Dr. Steven Accardi

Steven Accardi (he/him) is Research Professor and Director of the Academic and Technical Writing Program. He has a Ph.D. from Arizona State University, in which he served as Assistant Writing Program Administrator and President of English Graduate Students. Upon graduation, Dr. Accardi was hired as Assistant Professor of English at Penn State Hazleton for four years, conducting research that intersected first-year writing courses with community engagement projects and taught upper division courses in rhetorical theory and discourse analysis.

He then accepted a tenure-track position at College of DuPage, in which he founded, built, and expanded the Writing Studies program. It won the prestigious Conference on College Composition and Communication’s Writing Program of Excellence Award, and its professional writing certificate won the Diana Hacker Outstanding Program in English Award. During his time at College of DuPage, he was awarded tenure and promoted to full professor. He was also awarded Outstanding Honors Faculty of the Year by the Honors Students Advisory Committee.

Dr. Accardi has published extensively on the program’s creation, its university and community partnerships, and professional development initiatives in WPA: Writing Program Administration and Teaching English in the Two-Year College. He now serves on the executive board for the Council of Writing Program Administration.

When he is not in his office, you can find him exploring Victoria with his partner and kids, watching Star Wars, or cheering on Minnesota United FC.

Selected Publications

Accardi, Steven and Jillian Grauman. “The Misalignment Between the Discipline and the Teaching of Writing.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College 51.4 (2024): 292-308.

Accardi, Steven, editor; Brett Griffiths, Jillian Grauman, Annie Del Principe, Sarah Elizabeth Snyder, Dominique Zino, and Jeffrey Klausman. “Writing Programs at TYCs: Where We Are and Where We Ought to Be.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College 50.4 (2023): 379-398.

Accardi, Steven. “An Integrated Strategy for Two-Year College Writing Programs.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College 50.4 (2023): 383-384.

Accardi, Steven, Nicholas Behm, and Peter Vandenberg. “Assembling Multi-Institutional Writing Programs: Reimagining the English Major While Expanding Writing Studies.” WPA: Writing Program Administration 46.1 (2022): 16-36.

Accardi, Steven and Jillian Grauman. “Structural Barriers and Knowledge Production at the Two-Year College.” WPA: Writing Program Administration 43.3 (2020): 73-87.

Accardi, Steven. “Rhetoric and Composition as Community Engagement: Toward Mending Community and Town and Gown Divides.” Composition Studies 45.1 (2017): 143-165.

Accardi, Steven. “Agency.” Keywords in Writing Studies Eds. Paul Heilker and Peter Vandenberg. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann-Boynton/Cook, 2015.

Accardi, Steven. “The Pitfalls of (Over)Professionalizing in Graduate School.” What We Wish We’d Known: Negotiating Graduate School Eds. Ryan Skinnell, Judy Holiday, and Christine Vassett. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead P., 2015.

Matsuda, Paul Kei, Tanita Saenkhum, and Steven Accardi. “Writing Teachers’ Perceptions of the Presence and Needs of Second Language Writers: An Institutional Case Study.” Journal of Second Language Writing 22.1 (2013): 68-86.

Accardi, Steven and Bethany Davila. “Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen: A Multifield Approach for Today’s Composition Students.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College 35.1 (2007): 54-61.

Accardi, Steven. “Discursive Disclosure: Changing Tutoring Sessions to Curb Cultural Assimilation.” The Writing Lab Newsletter 30.4 (2005): 5-8.

Fellowships and Awards

• “Writing Studies Program.” The Conference on College Composition and Communication Writing Program Certificate of Excellence, 2023
• “Outstanding Honors Faculty.” College of DuPage Honors Student Advisory Committee Award for Honors Faculty of the Year, 2020-2021
• “Writing Studies’ Professional Writing Certificate Program.” The Diana Hacker TYCA Outstanding Program in English, 2020
• “The Forgotten Fragment.” The Council of Writing Program Administrators Award for Graduate Writing in WPA Studies, 2009
• “Discursive Disclosure: Changing Tutoring Sessions to Curb Cultural Assimilation.” DePaul University Writing Award for Outstanding Scholarship, 2005

Current Research

Dr. Accardi’s current research (under review) examines the achievability of dynamic writing-transfer across writing courses in compressed time. In particular, he investigates if a writing-transfer mindset is achievable for students within a one-year writing certificate. In addition, Dr. Accardi is exploring the use of ePortfolios as a rhetorical tool for students, assessment artifact for writing program administrators, metacognitive device for writing instructors, and counterargument toward non-human writing.

Courses Taught

Dr. Accardi is currently not assigned courses to teach in ATWP. However, in the past, he has taught courses in rhetorical theory, composition theory, critical discourse analysis, advanced composition, argumentative writing, professional writing, technical writing, nonprofit writing, and workplace writing.