Photo of Derek Handley

Derek Handley

  • Associate Professor, English
  • Affiliated Assoc. Professor, Urban Studies
  • Affiliated Assoc. Professor, African and Africa Diaspora Studies

Education

  • PhD, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon University
  • MA, Department of English, Carnegie Mellon University
  • MFA, Department of English, University of Pittsburgh
  • BA, Department of English and Foreign Languages, Hampton University

 

Teaching Schedule

Course Num Title Meets
ENGLISH 712-001 Theories in Public Rhetorics and Community Engagement: R 5:30pm-8:10pm

Courses Taught

  • African American Public Discourse 
  • Rhetoric of Argument 
  • Seminar in Public Rhetorics and Community Engagement 
  • Rhetoric and Place 
  • Writing Pedagogies
  • Rhetorical Theory 

Teaching Interests

  • Rhetorical history
  • Argumentation
  • Rhetorical theory
  • African American Rhetoric and Literature

Research Interests

  • 19th and 20th century African American rhetoric and literature
  • publics and democracy
  • digital humanities
  • civic engagement
  • urban humanities.

Teaching Areas

I teach courses in spatial and urban rhetorics, argumentation, writing pedagogies, African American studies, and community engaged research.

Selected Publications

Struggle for the City: Rhetorics of Citizenship and Resistance during the Black Freedom Movement. (Forthcoming Fall 2024)
Handley, D., Gallagher, V., DeVasto, D., Mascarenhas, M., Gittens, R., "Unearthing deep roots: Tapping rhetoric’s generative power for community and urban development projects"  Review of Communication special issue on RSA Project in Power, Place, and Publics
“The Line Drawn’ Freedom Corner and Rhetorics of Place in Pittsburgh, 1960s-2000s” Rhetoric Review Volume 38, Issue 2
 
“Stealth Veterans and Citizenship Pedagogy in the First-Year Writing Classroom” Reflections: A Journal of Public Rhetoric, Civic Writing, and Service Learning Volume 16, Issue 2
 

UWM Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge in Milwaukee that we are on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk and Menominee homeland along the southwest shores of Michigami, North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida and Mohican nations remain present.   |   To learn more, visit the Electa Quinney Institute website.