RHEA ESTELLE LATHAN, Assistant Professor, holds a Ph.D in English (2006) and MA in Afro American Studies (2000) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; a BA (1997) in Africology and English from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Lathan's research includes the literate and rhetorical history of women of African descent, the development of literacy, and the delivery systems for the teaching of writing; community based critical intellectualism, identity politics and social historical activism as well as critical race theory in rhetoric and composition. Dr. Lathan teaches courses ranging from social historical perspectives on rhetoric and composition to more specialized African American Literacies, rhetoric, composition research methodologies and theories, the rhetoric of African American social movements, including African American feminisms and literacy history.

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

• Work In Progress - Gospel Literacy: A Cultural-Historical Perspective on African American Literacy Freedom Writing: African American Civil Rights Literacy Activism 1955-1967, Book length manuscript
• "Crusader: Ethel Azalea Johnson's Use of the Written Word as a Weapon of Liberation," Women and Literacy: Inquiries for a New Century. Eds. Beth Daniell and Peter Mortensen. (May 2007) (Urbana: NCTE)

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

• National Council for the Teachers of English (NCTE)
• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• National Council of Negro Women
• Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)
• Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition
• CCCC Black Caucus

GRANTS AND AWARDS

• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Distinguished Alumni Award May (2008)
• Public Humanities Collaborative Public Arts and Humanities Faculty Fellowship (2007-2008)
• College of Arts and Letters Outreach Initiative Grant (January 2008)
• Woodrow Wilson Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Grant in Women's Studies (2005-2006)
• University of Wisconsin Systems Institute on Race and Ethnicity Scholar in Residence Fellow (2005-2006)
• University of Wisconsin Distinguished Graduate Fellowship (2005-2006)