Faculty and Staff

Biography

I came to UCF in 2002, having previously taught at the University of Florida. When UCF created the Department of Writing & Rhetoric in 2011, I became its founding Associate Chair and Director of Degree Programs, leading the creation of three new undergraduate programs (including a B.A. in Writing & Rhetoric). At UCF, I have served as Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate (2020-present), United Faculty of Florida Grievance Chair, Provost Fellow (2012-2013), and Faculty Excellence Fellow (2017-2018). I've also worked on and, in some cases, helped lead of parts of other university initiatives, including those associated with Strategic Enrollment Planning, the Foundations of Excellence Transfer Initiative, Quality Enhancement Program, and revision of University Promotion & Tenure Guidelines.

With Lisa Meloncon, I was the founding co-editor of the new scholarly journal Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, published by the University Press of Florida / University of Florida Press, which won the Council of Editors of Learned Journals 2019 Best New Journal Award. With Catherine Gouge, I co-edit the same journal's "Graphic RHM" digital column.

My scholarship in the rhetoric of health and medicine (RHM) includes the collection, co-edited with Lisa Meloncon, Methodologies for the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine; my book Risky Rhetoric: AIDS and the Cultural Practices of HIV Testing, which won the National Communication Association Health Communication Division 2017 Distinguished Book Award; and articles in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, College English, Journal of Medical Humanities, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, and other places. More recently, I have been co-leading an interdisciplinary research team with funded studies using graphic medicine interventions for nurses and people living with HIV. Much of my RHM scholarship has been driven by the goal of advancing more just and effective public health policy arguments and efforts.

My scholarship professional and technical communication includes the collection, co-edited with Bernadette Longo and Katherine Wills, Critical Power Tools: Technical Communication and Cultural Studies; the textbook, co-authored by Melody Bowdon, Service-Learning in Technical and Professional Communication; and articles in College Composition and Communication, Technical Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Business and Technical Communication, and other places. Much of this scholarship has focused on advancing cultural, community-based, and social justice-oriented approaches to teaching professional and technical communication.

My scholarship on writing program development, design, and support of student learning--focusing on Writing & Rhetoric majors--has been published in College English, Composition Forum, WPA: Writing Program Administration, and other places.

I'm currently working on a book, tentatively titled "Rhetorical Rx," that brings together theories of rhetoric, risk, and transnational movement to analyze global risk conflicts around pharmaceutical access and regulation. My other transnational rhetorical work includes the collection, co-edited by Rebecca Dingo, The Megarhetorics of Global Development. 

I teach a wide array of rhetoric and writing courses across our department's first-year writing, upper-division, and M.A. programs, and in the College of Arts and Humanities' Texts & Technology Ph.D. program. Some of these have involved sustained community partnerships.

Education

• Ph.D. in English: Rhetoric and Composition from Penn State University (1999)
• M.A. in English: Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy from University of Oklahoma (1994)
• B.A. in English Education from East Central University (OK) (1991)

Research Interests

• Rhetoric of Health & Medicine
• Rhetorical History, Theory, & Techne
  
• Professional & Technical Communication
  
• Writing Theory & Pedagogy
• Writing Program Development and Design
  

Recent Research Activities

• "HIV Outcome Quality Measure Evaluation and Stigma" (ongoing), Florida Department of Health (subcontract PI): $20,000
• "Strengthening Hospital Nurses’ Mental Well-being Through a Peer Support Training Program Involving Comic Testimonials" (2022-2023), UCF Interdisciplinary Seed Funding: $49,000
• "Strengthening Hospital Nurses’ Mental Health Resilience Through a Peer Support Training Program Using Comic Testimonials" (2022), Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Wellness Grant, Co-PI with Christa Cook and Nathan Holic: $25,000
• "Creative Approaches to Combat HIV Stigma and Discrimination from Health Providers" (2019), Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Wellness GrantCo-PI with Christa Cook and Nathan Holic: $25,000
• Humanities Scholarship Enhancement Award (2000), UF College of Arts and Sciences:  $7,800

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Selected Publications

Books

• Scott, J. Blake. Risky Rhetoric: AIDS and the Cultural Practices of HIV Testing. Southern Illinois UP, 2003. Reprinted in paper with new afterword, 2015. Winner of National Communication Association Health Communication Division 2017 Distinguished Book Award.   
• Bowdon, Melody, and J. Blake Scott. Service-Learning in Technical and Professional Communication. Longman, 2003. Part of the Allyn and Bacon Series in Technical Communication.

Edited Collections

• Meloncon, Lisa, and J. Blake Scott, eds. Methodologies for the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine. Routledge, 2017.
• Dingo, Rebecca, and J. Blake Scott, eds. The Megarhetorics of Global Development. U of Pittsburgh P, 2012. Part of the Pittsburgh Series in Composition, Literacy, and Culture.
• Scott, J. Blake, Bernadette Longo, and Katherine V. Wills, eds. Critical Power Tools: Technical Communication and Cultural Studies. SUNY P, 2013. Part of the SUNY Series in Technical and Scientific Communication.Winner of the 2007 NCTE/CCCC Award for Best Collection of Essays on Technical and Scientific Communication.

