Dr. Derek Sparby
Associate Professor
English
Office
STV Stevenson Hall 421b
Office Hours
Wednesday 2-3pm and by appointment (Zoom)
Office Phone
Email
Website
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Research
Biography
Digital, feminist, and queer rhetorics and technical communication, including social media, memes, and online aggression; gender and identity in digital public discourse; ethics and participation
Current Courses
249.001Technical & Professional Writing I
460.001Feminist Literary Theories
499.002Independent Research For The Master's Thesis
599.027Research And Dissertation
280.001Science Writing
Teaching Interests & Areas
Digital technical communication; digital, feminist, and queer rhetorics; digital aggression, web design, information architecture, social media, ethics, tactical technical communication, crisis communication
Research Interests & Areas
Digital, feminist, and queer rhetorics and technical communication, including social media, memes, and online aggression; gender and identity in digital public discourse; ethics and participation; tactical technical communication and crisis communication
Ph D Rhetoric and Composition; Technical Communication
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL
MA English Studies
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO
Outstanding University Teaching Award
Illinois State University
2025
Ellen T Blaney Humanities Prize
College of Arts and Sciences
2024
Faculty Research Award
Illinois State University
2024
2021 CCCC Best in Technical and Scientific Communication Awards
Conference on College Composition and Communication
2023
2024-2025 CAS Outstanding College Researcher Award
ISU, College of Arts and Sciences
2023
University Research Initiative Award
Illinois State University
2021
Alice and Fannie Fell Trust
Illinois State University
2021
Sage Fund
Illinois State University
2020
2019 Distinguished Book Award
Computers and Composition
2020
Alice and Fannie Fell Trust
Illinois State University
2020
Book, Authored
Sparby, D. M. (2023). Memetic rhetorics: Building a rhetorical toolkit for ethical meming. University of Michigan Press. https://www.press.umich.edu/12207107/memetic_rhetorics
Book, Chapter
Sparby, D.M. (2025). Feminist ethics. In Derek G. Ross (Ed.)The Routledge Handbook of Ethics in Technical and Professional Communication. Routlege.
Cox, C. & Sparby, D. M. (2022). Toward an audience-centered approach: Rhetorical analysis of university crisis communication emails. In Samuel Stinson & Mary Le Rouge (Eds.) Embodied environmental risk in technical communication: Problems and solutions toward social sustainability. New York: Routledge, ATTW Series.
Sparby, D. M. (Forthcoming). Toward a feminist ethic of self-care and protection when researching digital aggression. In Crystal VanKooten & Victor del Hierro (Eds.) Methods and methodologies for research in digital writing and rhetoric. Colorado Springs: WAC Clearinghouse.
Lukowski, A. A. & Sparby, D. M. (2016). Breastfeeding, Authority, and Genre: Women’s Ethos in Wikipedia and Blogs. Establishing and Evaluating Digital Ethos and Online Credibility. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Book, Edited
Reyman, J., & Sparby, D.M., eds. (2019). Digital Ethics: Rhetoric and Responsibility in Online Aggression. London, Routledge.
Journal Article
Sparby, Derek M. (2024). A memetic pandemic: COVID-19 memes as tactical risk communication. Technical Communication Quarterly.
Bishop, T., Capan, E., Larsen, B., Preston, R., & Sparby, D. Tactical Risk Communication: Observations from Teaching and Learning about Crisis Communication during COVID-19. Technical Communication Quarterly 31.2 (2022): 175-189.
Cox, Courtney & Sparby, D. M. (2022). Investigating disembodied risk in university crisis communications during COVID-19. Communication Design Quarterly.
Sparby, D. M. (2022). Meming misogyny at the political divide. enculturation. Invited submission. https://www.enculturation.net/meming_misogyny
Sparby, Erika M. (2021). Reading mean comments to subvert gendered hate on YouTube: Toward a spectrum of digital aggression response. enculturation. http://enculturation.net/readingmeancomments
Presentations
Haas, Angela; Verzosa Hurley, Elise; Smyser-Fauble, Barbi; Sparby, Derek M. (2024). Designing an Online Social Justice TPSC MA/MS Program. Council for Programs in Scientific and Technical Communication. Menomonie, WI.
Sparby, Derek M. (2024). Compassionate DIY – Mercury Stardust as a Model of Trans Technical Communication. Paper Presented at the Association for the Teachers of Technical Writing Conference. Online.
Sparby, Derek M. (2024). Critical Queer Feminist Autoethnography: A Methodology for Studying Memes. Paper Presented at Computers and Writing. Fort Worth, TX.
Przybyło, Ela & Sparby, Derek M. (2023). Identifying an Ace Gaze through Memetic Screens on TikTok. Paper presented at Computers and Writing. Online.
Sparby, Derek M. (2023). Policy and Protection: On the Urgency of Developing Digital Aggression Policies at Our Home Institutions. Paper presented at the Association for the Teachers of Technical Writing Conference. Online.
Sparby, Derek M. (2023). Toward University Policies to Protect Teachers and Researchers from Digital Aggression. Paper presented at Computers and Writing. Online.
Przybyło, Ela & Sparby, Derek M. (2022). Ace Gaze: Asexuality on Tiktok. Paper presented during the sponsored panel Reclaiming Asexualities from Within and Without at the National Women’s Studies Association 42nd Annual Conference. Minneapolis, MN.
Sparby, Derek M. (2022). Tactical Meming. Association for Teachers of Technical Writing Conference. Zoom.
With Ela Przybylo. (Under development for Spring 2022). Zine-making Toward Social Change: Activism, Rhetoric, and Publishing Minoritarian Cultures
Sparby, Erika M. (June 2021). Memetic critical power tools: Teaching an ethic of privacy and identity for memes in the technical communication classroom. Paper accepted to the Association for the Teachers of Technical Writing Conference, Zoom. (Paper was originally accepted for the 2020 conference, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)