I am motivated by people. As a teacher, that’s students; as a researcher, it’s the people most impacted at the heart of my projects; as a human, it’s my family.
Ashanka Kumari, Ph.D. Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Associate Professor of Literature and Languages
- Faculty
Graduate School
Dr. Ashanka Kumari works to create an academic community where students are the first priority. Her work lives at the intersection of writing, teaching, community, and care, focusing on the hidden curriculum, graduate education, multimodal composition, and feminist and antiracist pedagogies. Her research appears in Computers and Composition, Kairos, Composition Studies, The Journal of Popular Culture, and multiple edited collections. She is co-editor of Mobility Work in Composition: Translation, Migration, and Transformation (Utah State University Press). Dr. Kumari also serves as editor of the Topoi, Praxis, and PraxisWiki sections of Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy.
A Conversation with Dr. Ashanka Kumari
What do you like most about your career?
The autonomy and the possibilities that remain. I genuinely love the work I get to do and the people with whom I get to work.
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Thinking professionally, definitely completing my Ph.D. and any college degrees. I'm a first-generation student, teacher-scholar, a child of immigrants, and a woman of color–this meant a lot to me and my family.
What motivates you?
People. As a teacher, that's students; as a researcher and administrator, it's the people most impacted at the heart of my projects; as a human, it's my family.
How many languages do you speak?
In varying degrees, 5. Fluently, 3.
Educational Background
- Ph.D., Rhetoric and Composition, University of Louisville, 2019
- M.A., English, Composition and Rhetoric, University of Nebraska- Lincoln, 2015
- B.A., English, The University of Alabama, 2013
- B.A.C., Journalism, The University of Alabama, 2013
Honors and Awards
- Professional Service Award, East Texas A&M University Faculty Senate, 2025
- Paul W. Barrus Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching, East Texas A&M University Faculty Senate, 2023
- Global Human Rights Fellowship ($10,000), East Texas A&M University, 2020-2021
Research Interests
- Composition
- Literacy
- Digital media
- Identity
- Pop culture
- Cultural rhetorics
Featured Courses
- ENG 333 – Advanced Nonfiction Writing (Honors)
- ENG 570 – Cultural Rhetorics
- ENG 697 – Special Topic: Love as Rhetorical Revolution
Selected Publications
- Loe, K., Kumari, A., Johnson, G. P. (forthcoming, 2026). Learning just enough: Three stories of institutional knowledge in bits and the affective labor of pre-tenure administration. In T. Oleksiak & J. Barsczewski (Eds.) Adequate: Writing New Logics of Success in Rhetoric and Composition. Utah State UP.
- Johnson, G. P., Woods, C., Allen, L. L., Buck, A., Kumari, A., Purdy, J. P., Sano-Franchini, J., & Tham, J. (2024). Generosity in computers and writing: Doing what Gail, Halcyon, Johndan, and Bill taught us. Computers and Composition 74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compcom.2024.102889
- Horner, B., Hartline, M. F., Kumari, A., & Matravers, L. S. (Eds.). (2021). Mobility Work in Composition: Translation, Migration, Transformation. Utah State UP.