Allen Brizee, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
English

Director of Writing Across the Curriculum
University Undergraduate Core

Education

Ph.D. in English, Purdue University
M.A. in English, Virginia Tech
B.A. in English, Virginia Tech
A.S. in General Studies, Northern Virginia Community College

Research Interests

Brizee's research explores the intersections of rhetoric, writing pedagogy, and public digital humanities. These interests guide his work in fostering writing across the curriculum and developing community-based research projects focused on racial justice. Theorists underpinning his research include the ancient Greek philosopher Isocrates and Ernest L. Boyer. Building on Isocratic phronēsis and Boyer’s engaged scholarship, Brizee combines research, teaching, and service to support the humanistic and Ignatian traditions of vita activa (active civic life). In addition to publishing books and articles about his work, Brizee has also delivered keynotes and presentations at international, national, and regional conferences. Media placements include The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Huffington Post.

Publications and Media Placements

Works in Progress

Brizee, Allen. Via Media: The Rhetoric of the Middle Way in Isocrates, Queen Elizabeth I, and the Anglican Church. This book project explores the influence of the Greek philosopher Isocrates on the writing and policies of Queen Elizabeth I and her ability to find common ground between British Catholics and Protestants to further develop the Anglican Church. With today’s polarized politics and society, this project is timely and valuable because it discusses ways to bridge belief systems using rhetorical theory and writing pedagogy. A unique feature of this project is the model used to analyze the works of Isocrates and Queen Elizabeth I: to code and analyze text, I use grounded theory as outlined by Glaser, Strauss, Corbin, and Charmaz, an approach originally developed for coding and analyzing qualitative data in the social sciences.

Flores-Koulish, Stephanie, Allen Brizee, RaShawna Sydnor, and Stephanie Hurter Brizee. “The Baltimore Story: Learning and Living Racial Justice, A Longitudinal Study.” This article will present findings from a three-year community-based qualitative research study on the outcomes of using a digital humanities project as a hub for anti-racist middle school curricula.

Published

Digital Public Humanities Projects

Brizee, Allen, Stephanie Hurter Brizee. The Baltimore Story: Learning and Living Racial Justice. This is a digital/public Humanities and civic engagement project on the history of slavery and systemic racism in Maryland and Baltimore. The project is funded by a $30,000 McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation grant: https://thebaltimorestory.org/, 2019.

Books Authored

Seyler, Dorothy U., and Allen Brizee. Read, Reason, Write: An Argument Text and Reader. 12th ed. McGraw-Hill Education, 2018. Forthcoming: 13th ed. in January 2023.

Brizee, Allen, and Jaclyn M. Wells. Partners in Literacy: A Writing Center Model for Civic Engagement. Rowman and Littlefield, 2016. Reviewed in Community Literacy Studies 12.2, 2018 and in Composition Studies 45.1, 2017.

Books Edited

Pascual-Ferrá, Paola and Allen Brizee. Commitment to Justice in Jesuit Higher Education. 3rd ed. Apprentice House, 2016.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

Brizee, Allen, Stephanie Hurter Brizee, Colten Biro, Meha Gupta. “John W. O’Malley as a Guide for Eloquentia Perfecta, Community-Engaged Work, and Graduate Education.” Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal vol. 11, no. 2, 2022, Article 12.

Gannett, Cinthia, John Brereton, Allen Brizee. “John W. O’Malley: Scholar of Eloquence and Eloquent Scholar.” Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal vol 11., no. 2, Article 11.

Brizee, Allen. “Reimagining the Humanistic Tradition: Using Isocratic Philosophy, Ignatian Pedagogy, and Civic Engagement to Journey with Youth and Walk with the Excluded.” Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal vol. 11, no. 1, 2022, pp. 2-25.

Brizee, Allen, Kate Figiel-Miller, Marianna E. Carlucci. “Living, Learning, Serving: Outcomes of Combining a Living-Learning Program with Service-Learning Courses.” Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal vol. 11, no. 1, 2022, pp. 51-74.

Brizee, Allen. “What Happens When We Fail?: Developing Resilient Community-Based Research.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication vol. 50, no. 4, 2020, pp. 339-375.

Brizee, Allen, Paola Pascual-Ferrá, and Giuliana Caranante. “High-Impact Civic Engagement: Outcomes of Community-Based Research in Technical Writing Courses.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, vol. 50, no. 3, 2020, pp. 224-251. A Top Paper Award in Civic Engagement, 2017 National Communication Association Convention.

Brizee, Allen. “Using Isocrates to Teach Technical Communication and Civic Engagement.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication vol. 45, no. 2, 2015, pp. 134-165.

Brizee, Allen, and Joe Langmead. “Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration: Fostering Professional Communication Skills in a Graduate Accounting Certificate Program.” Across the Disciplines: A Journal of Language, Learning, and Academic Writing vol. 11, no. 1, 2014.

Brizee, Allen. “Toward Participatory Civic Engagement: Findings and Implications of a Three-Year Community-Based Research Study.” Computers and Composition: An International Journal vol. 32, 2014, pp. 22-40.

