Our Staff

Casey Boyle is Associate Professor in the Department of Rhetoric & Writing. He earned his BA in English and Philosophy here at the University of Texas at Austin and, later, went on to complete a PhD at the University of South Carolina’s rhetoric program. His teaching and research explore how communication media shape our experiences of the world. Much of these concerns are present in his published research which include Rhetoric as a Posthuman Practice; Rhetoric, through Everyday Things; Inventing Place, and Topologies as Techniques for a Post-Critical Rhetoric. In addition to these books, Casey has published in a variety of journals that include College English, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Technical Communication Quarterly, Rhetoric Review and others. He is currently working on a few research projects that include a book on rhetoric and aesthetics as well as a long-essay/short-book examining Aniara as a case of multimodal poetics. 

• Email
• https://caseyboyle.net

Tristin Hooker is the Assistant Director of the University Writing Center. She earned her PhD from UT-Austin in Rhetoric & Writing in 2024. She has worked in higher education, writing instruction, and writing center administration since 2012, and before that earned an MAT and initial secondary teacher certification from the University of Southern California. Prior to her time at UT, she founded and directed the Writing & Learning Lab at the Table Rock campus of Ozarks Technical Community College, and oversaw its disability support services, as well. She has worked with the UWC and the Department of Rhetoric & Writing in a number of roles: consulting, serving as past Associate Editor of Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, and as a former Assistant Director in the DRW, and as an editorial assistant of Rhetoric Society Quarterly under Jackie Rhodes. Her own research is in the rhetoric of science and the rhetoric of health and medicine, and her published work can be found in Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, Computers & Composition, PLoS One, American Journal of Bioethics, and College Composition & Communication.

• Email
• 512-232-2730

Derrick Ozuna has served the UT System in various roles between UT Austin and UTSA since 2003.  In 2015 he received the 2015 Staff Excellence Award from UT’s Oden Institute, where he also attained a national Certified Research Administrator designation. 

Derrick received a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from Carleton College in Minnesota, where he also was awarded an Andrew W. Mellon fellowship for research in Mexico City.  He received his master’s degree in business from UTSA. 

Derrick specializes in providing service in accounting, budgeting and other financial processes.  A notary public for the State of Texas, Derrick is also available to provide free notary services to the UT community. 

In his free time, Derrick enjoys 1980s horror movies at the Alamo Drafthouse and playing the piano.  He divides his time between Austin and San Antonio. 

• Email
• 512-232-2725

Emma Watson graduated in 2020 from UT with a Bachelor’s in History, and earned her Masters in Public History from Texas State University. Her research focuses on memory studies, 20th century Texas history, and issues within archiving. Her Masters thesis examined roadside memorials, their regulation through agencies such as TxDOT, and how they can be preserved. Emma has had her work both exhibited and presented in the Texas State Alkek Library and at the Center for Southwest Studies, respectively. Outside of academics, Emma enjoys trying new recipes, reading any fantasy or science fiction she can get her hands on, and painting. 

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• 512-471-4031

Peter Shine is the Graduate Services Coordinator for the UWC. Originally from County Roscommon, Ireland, Peter moved to Austin, TX, in July 2023. Prior to working with the UWC, Peter was the Program Coordinator for the Digital Writing & Research Lab (DWRL) at UT. Peter has worked in the arts for many years, as an actor, a writer, and an educator. He has worked with some of the leading theatre companies, both in Ireland and Austin, including: Austin Shakespeare, Paramount Theatre, Druid Theatre, Decadent Theatre, and Fregoli Theatre. He has received many notable bursaries and residencies, including being the inaugural recipient of the Druid FUEL Residency, during which he produced his first play No Show. Most recently, his short story The Reformer was broadcast on Irish national radio, as part of The Prompt with Zoë Comyns (RTÉ Radio 1). Peter can usually be found watching Monsters Inc. for the thousandth time with his son, Hubert, and his wife, Megan.

• Email
• 512-232-4258

James is a 5th-year PhD candidate in the Communication Studies department at UT. He received his MA in Communication Studies from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a BA double majoring in Communication Studies and Philosophy from the University of Minnesota Duluth. Drawing on theories of settler colonialism, abolition, decoloniality, pluriversality, and necropower, his work analyzes political movement rhetorics according to their capacity to envision and communicate otherwise political ontologies beyond notions of occupation and the settler colonial nation-state.

Maggie Hawkins is a PhD student in the English department. She earned her BA in English at Linfield College and her MA at New York University. Her research focuses on Old English poetry, pre-race and gender studies, and critical whiteness studies. In her spare time she likes bodybuilding, two-stepping, and embroidery.

Madeline Bruegger (she/her) is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin. She primarily researches Rhetorical Field Methods, Environmental Rhetoric, Community Based Research, Affect Theory, and Technical Communication.

At the University of Texas, she currently works as an Assistant Program Coordinator in the University Writing Center. In this role, she focuses on developing campus and community partnerships, orchestrating pedagogical workshops and programming, and supporting undergraduate and graduate student consultants. She teaches rhetoric and writing courses in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing and volunteers as an instructor with the Texas Prison Education Initiative.Madeline began her career in teaching working in literacy intervention with K-3 students at an arts-integrated public charter school in Kansas City, Missouri. Prior to moving to Austin, she received her M.A. in English (Writing Studies concentration) at the University of Maine, where she taught first-year writing courses for two years.

Outside of work, you can find her cooking with family and friends, exploring Austin parks with her dog, writing poetry, making art, and attending local theatre.

Jess Peng is a second-year fiction candidate with UT Austin’s New Writer’s Project. She received her B.A. in Psychology and History from Vanderbilt University, minoring in Spanish and English Creative Writing (fiction). She is from Massachusetts. Her reading/writing interests include magical realism, fantasy, mystery, and really anything with precise prose and imaginative storytelling. In her spare time, you can find her reading, watching trashy reality TV, or running around Austin.

Jake Garner is a PhD candidate in Rhetoric at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also teaches. His research sits at the intersection of collective memory, public rhetorics, and the rhetorics of time, examining how movement, place-making, and historiography shape memory formation — with particular attention to trail design, space ethics and walking as rhetorical practices, as well as the rhetorical dimensions of war and trauma. Outside his research, he keeps up non-obsessive interests in birds, cycling, ancient Attica, time capsules, and mammalian evolution.

Mary Fons is a PhD candidate in the American Studies department at UT. Her research focuses primarily on the American quilt and its physical and symbolic presence in American history and culture. Mary is an Assistant Instructor in the Department of Rhetoric & Writing and is co-editor of Praxis, a peer-reviewed journal published quarterly by the University Writing Center.

René X. Arteaga (He/Him/His) is a PhD candidate in the American Studies program at UT Austin. His current research interests include history, race, capitalism, sports, art, and other pop culture phenomena in America. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In his free time, he enjoys watching live sports, especially the UT baseball and softball teams.

Ael Miller-Figueroa is a doctoral student in the Department of American Studies at UT. In 2016, they attended Clemson University and earned a B.S. in Anthropology. After graduating in 2020, they attended Brandeis University to earn their Joint MA in Anthropology and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Ael then took a two-year break from academia to live in San Diego with their family, enjoying shrimp burritos and spending time with their mother, sister, and father. Returning to Texas in 2024, their current auto-ethnographic research is a critical intervention of the U.S. military colonialism from the perspective of migratory queer and trans* military dependents. Ael is also a Teaching Assistant in the Departments of American Studies and History.