Position Title
Director of the University Writing Program
Chair for the DE in Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition Studies
Professor
Research Areas:
Biography:
Carl Whithaus is a Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of California, Davis, where he also serves as Chair of the PhD Designated Emphasis in Writing, Rhetoric, and Composition Studies (WRaCS). His research examines writing in networked and technological environments, with particular attention to digital rhetorics, writing assessment, professional and post-graduate writing development, and writing in the sciences and engineering.
He is the author of Swarms, Viral Writing, and the Local: Rhetorical Dynamics across Networked Publics (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2025) and Teaching and Evaluating Writing in the Age of Computers and High-Stakes Testing (Erlbaum, 2005), and Writing Across Distances and Disciplines (Routledge, 2008). He is the co-editor of three essays collections: Multimodal Literacy and Emerging Genres in Student Compositions (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013), Considering Students, Teachers, and Writing Assessment: Volume One, Technical and Political Contexts (University of Colorado Press, 2024) and Considering Students, Teachers and Writing Assessment: Emerging Theoretical and Pedagogical Practices (University of Colorado Press, 2024).
Whithaus served as Director of the University Writing Program at UC Davis from 2011 to 2018; he returned to the Director role in 2024. He has held national leadership roles in writing studies, including service on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Writing Standards Framework Planning Committee, the NCTE Best Practices for Online Writing Instruction Committee, and the editorial board of Kairos. He was the editor of the Journal of Writing Assessment from 2015-2025. He has been the principal investigator for Splash! milk science update since 2017, a core researcher with the Wayfinding Project, and a principal investigator for Peer and AI Review + Reflection (PAIRR), a multi-institutional initiative examining the integration of AI-supported peer review in writing instruction, funded by the California Education Learning Lab.
His current research projects explore viral and “swarming” writing across networked publics, wayfinding as a framework for understanding early-career professional writing development, and the rhetorical relationships among claims, evidence, and platforms in scientific and social media writing.
Whithaus earned his PhD from the City University of New York (CUNY) and has taught at Old Dominion University, Stevens Institute of Technology, and UC Davis. His work has appeared in College English, Written Communication, Computers & Composition, Literacy in Composition Studies, Composition Forum, and other leading journals.
For additional information, visit https://carlwhithaus.com/.
Faculty Spotlight
- Writing Technologies; Digital Cultures; Writers and their Writing Processes; Science Writing, including Writing in Agriculture; Writing Assessment; Professional and Technical Writing;
- Multimodal Composition; Critical Pedagogy; the Pacific Rim (Writing and Globalization); Writing and RPGs; Rhetorics and Poetics; Histories of Books and Publishing