Brizee, Allen, Morgan Sousa, and Dana L. Driscoll. “Writing Centers and Students with Disabilities: the User-Centered Approach, Participatory Design, and Empirical Research as Collaborative Methodologies.” Computers and Composition: An International Journal vol. 29, no. 4, 2012, pp. 341-366.

Salvo, Michael, Jingfang Ren, Tammy Conard-Salvo, and Allen Brizee. “Usability Research in the Writing Lab: Sustaining Discourse and Pedagogy.” Computers and Composition: An International Journal vol. 26, no. 2, 2009, pp. 107-121.

Brizee, Allen. “Stasis Theory as a Strategy for Workplace Teaming and Decision Making.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication vol. 38, no. 4, 2008, pp. 363-385. Nominated for the 2009 NCTE Scientific and Technical Communication Award.

Book Chapters

Bergmann, Linda, Allen Brizee, and Jaclyn Wells. “The Engaged Dissertation: Three Points of View.” Collaborative Futures: Critical Reflections on Publicly Active Graduate Education, Eds. Amanda Gilvin, Georgia M. Roberts, and Craig Martin. Graduate School Press, Syracuse University, 2012.

Driscoll, Dana, Michael Salvo, Allen Brizee, and Morgan Sousa. “Usability Research and User-Centered Theory for 21st Century OWLs.” The Handbook of Research on Virtual Workplaces and the New Nature of Business Practices. Eds. Kirk St. Amant, Pavel Zemlansky. Idea Group Publishing, 2008.

Johnson-Sheehan, Richard. Writing Proposals: Rhetoric for Managing Change. 2nd ed. Longman, 2007 (Brizee assisted in revising the chapter on stasis theory).

Conference Proceedings

Brizee, Allen. “Participatory Civic Engagement: Usability Research Methods as a Model for Connected Knowing.” Proceedings for the 2012 International Association for Research in Service-Learning and Community Engagement Conference, September 23-25, Baltimore, MD.

Book Reviews

Brizee, Allen. Review of Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance by Jim Thatcher et al. Technical Communication, Journal of the Society for Technical Communication vol. 54, no. 2, 2007, pp. 254-256.

Invited Publications

Brizee, Allen. “Engaged Scholarship: Using Iterative Design and Empirical Methods to Guide Community Work in Baltimore,” response to Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education vol. 53, 2018.

Brizee, Allen, and Jenn Fishman “From Class to Community: EP 2.0 and the New Media Legacy of Jesuit Education.” Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education vol. 43, 2013, pp. 31-33.

Brizee, Allen. “Snapshot of the Fifty-Fifth Annual CCCC: Everything is Bigger in Texas,” The Professional, University of Maryland Professional Writing Program’s monthly newsletter, 4/04.

Selected Media Placements

2020 “Students learn and connect with others through service, despite pandemic,” by Francesca Minicozzi for The Grove, Loyola University Maryland.

2020 “Connecting with community through GEDCO/CARES,” by Vanessa Cuppari for The Grove, Loyola University Maryland.

2020 “Virtual Learning Helps Loyola Maryland Extend Impact on Local Community,” by Moley Roby for Connections: The Online Magazine of the AJCU, November issue: https://bit.ly/35Mz3ce.

2019 “Interview with Allen Brizee on the 25th Anniversary of the Purdue OWL,” by David Ching for THiNK Magazine: Purdue’s College of Liberal Arts, fall issue.

2019 “Allen Brizee, Ph.D., Supports Loyola’s Ignatian Mission by Engaging Students in the Local Community,” by Molly Cochran for Loyola magazine.

2016 “The View from My Ivory Cubicle,” by Layli Miron for The Huffington Post.

2015 interview for 4C4E Community Engagement and Social Justice Action Hub at CCCC 3/18.

2011 interview for “Service-Learning Writing Classes Partner with York Road Corridor Community Richnor Springs,” by Courtney Jolley for the October issue of Loyola College Update newsletter.

2009 interview for “Hot Type: Psychological Association Offers to Replace Error-Ridden Copies of Style Guide,” by Jennifer Howard for The Chronicle of Higher Education 10/27.

Honors and Awards

The Baltimore Story: Learning and Living Racial Justice digital humanities project funded by a McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation grant, 2021: $30,000.

National Communication Association Conference top paper award in civic engagement for “High-Impact Civic Engagement,” 2017.

Loyola University Maryland Faculty Award for Excellence in Engaged Scholarship, 2015

Professional Organizations and Associations

Brizee serves as SLU’s Director of Writing Across the Curriculum in the University Undergraduate Core. In this position, he collaborates with administrators, faculty members, and students to develop writing-intensive courses in the variety of disciplines offered at the University. To help develop these courses, he uses his research on the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm as well as his experience as a technical writer for the private sector and for the federal government. At his former institution, Loyola University Maryland, he served as the Faculty Director for Community-Engaged Learning and Scholarship and worked to develop cross-curricular writing projects to address systemic racism

Modern Language Association, 2022 – present
The Jesuit Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, 2010 – present
Council of Writing Program Administrators, 2007 – present
College Composition and Communication, 2004 – present
National Council of Teachers of English, 2003 – present