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J. LOGAN SMILGES
CURRICULUM VITAE

jlsmilges.weebly.com Buchanan 527

logan.smilges@ubc.ca Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
University of British Columbia, July 2022-Present.
Assistant Professor, Department English Language and Literature

Texas Woman’s University, August 2020-August 2022.

Assistant Professor, Department of Language, Culture, and Gender Studies
Affiliate Faculty, Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies Program

Pennsylvania State University, August 2015-July 2020.

Assistant Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric
Graduate Teaching Instructor

EDUCATION
Ph.D., Rhetoric & Composition, Pennsylvania State University, 2020.
Women’s Studies, Pennsylvania State University, 2020.
M.A., English, Pennsylvania State University, 2017.
B.A., English Literature and Education, Capital University, 2014.

SELECTED HONORS AND AWARDS

Leading Scholars Program, Green College, 2022.
Competitive appointment for new faculty at the University of British Columbia that provides
opportunities and funding to host interdisciplinary programming.

Presidents Dissertation Award, Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric, 2020.
Awarded biennially “to the doctoral dissertation that makes an outstanding contribution to our
understanding of feminist histories, theories, and pedagogies of rhetoric and composition.”
Lavender Rhetorics Award, Conference on College Composition and Communication, 2020.
Presented annually to the published article “that best make[s] queer interventions into the study of
composition and rhetoric.”
Gene Wise-Warren Susman Prize, American Studies Association, 2019.
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Awarded annually to the “the best paper…presented by a graduate student” based on “the breadth,
the critical imagination, the intellectual boldness, and the cross-disciplinary perspective” of the
project.
Graduate Paper Award, Northeast Modern Language Association, 2019.
Awarded by the Graduate Student Caucus to acknowledge the “quality” and “relevance of the
[paper] topic to the student’s…field.”
Denise Haunani Solomon Teaching Award, Penn State University, 2019.
Nominated by the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies to be recognized by the
College of Liberal Arts for “outstanding teaching performance.”
Graduate Service Award, Penn State University, 2018.
Awarded by the Graduate School to “recognize[] a graduate student who has best combined high
academic achievement with leadership in University or other public activities.”
LGBTQA Service Award, Penn State University, 2018.
Awarded by the LGBTQA Student Resource Center for an individual “within the University
community who ha[s] shown outstanding service regarding LGBTQ concerns.”

PUBLICATIONS
Books
Queer Silence: On Disability and Rhetorical Absence (2022)
This project attends to the interanimating absences of disability and silence from queer studies, working
to recover and theorize the resistance efforts of minoritarian queer subjects who draw on silence to build
community, navigate hostile environments, and resistant institutional and state-sponsored violence.

Crip Negativity (2023)

This project levels a critique of the category of disability and liberal disability politics, asking what
horizons might exist for the liberation of disabled people beyond access and inclusion. Inspired by models
of negativity in queer studies, Black studies, and crip theory, I propose that bad crip feelings might help
all of us to care more gently for one another more, even as we demand more from the world than we
currently imagine to be possible.

Neurotrans: Mental Disability and Transgender Intimacies (In Progress)

This project maps a cultural and rhetorical history of mental disability and transgender as contingent
medical and social categories in the United States. By way of archival research on renowned psychiatrists
and their patients, as well as critical analysis informed by Trans Studies and Disability Studies, I explore
how the mutual constitution of transness and disability has shaped both medical discourse and broader
cultural norms for gender comportment and mental health.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
“The Homo-ableist Imagination.” (In Progress)

“Cringe Theory.” Lateral. (Accepted)

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“TransCrip Critique: On Negativity and the Ableism of Trans-antagonism.” Quarterly Journal of

Speech. (Accepted)

“Seasons of Nonbinary and Neurodivergence; or, So What If We’re All X?” Women’s Studies
Quarterly. (Forthcoming)

“Neurotrans: Thorazine, HIV, and Marsha P.” Transgender Studies Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 4, 2023.

