Faculty and Staff

Melody Bowdon, Ph.D.

• Professor, Director of Grad Programs
• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 407-823-1528
• Office Hours: N/A
• Campus Location: MH210
• View personal website

Education

• Ph.D. in English: Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English from University of Arizona (1999)
• M.A. in English: Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English from University of Arizona (1995)
• B.A. in English Literature; Secondary Education from Oklahoma City University (1991)

Research Interests

• Faculty Development
• Technical and Professional Communication
• Gender and Technology
• Service-Learning and Higher Education
• Distance-Learning

Selected Publications

Books

• Waldrop, Julee, and Melody A. Bowdon, eds. Best Practices for Flipping the College Classroom. New York: Routledge, 2015.
• Bowdon,Melody A. and Russell G. Carpenter, eds. Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, and Community Partnerships:Concepts, Models, and Practices. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2011.
• Scholarship for Sustaining Service-Learning and Community Engagement: Volume Eight of Advances in Service-Learning Research. Ed. with Shelley Billig and Barbara Holland. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2008. (Authored substantive introductory essay.)
• Service-Learning in Technical and Professional Communication. With J. Blake Scott. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2003.

Edited Collections

• Bowdon, Melody A., and Russell G. Carpenter, eds. Digital Technologies and Community Literacy. Special issue of CommunityLiteracy Journal. Fall 2012. 
• Service-Learning in Professional Communication. Co-edited with James Dubinsky. Special issue of Reflections on Community Based Writing Instruction. Spring 2005. (Co-authored substantive introductory essay.)

Articles/Essays

• Gabriel, Meghan H., Danielle Atkins, Aditi Choksi, Sara Midence and Melody Bowdon. “Exploring Math Anxiety and Math Self-Efficacy among Health Administration Students.” The Journal of Health Administration Education, 36.2 (2019): 151-168.

• Plante, Jarred, Lauren Murray, Melody Bowdon and Amanda Wolcott. "Perceptions of Service-Learning in the Sunshine State." In Handbook of Research on Transdisciplinary Knowledge Generation.  Ed. V.C.X. Wang.  Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2019. (pp. 102-114).
  
  

• Wolcott, Amanda and Melody Bowdon. “Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and Higher Education Leadership: A Relationship-Building Tool for Department Chairs.” Journal of Excellence in College Teaching, 28.4 (2018): 43-61.

• Bowdon, Melody and Amy Zeh. “The Summer Faculty Development Conference: An Immersive Service-Learning Training Experience for Faculty.” In Faculty Development in the Service of Community Engagement and Service-Learning. Ed. Becca Berkey, et al. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 2018.  173-177.

• Bowdon, Melody, Stacey Pigg and Melissa Pompos.  “Feminist Ethics and Service-Learning Site Selection: The Role of Empathy.” Accepted for publication in Feminist Teacher, 2014. 
• Bowdon, Melody A. “Tweeting an Ethos: Emergency Messaging, Social Media, and Teaching Technical Communication.” Technical Communication Quarterly 23.1 (2014): 35–54.
• Bowdon, Melody, Melissa Pompos, and Anna C. Turner. “Writing in Crisis: Rhetorical Considerations in Child Advocate Reports.” Rhetoric, Professional Communication, and Globalization 4.1 (2013): 103–135.  
• Saitta, Erin K. H., Tamra Legron-Rodriguez, and Melody A. Bowdon. “An Inquiry into the Water Around Us.” Science 341.6149 (2013): 971–972. 

• Artze-Vega, Isis, Melody Bowdon, Kimberly Emmons, Michele Eodice, Susan Hess, Claire Lamonica, and Gerald Nelms. “Privileging Pedagogy: Composition, Rhetoric, and Faculty Development.“ College Composition and Communication 65.1 (2013): 162-184.  

• Artze-Vega, Isis, Melody Bowdon, Kimberly Emmons, Michele Eodice, Susan Hess, Claire Lamonica, and Gerald Nelms. “Privileging Pedagogy: Composition, Rhetoric, and Faculty Development.“ College Composition and Communication 65.1 (2013): 162-184.  

• Saitta, Erin, Melody Bowdon, and Cherie Geiger. IncorporatingService-Learning Technology and Research Supportive Teaching Techniques intothe University Chemistry Classroom.Journal of Science Education andTechnology 20.6 (2011): 790-95. Print.
• “Technical Communication and the Role of the Public Intellectual: A Community HIV Prevention Study.” Technical Communication Quarterly 13.3 (Summer 2004): 325-340.
• “A Rhetorical Stance on the Archives of Civic Discourse.” With Thomas P. Miller. College English 61.5 (May 1999): 591-598.

