School of Writing, Literature, and Film

Rhetoric and Composition, History of Rhetoric and Literacy, Feminist Rhetorics, Writing Across the Curriculum; Eighteenth-century British Literature, Life Writing, Spiritual Writing.

Vicki Tolar Burton does cross-disciplinary research and scholarship in literacy, rhetoric, pedagogy, and writing across the curriculum. She is particularly interested in historical studies, archival work, and women’s writing and rhetoric. Her book Spiritual Literacy in John Wesley’s Methodism: Reading, Writing, and Speaking to Believe, was published in 2008 by Baylor University Press in their Rhetoric and Religion series. Her articles and essays have appeared in College Composition and Communication, College English, Rhetoric Review, Computers and Composition and Across the Disciplines, as well as in a number of collections on the history and  theory of  rhetoric, including Walking and Talking Feminist Rhetorics: Landmark Essays and Controversies (2010). She teaches courses in the history of rhetoric, the teaching of writing, English grammar, and literature. In summer and winter terms, she offers a writing workshop for thesis and dissertation writers across the curriculum. Since 1993 she has directed OSU’s Writing Intensive Curriculum Program, For more information, see http://wic.oregonstate.edu/director.

Book

Spiritual Literacy in John Wesley’s Methodism: Reading, Writing, and Speaking to Believe. Baylor University Press, 2008.

Film

Co-Producer, with Lisa Ede. “Writing Across Borders.”  Wayne Robertson, Director.  Oregon State University, 2006.

Selected Publications

“Capstone Design as an Individual Writing Experience.” International Journal of Engineering Education. 31:6B (2015): 1902-1923. With Tracy Ann Robinson, Javier Calvo-Amodio, John P. Parmigiani. 

“Preaching from the Pulpit Steps:  Mary Bosanquet Fletcher and Women’s Preaching in Early Methodism.”  In Renovating Rhetoric in Christian Tradition.  Eds. Elizabeth Vander Lei, Thomas Amorose, Beth Daniell, Anne Ruggles Gere.  Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014.  31-44. 

"Octalog III: The Politics of Historiography in 2010." Rhetoric Review,(2011) 30:2, 109-134. With Lois Agnew, et al.

“Activity Systems, Genre, and Research on Writing Across the Curriculum.”  College Composition and Communication. 61.1(Feb. 2010): 583-96.  .

“The Writer’s Personal Profile:  Students Self Assessment and Goal Setting at Start of Term.”  Across the Disciplines.  Fall, 2009.  With Tracy Ann Robinson.    

“Re-reading The Account of Hester Ann Rogers.” Angels and Impudent Women:  Women in Methodism.  Ed. Norma Virgoe.  Oxford, UK: Wesley Historical Society, 2007.  41-52. 

“’Something for the People to Read’: John Wesley’s Book Inventory (1791).”   John Wesley: Tercentenary Essays.   Ed. Jeremy Gregory. Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester. 85 (Summer and Autumn 2003): 227-49.

“John Wesley and the Liberty to Speak.” College Composition and Communication. 53 (Sept. 2001): 65-91.

“Investigating the Practices of Student Researchers: Patterns of Use and Criteria for Use of Internet and Library Sources.” Computers and Composition 17.3 (Fall 2000): 309-28. With Scott Chadwick.

“The Speaker Respoken: Material Rhetoric as Feminist Methodology.” College English 61 (No. 5, May 1999): 545-73. Republished in Walking and Talking Feminist Rhetorics: Landmark Essays and Controversies. Ed. Lindal Buchanan and Kathleen J. Ryan. Parlour Press, 2010.  

“The Account of Hester Rogers: Rhetorical Functions of a Methodist Mystic’s Journal.” The Changing Tradition: Women in the History of Rhetoric. Ed. Christine Sutherland. Calgary, Canada: University of Calgary Press, 1999. 109-118.

“Walking in Light, Walking in Darkness: The Story of Women’s Changing Rhetorical Space in Early Methodism.” Rhetoric Review, 14 (Spring 1996) 336-54.

Administrative responsibilities

Director, Writing Intensive Curriculum, 1993 to present.

Grants, awards and honors

D. Curtis Mumford Faculty Service Award (University Award), 2013.

Article of the Year in Rhetoric Review (Theresa Enos Anniversary Award), 2011, with co-authors for “Octalog III: The Politics of Historiography in 2010.” (30.2).

Bronze Telly Award (International Documentary Film Competition) for Writing Across Borders, co-producer.  (2006)   

Fellow, Center for the Humanities, Oregon State University. (1998-1999; 2002-2003.)

Library Research Travel Grant, OSU Valley Library, for travel to John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. (2002)

College of Liberal Arts Faculty Research Award. (2000)

Participating Investigator, State Department-sponsored University Affiliations Grant between with six institutions in the Tunisian University System  (1998-2001)

National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend. (1998)

Bill Wilkins Faculty Development Award for integrating teaching, scholarship, and administration.  OSU College of Liberal Arts (1998)

Oregon State University Library Research Travel Grant to the Frank Baker Collection of Early Methodist Documents, Archives, Duke University, to examine pre-1800 writings by women. (1996)

Oregon State University Women's Faculty Development Grant (1994)

Research Grant for Study of Women in the History of Methodism, Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church, for travel to collections of early Methodist documents (Princeton U., Johns Hopkins U., Drew U., Emory U.) ( 1992)