“Choosing Disability: Bug Chasing and Gift Giving in Gay Pornography.” with Ryan Thorneycroft,
Porn Studies, 2022.

“Neuroqueer Literacy; or, Against Able-Reading.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 73,
no. 1, 2021.

“Bad Listeners.” Peitho, vol. 23, no. 1, 2020.

“Trauma Sex: A Queercrip Erotic.” Disability Studies Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 2, 2020.
“White Squares to Black Boxes: Grindr, Queerness, Rhetorical Silence.” Rhetoric Review, vol. 38,
no. 1, 2019.
-This article won the Lavender Rhetorics Award from the Conference on College Composition and
Communication, 2020.
“‘It’s not gay, nor bad, it’s SSAD:’ Queerness and Masquerade.” Canadian Journal of Disability
Studies, vol. 7, no. 3, 2018.
-A version of this article won the Gene Wise-Warren Susman Prize from the American
Studies Association, 2019.
“Where’s Wallace? Infinite Jest’s Return to Reality.” Queen City Writers, vol. 3, no. 1, 2014.

Book Chapters
“Crip Temporalities of Hope.” Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminist Rhetoric. Routledge.
(Forthcoming)
“The Trans Depressive.” A Mad Turn: Anti-methods of Mad Studies. Autonomous Press, 2022.
(Forthcoming)
“Pathological Desire, Perverse Erotics, and Paraphiliac Entelechies.” Routledge Handbook of
Queer Rhetoric. Routledge, 2022.
Book Reviews
“Review of Just Care: Messy Entanglements of Disability, Dependency, and Desire,” by Akemi
Nishida. Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience. (Forthcoming)
“Review of Living Chronic: Agency and Expertise in the Rhetoric of Diabetes,” by Lora Arduser.
Disability Studies Quarterly, vol. 40, no. 1, 2020.
“Review of Disability and Aging: Learning from Both to Empower the Lives of Older Adults,” by
Jeffrey S. Kahana and Eva Kahana. Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies, vol. 14, no.
3, 2020.

Public Scholarship
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“Web Access.” Curve Magazine, Oct. 2021.

“Pride Feelings.” Disability Visibility Project, Jul. 5, 2021.

“Without Mercy There is Only Mourning.” Answering the Call: Exploring Scholar-Activism at TWU
and Beyond, 2021. Podcast.

“On Being a Remarkable Trans.” TSQ*Now, Dec. 17, 2020.

SELECTED CONFERENCES
“CripPhD: Disability Justice as Politic, Pedagogy, and Praxis?” American Studies Association.
November 2023.
“Author-meets-Critics: Crip Negativity.” National Women’s Studies Association. October 2023.
“Trans Rhetorics at the Margins.” Feminist Rhetorics Conference. September 2023.
“Disability Studies Questions Applied Linguistics.” Special session. American Association for Applied
Linguistics. March 2023.
“Cripping Hope; Cripping Negativity.” Conference on College Composition and Communication,
Chicago, Illinois. February 2023.
“Centering c4c (crip-for-crip): Knotting Care and Accountability in Disability Studies.” National
Women’s Studies Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota. November 2022.
“Crip Liberalism.” American Studies Association, New Orleans, Louisiana. November 2022.
“Against Reading.” International Conference on Narrative, West Sussex, England. June 2022.
“Creative Rhetorics: A Roundtable Discussion.” Rhetoric Society of America, Baltimore, Maryland.
May 2022.
“A Grammar of Creativity.” American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico. November 2021.
“Perverting Liberation.” Disabilities, Arts, & Sexualities Conference, Dublin, Ireland. March 2021.
“F*cking the Wall.” National Women’s Studies Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota. November 2020.
(Cancelled due to COVID-19)
“Transing Archival Queers: Where Rhetoric Meets Trans Violence.” Rhetoric Society of America,
Portland, Oregon. May 2020. (Cancelled due to COVID-19)
“The Ex-Gay Masquerade: Queercrip Conversion.” American Studies Association, Honolulu, Hawaii.
November 2019.
“Reading Is Overrated: When Literacy Meets Disability.” Northeast Modern Language Association,
Washington, D.C. March 2019.
“That Aging Queer: Coming Out Old, Growing Up Trans*.” National Women’s Studies Association,
Atlanta, Georgia. November 2018.
“‘Wanna Swap Pics’: Grindr, Queerness, Silence.” American Men’s Studies Association, Minneapolis.
March 2018.
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“The Virtuous Struggler: The Price for Purity in Reparative Therapy.” After Marriage Conference,
John Jay College of Criminal Justice. October 2016.