Articles/Essays

• Scott, J. Blake, and Laurie A. Pinkert. “Integrative Techne, Transdisciplinary Learning, and Writing Program Design.” College English, 2020, pp. 492-506.
• Scott, J. Blake, and Lisa Meloncon. "Writing and Rhetoric Majors, Disciplinarity, and Techne." Composition Forum, vol. 35, 2017, Web.
• Malkowski, Jennifer, J. Blake Scott, and Lisa Keranen. "Rhetorical Approaches to Health and Medicine." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication, edited by Jon F. Nussbaum, Oxford UP, 2016, Web.
• Wardle, Elizabeth, and J. Blake Scott. "Defining and Developing Expertise in a Writing and Rhetoric Department." WPA: Writing Program Administration, vol. 39, no. 1, 2015, pp. 72-93.
• Scott, J. Blake. “Afterword: Elaborating Health and Medicine’s Publics.” Special issue on “Medicine, Health, and Publics,” edited by Lisa Keranen. Journal of Medical Humanities, vol. 35, no. 1, 2014, pp. 229-235.
• Scott, J. Blake. “Biopower and Biopolitics.” SAGE Encyclopedia of Health Communication, edited by Teresa Thompson. SAGE, 2014, pp. 110-113.
• Scott, J. Blake, Judy Z. Segal, and Lisa Keranen. “The Rhetorics of Health and Medicine: Inventional Possibilities for Scholarship and Engaged Practice.” POROI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetorical Analysis and Invention, vol. 9, no. 1, 2013, Web.
• Scott, J. Blake. “Civic Engagement as Risk Management and Public Relations: What the Pharmaceutical Industry Can Teach Us about Service-Learning.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 61, no. 2, 2009, pp. 343-366.
• Scott, J. Blake. “The Practice of Usability: Teaching User Engagement through Service-Learning.” Technical Communication Quarterly. 17.4 (2008): 381-412.
• Scott, J. Blake. "Kairos as Indeterminate Risk Management: The Pharmaceutical Industry's Response to Bioterrorism." Quarterly Journal of Speech, vol. 92, no. 2, 2006, pp. 115-143.
• Scott, J. Blake. "Tracking Rapid HIV Testing through the Cultural Circuit: Implications for Technical Communication." Journal of Business and Technical Communication, vol. 18, no. 2, 2004, pp. 98-219.
• Scott, J. Blake. "Rearticulating Civic Engagement through Service-Learning and Cultural Studies." Technical Communication Quarterly, vol. 13, no. 3, 2004, pp. 289-306. Winner of the 2005 NCTE Award for Best Article on Methods of Teaching Technical or Scientific Communication.
• Scott, J. Blake. "Extending Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis: Transformations of HIV Home Testing." College English, vol. 65, no. 4, 2003, 349-367. Winner of the 2003 NCTE Richard Ohmann Award for Best Article in College English.
  
• Scott, J. Blake. "The Public Policy Debate over Newborn HIV Testing: A Case Study of the Knowledge Enthymeme." Rhetoric Society Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 2, 2002, pp. 57-83.

