Fiona Harris-Ramsby

  • Associate Professor Writing Studies College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Email
harrisramsbf@montclair.edu

Biography

Dr. Freddie (Fiona) Harris Ramsby is an Associate Professor of Writing Studies at Bloomfield College of Montclair State University, where she serves as First Year Writing Coordinator and co-creator of the BCMSU SCHOLAR Community Engagement Certificate Program. She holds a PhD in English (rhetoric and discourse analysis emphasis)  from the University of Utah. Her research focuses on critical discourse analysis, rhetorical theory, performance studies, and AI ethics in writing. Author of Language and Power on the Rhetorical Stage (Routledge, 2021) and co-editor of the forthcoming Rehearse, Revise, Regenerate, she has published and presented widely on topics ranging from feminist rhetoric and classical drama to first-year writing pedagogy and AI. A dedicated advocate for undergraduate research and community-engaged learning, Dr. Harris Ramsby has mentored student co-authors and co-presenters throughout her career and currently co-chairs the BCMSU Student Research Symposium. She is a CETL Fellow at Montclair State and an accomplished theater director, dramaturg, and performer with deep roots in Shakespeare and contemporary drama.

Research

Critical Discourse Analysis and Performance Studies; Rhetorical Theory including Science Rhetorics, Rhetorics of the Body, Classical, Renaissance, and Enlightenment Rhetorics; First Year and Developmental Writing; Student Research and Publication; Critical Literacy and Ethics in Writing and AI, Community Engaged Teaching and Learning.

Publications

Recent:

Books

Rehearse, Revise, Regenerate: Critical Theater as Rhetorical Practice, A Digital Performance. (Co-Edited with Michelle La France, George Mason University), Computers and Composition Digital Press & Utah State UP (Forthcoming 2026)

Language and Power on the Rhetorical Stage: Theory in the Body, Routledge (January 2021)

Articles & Chapters

2026

  • “Acting [Out] Critical Discourse Analysis.” In Rehearse, Revise, Regenerate: Critical Theater as Rhetorical Practice, A Digital Performance. (Edited by Fiona Harris Ramsby and Michelle LaFrance), Computers and Composition Digital Press & Utah State UP (Fall 2026)
  • “Acting Bias: Staging Media Analysis in First-Year Writing.” Writing Spaces: Assignments & Activities Archive, (July 2026)
  • Ruby’s Supernatural Snacking: Dualism, Selfhood, and Performative Materiality, Women in Supernatural. (With Bloomfield College student Samaya Turner Jones), McFarland Publishing Company (July  2026)
  • “AI Can Clean Up First-year Writing: First-Year Writing Courses Should Embrace The Epistemic “Messiness” Of Writing.” Bad Ideas about AI and Writing: Toward Generative Ideas for Teaching, Learning, and Communication. (with Mary Boland). Edited by Christopher Basgier, Anna Mills, Mandy Olejnik, Miranda Rodak, and Shyam Sharma, WAC Clearinghouse (May 2026)
  • “The Spot’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Cognitive Frames, Staged Thirdspace, and the Impossibility ofErasure.” The Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics (February 2026)
  • “Claws, Paws, and Menopause: Feline Metaphors and the Performance of Aging.” Peitho: Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition (January 2026)

Honors & Awards

Bloomfield College of Montclair State University Award for Excellence in Faculty Service (2026)

Presidential Excellence Award Nominee for Innovation (2026)

Bloomfield College of Montclair State University Teaching Excellence Award  (2023)