Invited Speaking Engagements

“Cripping Negativity.” The Humanities Institute, Stony Brook University, November 2023.
“On Sex and Silence.” Queer & Feminist Media Studies Workshop, University of British Columbia,
March 2023.
“Enacting an Anti-ableist Graduate Education.” Department of English, Texas Christian University,
March 2023.
“No Pic, No Chat:” Silence, Absence, and Erotic Invisibility on Grindr.” President’s Council on
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, New Mexico Highlands University, March 2023.
“Rhetorical Quieting and an Erotics of Absence.” DISCO Network, University of Michigan, January
2023.
“Critical Conversations: Intimacies & Kinship.” English Graduate Student Caucus, University of
British Columbia, October 2022.
“Disability and the Academic Job Market.” Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific
Communication, October 2022.
“Inclusive Professionalism: Deep Dive for the LGBTQIA+ Community.” Oberlin College, April
2021.
“Autonomy, Resilience, and Academic Survival.” Boğaziçi University, February 2021.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Instructor of Record, University of British Columbia, 2022-Present
Rhetorics of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Upper-level undergraduate course that, under my direction, provides a comprehensive overview of
the rhetorics of science, technology, and medicine by centering gender and specifically transgender
experience as guiding heuristics. Students in the course are responsible for maintaining an online
resource on transgender healthcare across the lower mainland of the Greater Vancouver Area.

Queer Rhetorics
Senior-level undergraduate seminar that prepares students to apply rhetorical studies as an animator
in queer studies, a methodology geared toward transferring the knowledge gleaned from theory to
practical solutions for problems facing local communities.

Instructor of Record, Texas Woman’s University, 2020-2022.

Transfeminist Rhetorics
Graduate-level seminar that approaches transfeminism from a rhetorical angle, focusing on issues
of legibility and security in light of increasing neoliberal efforts to make trans subjects visible.

Composing Disability
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Graduate-level seminar on the commingling of Writing Studies and Disability Studies, intended to
prepare students to lead accessible and inclusive composition-centered courses.

Queer Rhetorics in Crisis

Upper-level undergraduate critical theory course by my design that adopts Rhetorical Studies as a
guiding heuristic to explore the ways crisis informs queer identities, aesthetics, and resistance
efforts.

Studies in Transgender Literature

Undergraduate survey course on transgender literature, including contemporary novels, nonfiction,
poetry, and graphic literature written by and about trans people.

Theatre & Disability

Upper-level undergraduate course on theatrical representations of disability and the ways
theatre-makers have contributed to contemporary attitudes toward disability.

Composition I
First-year writing course geared toward developing writers. I emphasize multimodality as a way to
honor and celebrate the digital literacies my students bring to the course.

Instructor of Record, Pennsylvania State University, 2015-2020.

Rhetorical Pedagogy and Composition Theory
Year-long practicum for new graduate instructors and lecturers; I emphasized issues of
accessibility and diversity within the teaching of rhetoric and writing.
Honors Rhetoric and Composition, “Sexualities in America”
Themed first-year writing course; I taught rhetorical theory through conversations about sex,
sexuality, and sexual identity in America since the turn of the 20th century.
Diversity in Rhetoric and Composition
Section of first-year writing devoted to issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, and
nation; I used examples of activism to complicate the traditional rhetorical canon.
Introduction to LGBTQ Studies
Survey course on queer and trans theories, cultures, and aesthetics, focusing on the limitations
of and opportunities afforded by identity politics.
Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies
Survey course on the history of feminist thought, activism, and politics; I foregrounded
transnational feminisms and trans*feminisms.
Religion in American Life and Thought
Introductory course on the role of religion in US history and culture; I designed one unit around
the legacy of Indigenous and Native faiths in contemporary America.