Book Sections/Chapters

• Dupuis, Martin, Melody Bowdon, and Sarah Schwemin. CollegiateService-Learning: Perspectives on Legal Liability. In Problematizing Service-Learning. Ed. Trae Stewart and NicoleWebster. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2011. 121-52. Print.
• Feminist Civic Engagement and the Role of the Bureaucrat: Graduate Education, Distance-Learning, and Community Action. Role Play: Distance-Learning and the Teaching of English. Ed. Jonathan Alexander, et al. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2005. 147-162.
• Virtual Networks: Community-based Collaboration and Professional Writing. Internet-Based Workplace Communication: Industry and Academic Perspectives. Ed. Kirk St. Amant and Pavel Zemlianski. Hershey, PA: International Idea Group, 2005. 107-129.
• Public Schools, Private Ethics: Rhetoric and Service in Composition. Professing Rhetoric: Selected Papers from the 2000 Rhetoric Society of America Conference. Ed. Frederick J. Antczak, et al. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002. 171-177.

Book Reviews

• “A Practical Ethics for Professional and Technical Writing Teachers, or A Millers’ Tale.” Technical Communication Quarterly 11.2 (Spring 2002): 222-224. (Review essay.)

Conference Papers/Presentations

• Bowdon, Melody. “The Risks and Rewards of Being a Faculty Member Without A Class.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Tampa, FL. March 2015. Conference Paper.

• Bowdon, Melody. “The Risks and Rewards of Reaching Beyond our Own Classrooms.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. Tampa, FL. March 2015. Roundtable Presentation.

• Bowdon, Melody, Michael Aldarondo-Jeffries, Alisha Janowski, and Anna Turner.  “The iPad Experiment: Student and Faculty Use of Mobile Technologies.”  Higher Education Teaching and Learning Association.  Anchorage, Alaska. May, 2014.  Conference Paper. 

• Bowdon, Melody.  “Faculty Development and Composition Scholars: Creating Campuswide Impacts and Expanding Career Opportunities.”  Conference on College Composition and Communication.  Indianapolis, IN.  March, 2014.  Conference Paper.  

• Bowdon, Melody, Haiyan Bai, James Gilkeson, and Anna Turner.  “The Risky Business of Student Evaluations:  Interdisciplinary Research Models.”  Professional and Organizational Development Network National Meeting. Pittsburgh, PA. November 2013. Conference Panel.

• Bowdon, Melody and Kerry Welch.  “It Takes Time to Turn a Freighter.” National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement Conference.  Philadelphia, PA.  June 2013.  Roundtable Presentation.

