Christine Alfano

Christine Alfano has been a lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric since 1998. She holds a BA from Brown University and PhD from Stanford and specializes in digital rhetoric. In her recent PWR courses, "The Rhetoric of Gaming," "Networked Rhetoric," "Technologies of iDentity" and "Cultural Interfaces," Christine challenges students to explore how writing in different technological modes (from traditional Microsoft Word documents, to blogs, threaded discussions, social network profiles, video blogs and wikis) transforms the modern practice of communication and how we represent ourselves online and off. In addition, Christine is the technology specialist for the Cross-Cultural Rhetoric Project, a project that allows Stanford PWR students to engage in intercultural collaboration with students from other universities around the world using video conferencing and other modes of communication technologies. Dr. Alyssa J. O'Brien is a Lecturer in the Program and Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University, where she directs the Cross-Cultural Rhetoric initiative and publishes scholarship and textbooks on visual rhetoric, writing pedagogy, and global learning. She has been an invited speaker in Asia and Europe on subjects such as global learning, communication for leadership, visual rhetoric, and "mapping a change in writing." In 2006, Alyssa won the Phi Beta Kappa Outstanding Teaching Award, and what she enjoys most is helping people discover their voices in writing of all kinds. Her current first- and second-year writing courses focus on visual rhetoric, cross-cultural rhetoric, globalization, and communication for leadership. Before coming to Stanford in 2001, she taught composition, creative writing, literature, and business writing at Cornell University, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Rochester.