Arabella Lyon
20 Willowbrook Drive Department of English, Clemens 306
Williamsville NY 14221 State University of New York, Buffalo
(716) 632-5969 home Buffalo NY 14260-4610
(716) 904-7419 (cell)(716) 645-0677 work
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Communication and Rhetoric
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1990.
M.A. English
University of MassachusettsBoston, 1986.
B.S. Nursing
Boston University, 1976.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
University at Buffalo
Professor2014-
Associate Professor 1999-2014
Founding Director Center for Excellence in Writing 2012-2015
Affiliated Faculty: Asian Studies, American Studies,
Global Gender Studies, Immigration and Refugee Research Institute
UB/Singapore Institute of Management Cooperative Education
Program, Visiting professor 2004-2005
Temple University
Assistant Professor 1992-1998
Associate Professor 1998-1999
University of Illinois at Chicago
Assistant Professor 1990-1992
PUBLICATION AWARDS
Theresa J. Enos 25th Anniversary Award, Rhetoric Review, 2015.
Rhetoric Society of AmericaBook Award, 2014.
Ross Winterowd Award for Most Outstanding Book in Composition Theory, 1999.
Jay Gould Award of Excellence for Technical Communication, Baywood Publishing, 1987.
OTHER AWARDS AND GRANTS
Rhetoric Society of America Grant for a Summer Institute on Cultural Rhetoric,
Indiana University-Bloomington, May 25-27, 2017, $2000. With Luming Mao.
Rhetoric Society of America Grant for a Summer Institute on Comparative Rhetoric,
University of Kansas, June 3-7, 2013, $2000. With Luming Mao.
UB Humanities Institute Grant, SUNY Council on Writing Conference, 2012, $1000.
NEH Summer Seminar, “Communication, Empire, and the City of Rome,” American Academy
in Rome, June 25-July 27, 2012. $3900.
UB 3 E Fund Grant,Creation of a Center for Excellence in Writing, 2012. $400,000.
Committee.
Rhetoric Society ofAmerica Grant for special issue of Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 2010.
$2000. With Lester C. Olson.
UB Gender Institute Gender Week Speaker Support, 2009. $750.
UB Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy Speaker Support, 2009. $1000.
UB Humanities Institute Grant, Transnational Research Group, 2008. $2500.
NEH Summer Seminar, “Philosophical Perspectives on Law, Democracy, and Human Rights,”
Georgia State University, Atlanta, 2007.
NEH Summer Seminar, “Law, the Individual, and the State in Ancient China, Greece, and
Rome,” University of California Berkeley, 2003.
NEH Summer Institute, “Continuities and Crises: The Interplay of Religion and Politics in
China,” East-West Center, 2001.
Fulbright Lectureship in American Literature, Sichuan University, China, 1999-2000.
Outstanding Teaching in a Senior Seminar, Feminist Theory, Temple University, 1996.
Lilly Teaching Fellowship, 1995-6.
Temple University Faculty Summer Grant, 1994, 1996.
School of Criticism and Theory Fellowship, 1991.
University of Illinois-Chicago Research Grant, 1991.
PUBLICATIONS
WORKS IN PROGRESS
“Recognition: Audiences, Bats, and Other Minds.” Book project. 200 pages. Prospectus available.
BOOKS
Deliberative Acts: Democracy, Rhetoric, and Rights. Series in Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation.
State College: Penn State UP, 2013. Rhetoric Society of America Book Award 2014.
Reviews: CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, 51.7 (2014), College English 77.5
(2015), Composition Studies 44.2 (2016), Discourse and Society 26.3 (2015), Philosophy and
Rhetoric 48.1 (2015),Quarterly Journal of Speech 101.2(2015), Rhetoric Review 33.4 (2014)
Human Rights Rhetoric: Traditions of Testifying and Witnessing. Philadelphia: Routledge,2012.
Co-edited with Lester C. Olson.
Originally published as Special Issue on Human RightsRhetoric: Traditions of Testifying and
Witnessing. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 41.3 (2011).
Intentions: Negotiated, Contested, and Ignored. Series in Literature and Philosophy. State College:
Penn State UP, 1998. Ross Winterowd Book Award, 1999.
Reviews: JAC: Journal of Advanced Composition 19.4 (1999), The Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism 60.1 (2002), The Modern Language Review 96.2 (2001), Rhetoric Society
Quarterly 31.2 (2002)
ESSAYS AND BOOK CHAPTERS
“Rewriting Refugees as Neoliberal Subjects.” Precarious Rhetorics. Ed. Wendy S. Hesford, Adela C.
Licona, and Christa Teston. Columbus OH: Ohio State University Press. (in process).
“The Common Core and Argumentation: Embracing Confucian Remonstration.”Confucianism
Reconsidered: Insights for American and Chinese Education in the 21st Century. Ed. Xuifeng Liu
and Wen Ma.SUNY UP (under contract).
“Imagining Confucian Audiences: Tactical Media and the Umbrella Movement.”Ancient Rhetorics
+ Digital Networks. Ed. Michele Kennerly and Damien SmithPfister. Alabama UP, in press.
“Rhetoric and Comparison: Two Tricky Words.” Manifesting a Future for Comparative Rhetoric.
Rhetoric Review 34.3 (2015): 241-44.Theresa J. Enos 25th Anniversary Award.
“Recognizing Children When All Recognition is Misrecognition.” Special Issue on Children’s
Rights. JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics. 34.3-4 (2014): 507-515.
