Dr. Derek Sparby
Associate Professor
Office
STV Stevenson Hall 421b
Office Hours
Monday 2-3pm and by appointment (Zoom)
Office Phone
Email
Website
- About
- Education
- Selected Research
Current Courses
ENG 249.001 Technical & Professional Writing I
ENG 351.001 Digital Rhetorics
ENG 454.001 Digital Rhetorics
ENG 499.005 Independent Research For The Master's Thesis
ENG 599.027 Research And Dissertation
Teaching Interests & Areas
Digital rhetorics and technical communication
Research Interests & Areas
Digital rhetorics and technical communication
Ph D Rhetoric; Technical Communication
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL
MA English Studies
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO
Book, Authored
Memetic Rhetorics: Building a Rhetorical Toolkit for Ethical Meming
Derek M Sparby.
(2023), 10.3998/mpub.12207107, University of Michigan Press
Book, Chapter
Feminist Ethics
Derek M Sparby.
(2025), Invited contribution in Derek G. Ross (Ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Ethics in Technical and Professional Communication, Routledge
Toward a feminist ethic of self-care and protection when researching digital aggression
Derek M Sparby.
(2022), Methods and methodologies for research in digital writing and rhetoric, WAC Clearinghouse
Toward an audience-centered approach: Rhetorical analysis of university crisis communication emails
Courtney Cox, Derek M Sparby.
(2022), Embodied environmental risk in technical communication: Problems and solutions toward social sustainability, ATTW Series (Routledge)
Book, Edited
Digital Ethics: Rhetoric and Responsibility in Online Aggression
Jessica Reyman, Derek M Sparby.
(2019), Routledge
Journal Article
A Memetic Pandemic: COVID-19 Memes As Tactical Risk Communication
Derek M Sparby.
Technical Communication Quarterly, 34 (2), 153-168, (2025), 10.1080/10572252.2024.2352106
Symposium on Bisexual Digital Rhetorics
Cindy Tekobbe, Derek M Sparby.
Rhetoric Review, 44 (4), 255-330, (2025), 10.1080/07350198.2025.2553412
Investigating disembodied risk in university crisis communications during COVID-19
Courtney Cox, Derek M Sparby.
Communication Design Quarterly, 10 (1), (2022)
Tactical Risk Communication: Observations from Teaching and Learning about Crisis Communication during COVID-19
Tiffany Bishop, Emily Capan, Brittany Larsen, Raven Preston, Derek M Sparby.
Technical Communication Quarterly, 31 (2), 175-189, (2022), 10.1080/10572252.2021.2008509
Digital Social Media and Aggression: Memetic Rhetoric in 4chan’s Collective Identity
Derek M Sparby.
Computers and Composition, 45, 85-97, (2017), 10.1016/j.compcom.2017.06.006