagiarism, and the Law.” Authorship in Composition Studies. Ed. Tracy Hamler Carrick and Rebecca Moore Howard. Boston: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2006. 13-26.
  • "Embracing AIDS: History, Identity, and Post-AIDS Discourse." JAC: A Quarterly Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics 24.1 (2004): 93-111.
  • “Coming into the Field: Intersections of the Personal and Professional in Graduate Student and Faculty Narratives.” With Susan M. Adams, Damian Baca, Justin Bain, Amy E. Robillard, and Eileen E. Schell. Dialogue: A Journal for Writing Specialists 8.1 (2002): 5-34.
  • “Imitation as Freedom: Reforming Student Writing.” The Quarterly: Journal of the National Writing Project 24.2 (2002): 25-32.
  • “Toward a Pedagogy of Writing Immersion: Using Imitation in the Composition Classroom.”Journal of College Writing 4 (2001): 107-14.

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Teaching

  • ENGL 1304: First-Year Writing II – Reading and Writing Popular Culture
  • ENGL 3340: Advanced Composition – Style and Rhetoric in Persuasive Writing
  • ENGL 3341: Business and Professional Writing – Writing to Work
  • ENGL 3396: Writing in the Public Sphere
  • ENGL 6300: Teaching College English and Composition
  • ENGL 7371: Rhetoric and Composition: Style
  • ENGL 7396: Rhetoric, Composition, and the Public Sphere
  • ENGL 7396: Composition’s Counter-Histories
  • ENGL 7396: Community Literacy and Public Engagement
  • ENGL 7396: Rhetoric and Composition Seminar I

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Affiliations

  • National Council of Teachers of English
  • Conference on College Composition and Communication
  • Rhetoric Society of America
  • International Society for the History of Rhetoric
  • Modern Language Association
  • Conference of College Teachers of English

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