• Bowdon, Melody.  Becoming Literate About Communities:  Lessons Learned in the Field. Conference on College Composition and Communication.  Las Vegas, NV.  March 2013. Roundtable Presentation.  
• Forthcoming Bowdon, Melody. Creating a Campus Culture that Valuesthe Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Conference on College Compositionand Communication. Las Vegas, NV. March 2013. Workshop Presentation. (Forthcoming.)
• Forthcoming Bowdon,Melody, Eron Drake, andErin Saitta. Planning for Success:Strategic Planning and Faculty Development Center Advocacy. Professional andOrganizational Development Network National Meeting. Seattle, WA. October 2012.Conference Panel.
• Bowdon, Melody. WAC and the Campus Faculty DevelopmentInfrastructure." International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference. Savannah,GA. June 2012. Conference Presentation.
• Bai, Haiyan, QuanLi, Nan Hua, Melody Bowdon, Rex Culpand Donna Leinsing. "Examining Influential Factors on the Types of StudentDeparture from Public High Schools," American Educational Research andDevelopment Association. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. April 2012. ConferencePresentation.
• Bowdon, Melody. The Friday Morning FacultyWriting Club: Promoting WAC through Faculty Research and Writing. Conferenceon College Composition and Communication. St. Louis, MO. March 2012. RoundtablePresentation.
• Bowdon, Melody. Tweeting an Ethos: EmergencyMessaging, Social Networking and Teaching Technical Communication. Associationof Teachers of Technical Writing Annual Conference. St. Louis, MO. March 2012. ConferencePresentation.
• Bowdon, Melody, and Tace Crouse. "AmbitiousStudent Learning Outcomes: Increase Faculty and Student Engagement and ImproveStudent Learning." Southern Association of Colleges and Schools AnnualMeeting. Orlando, FL. December 2011. Roundtable Presentation.
• Devlin, C., P.Sacks, K. Wicks, M. Bowdon, and L.Walters. Engaging STEM: A Campus Model for Service-Learning and K-12Partnerships. Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Bi-Annual Conference. DaytonaBeach, FL. November 2011. Poster Presentation.
• Vidacek-Hains, Violeta,Michael Aldarondo-Jeffries, and MelodyBowdon. Enhancing Information Fluency in Undergraduate Students andFaculty Through Study Abroad and Transcultural Communication. Global EducationConference Sponsored by the Global Education Collaborative. November 2011. VirtualConference Presentation (with colleagues from Croatia).
• Bowdon, Melody, Erin Saitta and LindaWalters. Engaging STEM: STEM,Service-Learning, and Faculty Development. Professional and OrganizationalDevelopment Network National Meeting. Atlanta, GA. October 2011. ConferencePanel.
• Bowdon, Melody, and LindaWalters. Engaging STEM: A Campus Model for Service-Learning and K-12Partnership. Engaged STEM Learning: From Promising to Pervasive Practices(American Association of Colleges and Universities). Miami, FL. March 2011. PosterPresentation.
• Bai,Haiyan, Quan Li, Nan Hua, Melody Bowdon,Rex Culp and Donna Leinsing. A Competing Risks Model of Public High School StudentDeparture. International Conference of the Chinese AmericanEducational Research and Development Association. NewOrleans, LA. March 2011. Conference Presentation.
• Bowdon,Melody, Meghan Griffin,and Erin Saitta. Engaging STEM: Using Emerging Technologies to CreateSustainable Partnerships with Secondary Schools. Gulf-South Summit onService-Learning and Civic Engagement through Higher Education. Athens, GA.March 2010. Conference Panel.
• "Conscious/Conscientious Identification: Cognitive Theory andService-Learning Reflection." Conference on College Composition and Communication. San Francisco. March 2009.
• Forthcoming "Strategies for Comprehensive Service-Learning Assessment: A Dynamic Model." With Kerry Purmensky, John Schell, and Amy Zeh. International Research Conference for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. New Orleans. October 2008.
• “What Makes Good Service-Learning Writers: Results from a Statewide Study.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. New Orleans, LA. April 2008.
• "The Next Step: A Statewide Study of Community Impacts of Service-Learning in Writing Courses." Conference on College Composition and Communication. New York. March 2007. With Margaret Boreman.
• "Professional Communication in the Nonprofit Sector: How Service-Learning Makes a Difference." International Association for Research in Service-Learning and Community Engagement. Tampa, FL. October 2007.
• "Professional Writing in the Nonprofit Sector." Conference on College Composition and Communication. Chicago, Illinois. March 2006.
• “The State of Collegiate Service-Learning and Civic Engagement in the State of Florida.” International Conference on Civic Education: Research and Practice. Orlando, FL. January 2006.
• "Virtual Communities: Research on Service-Learning in the Digital Age." International Conference on Advances in Service-Learning Research. East Lansing, MI. November, 2005.
• “When the Radical Becomes Familiar: The Pros and Cons of Institutionalizing Service-Learning.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. San Francisco. March 2005.
• “Creating a Virtual Community through Web-Based Service-Learning.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. San Antonio. March 2004.
• “Putting Service-Learning to the Test: A Comparative Study of Technical and Professional Writing Students’ Performance and Attitudes.” Conference on College Composition and Communication. New York. March 2003.
• “User-Friendly vs. User-Centered Web Course Delivery: Implications for Technical Communication Programs.” With Blake Scott. Association of Teachers of Technical Writing. New York. March 2003.

Miscellaneous Publications

• "What We Did Last Summer: Tips and Tricks for Teaching Online." UCF Faculty Focus. August 2008. http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/Publications/FacultyFocus/
• “Service-Learning on the Web.” UCF eFaculty Newsletter. October 2006. http://www.cdl.ucf.edu/wordpress/efaculty/?m=200610
• “Who Makes a Good Service-Learner? Preliminary Results from a Statewide Study.” UCF Faculty Focus. January 2006. http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/Publications/FacultyFocus/
• “Building Community on the Web Through Service-Learning.” UCF Faculty Focus. September 2003. http://www.fctl.ucf.edu/Publications/FacultyFocus/

Courses

• Spring 2026
• Fall 2025
• Summer 2025
• Spring 2025
• Fall 2024
• Summer 2024
• Spring 2024
• Fall 2023
• Summer 2023