Business Writing
Advanced writing course designed to prepare students for composition genres in the
workforce, including reports, letters, job application documents, social media profiles,
and branding.
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Rhetoric and Composition with Business Management

First-year writing taught in conjunction with a sister section of Introduction to Business
Management; I emphasized the professional and technical writing sides of rhetoric.
English Language Tutor, VIPKid (Online), 2017-2019.
Web-based language instruction for Chinese students; Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced
Levels
High School Teacher, Upper Arlington High School (Ohio), 2014-2015.
Public Speaking, designed for nontraditional students
9th Grade Literature and Writing
Writing Tutoring

SELECTED SERVICE
To Profession
Crompton-Noll Prize Committee, Chair, 2023-2024.
Invited position to select the “best paper” in queer studies for the MLA/APA GLQ Caucus.

International Trans Studies Conference, Accessibility Chair, 2023-2024.

Responsible for overseeing a culture of access at the conference.

Disability & the Academic Job Market Symposium, 2022.

Director for a day-long virtual symposium for disabled graduate students from a range of fields
and institutions on navigating the academic job market.

Disability Studies Standing Group, Co-Chair, 2020-2022.

Affiliated with the Conference on College Composition & Communication.
Presides over annual meetings at CCCC and plans caucus activities.
McNair Scholars Program, Faculty Advisor, 2021.
Worked closely with a disabled undergraduate student to conduct research on a topic of her
choosing in order to begin developing her research profile and prepare materials for her
application to graduate programs.

To University (University of British Columbia)

Equity Committee (2022-Present)
Collaborated with a select group of faculty to assess current inequities within the department and
propose strategies/policies to amend them.

To University (Texas Woman’s University)

Endemic Crisis Speaker Series & Reading Group, Coordinator, 2021-2022.
Founding coordinator and facilitator for the Endemic Crisis speaker series and reading group,
which hosts monthly visits from international scholars, activists, and artists on strategies for
collective survival.

Alliance, Director, 2020-2022.

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Founding director for the Alliance program, which hosts bi-monthly conversation groups for
queer and trans students to build community and organize events to better diversity outreach.

Committee on Graduate Studies, Member, 2020-2022.

Collaborated on applications for new distance learning options for both the PhD in Rhetoric
& Writing and the Graduate Certificate for Dual Credit Teaching in English.

Committee on Professional Development, Member, 2020-2022.

Co-hosted three workshops for graduate students across multiple departments on Online
Presence, Public Scholarship, and Community Engagement.

To University (Pennsylvania State University)

Mentor Group Coordinator, English Department, 2018-2019.
Organized mentoring meetings among faculty and graduate students.

Teaching Mentor, English Department, 2018-2019.

Met monthly with new graduate instructors to troubleshoot classroom problems and offer
pedagogical advice. Also spoke as an invited panelist for a workshop on syllabus design.

Mentor, LGBTQA Resource Center, 2016-2019.

Met weekly one-on-one with undergraduate and graduate students who wanted support coming
out/transitioning.

Faith Talks Facilitator, LGBTQA Student Resource Center, 2017-2018.

Led bi-monthly discussions with undergraduate and graduate students about the intersections of
faith, gender, and sexuality.

Incoming Graduate Student Mentor, English Department, 2017-2018.

Paired with an incoming student to facilitate a smooth transition into graduate school.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

American Studies Association Modern Language Association

College Composition and Communication Rhetoric Society of America
National Women’s Studies Association Society for Disability Studies

REFERENCES
Available upon request.