Book Sections/Chapters

• Scott, J. Blake. “An Analytic of and Beyond Representation for the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine.” The Rhetoric of Health & Medicine As/Is, edited by Lisa Meloncon, Scott Graham, Jenell Johnson, John Lynch, and Cynthia Ryan, Ohio State UP, 2020, pp. 143-158.
• Scott, J. Blake, and Catherine C. Gouge. “Theory Building in the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine” Reinventing (with) Theory in Rhetoric and Writing Studies: Essays in Honor of Sharon Crowley, edited by Andrea Alden, Kendall Gerdes, Judy Holiday, and Ryan Skinnell, Utah State UP, 2019, pp. 181-195.
• Bhardwaj, Pradeep, Debbie L. Hahs-Vaughn, Florencio Eloy Hernandez, and J. Blake Scott. “Career Development Strategies for Mid-Career Faculty.” Mid-Career Faculty: Trends, Barriers, and Possibilities, edited by Anita G. Welch, Daniel Reardon, Jocelyn Bolin, Brill-Sense Publishing, 2019, pp. 143-177.
• Scott, J. Blake. “Afterword: From Accommodation to Transformation.” Key Theoretical Frameworks for Teaching Technical Communication in the 21st Century, edited by Angela M. Haas and Michelle F. Eble, Utah State UP, 2018, pp. 304-311. Collection winner of the 2020 NCTE/CCCC Award for Best Collection of Essays on Technical and Scientific Communication.
• Scott, J. Blake, and Lisa Meloncon. "Manifesting Methodologies for the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine." With Lisa Meloncon. Methodologies for the Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, edited by Lisa Meloncon and J. Blake Scott. Routledge, 2017, pp. 1-23
• Scott, J. Blake. “Disciplinary Rhetorics, Sexualized Bodies, and Truvada.” Sexual Rhetorics, edited byJonathan Alexander and Jacqueline Rhodes. Routledge, 2016, pp. 217-230. Collection winner of the 2017 CCCC Lavender Rhetorics Book Award for Excellence in Queer Scholarship.
• Scott, J. Blake, and Elizabeth Wardle. "Using Threshold Concepts to Inform Writing and Rhetoric Undergraduate Majors: The UCF Experiment." Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle. Utah State UP, 2015, pp. 122-139. Collection winner of the 2017 CWPA Distinguished Research Award.
• Scott, J. Blake. “How Can Technical Communicators Work in a Legal and Ethical Manner?” Solving Problems in Technical Communication, edited by Stuart Selber and Johndan Johnson-Eilola. U of Chicago P, 2012, pp. 213-236.
• Scott, J. Blake. “Tracking Transglocal Risks in Pharmaceutical Development: Novartis’s Challenge of Indian Patent Law.” The Megarhetorics of Global Development, edited by Rebecca Dingo and J. Blake Scott. U of Pittsburgh P, 2012, pp. 29-53.
• Scott, J. Blake. "The Rhetoric of Science versus Politics in U.S. HIV Testing and Prevention Policy." Communication Perspectives on HIV/AIDS for the 21st Century, edited by Timothy Edgar, Seth M. Noar, and Vicki S. Freimuth. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2008, pp. 297-327.
• Scott, J. Blake. “Extending Service-Learning’s Critical Reflection and Action: Contributions of Cultural Studies.” Critical Power Tools: Technical Communication and Cultural Studies, edited by J. Blake Scott, Bernadette Longo, and Katherine V. Wills. SUNY P, 2006, pp. 241-258.

Awards

• CELJ 2019 Best New Journal Award for Rhetoric of Health & Medicine
  
• NCA Health Communication Division 2017 Distinguished Book Award for Risky Rhetoric
  
• UCF Faculty COACHE Innovation Award, 2018
  
• UCF Scroll & Quill Inductee, 2017
  
• NCTE 2007 Award for Best Collection of Essays on Technical and Scientific Communication for Critical Power Tools
  
• NCTE 2005 Award for Best Article on Methods of Teaching Technical or Scientific Communication
  
• Richard Ohmann 2003 Award for Best Article in College English
  
• UCF Research Incentive Award, 2007
• UCF Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award, 2006 and 2012
• UCF CAS Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, 2005
• UCF University Award for Excellence in Professional Service, 2007 and 2015
• UCF Teaching Incentive Program Award, 2009
• UCF CAH Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award, 2011

Activities

Key UCF Leadership Positions

• Provost Faculty Fellow (2012-2013)
  
• Faculty Excellence Fellow (2017-2018)
• University Promotion and Tenure Committee Co-Chair (2016-2017), Chair (2017-2018)
• CAH Promotion & Tenure Committee Chair (2014)
• Faculty Senate, Personnel Committee (2017-present), Ad Hoc Committee on Centers and Institutes (2017-present)
• Foundations of Excellence Transfer Initiative, Co-Chair of Organization Committee and Co-Chair of Engagement Action Team (2014-present)
• Quality Enhancement Program Lead Proposal Writer and Researcher (2015-2016)
• Department of Writing & Rhetoric Founding Associate Chair (July 2010-January 2015)
• Department of Writing & Rhetoric Founding Director of Degree Programs, Graduate (July 2010-January 2015) and Undergraduate (July 2010-August 2015)

Select Professional Leadership Roles

• Co-Leader of Several RSA Summer Institute Seminars and Workshops
• Co-Planner for Biennial RHM Symposium
  
• ATTW 2018 Conference Program Co-Chair (2017-present)
• Member of RSA Publications Committee (2017-present)
• Board Member of Rhetoric Society of America (1994-1996)
• Member of Executive Board, Independent Writing Departments and Programs Affiliate (IWDPA) (2016-2017)
• Member of CCCC Committee on the Major (2015-2016, committee disbanded)
• Member of CCCC Nominating Committee (2011-2013)

Select Mentoring

• COACHE Launch Committee Pilot Project (2020)
  
• Coordinator of UCF Associate Professor Mentoring Communities (2017-present)
• Mentor in University of Maryland, Baltimore County Eminent Scholar Program (2017-present)
• TRiO “Project BEST” Mentoring Program (2016-present)
• CAH Assistant Professor Mentoring Program (2016-present)
• Facilitator of DWR CPE and P&T Workshops (2015-present)
• Facilitator of DWR Assistant Professor Research Workshop Group (2012-2014, 2016-present)

Courses

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