“Traditions of Testifying and Witnessing.” Human Rights Rhetoric: Traditions of Testifying and
Witnessing. Philadelphia: Routledge, 2012. 1-10. With Lester Olson. Originally published in
Special Issue on Human Rights Rhetoric: Traditions of Witnessing and Testifying.RhetoricSociety
Quarterly 41.3 (2011):203-212.
“Writing An Empire: Cross-Talk on Authority, Act, and Relationships with the Other in the Analects,
Daodejing,, and HanFeizi.”Studying Chinese Rhetoric in the Twenty-First Century. Ed. LuMing
Mao. Special Issue of College English 72.4 (2010): 350-366.
“You Fail”: Plagiarism, the Ownership of Writing, and Transnational Conflicts.” College Composition
and Communication 61.2 (2009): 222-239.
“’Why Do the Rulers Listen to the Wild Theories of Speech-Makers?’: Or Wuwei, Shi, and Methods
of Comparative Rhetoric.” Ancient Non-Greek Rhetorics. Ed. CarolLipson and Roberta Binkley.
West Lafayette: Parlor Press. 2009. 176-96.
“Recent Advances in Comparative Rhetorical Studies.” The Handbook of Rhetoric. Ed.Andrea
Lunsford, Kirt H. Wilson, and Rosa A. Eberly. Thousand Oak: Sage, 2009. 153-66. With Sue
Hum.
“R hetorical Authority in Athenian Democracy and the Chinese Legalism of Han Fei.” Philosophy
and Rhetoric 41.1 (2008): 51-71.
“Mentor or Magician: Reciprocities,Existing Ideologies, and Reflections of a Discipline.”
Stories of Mentoring: Theory and Praxis. Ed. Michelle F. Eble and Lynée Lewis Gaillet. West
Lafayette: Parlor P, 2008. 193-206. WithBarbara Cole.
“Misrepresentations of Missing Women in the U.S. Press: The Rhetorical Uses of Disgust, Pity, and
Compassion.” Just Advocacy? Women’s Human Rights, Transnational Feminism, and the
Politics of Representation. Ed. Wendy S. Hesford and Wendy Kozol. Rutgers UP, 2005. 173-
92.
“Confucian Silence and Remonstration: A Basis for Deliberation?” Rhetoric Before and Beyond
the Greeks. Ed. Carol Lipson and Roberta A. Binkley. Albany: State University of New York
UP, 2004. 131-45.
“Rhetoric and Hermeneutics: Division through the Concept of Invention.” New Perspectives on
Rhetorical Invention. Ed. Janet Atwill and Janice Lauer. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P,
2003. 36-52.
“Mother and Teacher: Subjectivity in ‘Unmotherhood.’” JAC: Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and
Politics 22.2(2002): 697-704.
“Contingency and Magnifying Glasses: A Response to Judith Butler.” JAC: Journal of Rhetoric,
Culture, and Politics 21.1 (2001): 168-74.
"Sources of Non-Canonical Readings, or Doing History from Prejudice." Rhetoric Review 16.2
(1998): 226-41.
"Student Needs and Strong Composition: Dialectics of Writing Program Reform." College
Composition and Communication 48.3 (1997): 372-91. With Frank Sullivan, Susan Wells,
Dennis Lebofsky, and Eli Goldblatt.
"Who's Sandra Harding and Where Does She Stand?" JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and
Politics 15.3 (1995): 571-77. With Mary Conway.
"Susanne Langer: Mother and Midwife at the Re-Birth of Rhetoric." Reclaiming Rhetorica:
Women in the Rhetorical Tradition. Ed. Andrea Lunsford. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh UP, 1995.
265-84.
"Collaborative Afterword." Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the Rhetorical Tradition. Ed.
Andrea Lunsford. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 1995. 319-33. Contributor.
"`The Good Man Speaking Well,' or Business as Usual." JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and
Politics 14.1 (1994): 257-63. Rpt. In (Inter)views: Criticism, Philosophy, and Rhetoric. Ed.
Gary Olson. Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1994. 220-26.
"Interdisciplinarity: Giving Up Territory." College English 54.6 (1992): 39-51.
"Representing Communities: Teaching Turbulence." Rhetoric Review 10.2 (1992): 279-90.
"From Paideia to Pedantry: The Dissolving Relationship of the Humanities and Society." The
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 18.2 (1988): 5562.
SHORT ESSAYS, RESPONSES, AND NOTES
“The Rhetoric of Plato’s Republic: Democracy and the Philosophical Problem of Persuasion.”
Advances in the History of Rhetoric (2016) 19.3:345-47.
“On the Politics of Writing Transnational Rhetorics: Possibilities and Pitfalls.” Rhetorics,
Feminisms, Cultures. Ed. Patty Sotirin, Ann Brady, and Elizabeth Flynn. Logan: Utah State UP,
2012. 54-6. With Banu Ozel.
“Human Rights Rhetoric: A Visual Sequence.” Human Rights Rhetoric: Traditions of Testifying
and Witnessing. Philadelphia: Routledge, 2012.88-92.With Lester Olson. Originally
published in Special Issue on Human Rights Rhetoric: Traditions of Testifying and Witnessing.
Rhetoric Society Quarterly41:3 (2011): 290-93.
“Publishing Options and Opportunities.” Peitho 13.1 (2011): 10. With
Katherine H. Adams.
“Susanne Langer.” Notable American Women. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University.
2005. 366-7.
“Susanne Langer.” Encyclopedia of Religion. NY: MacMillan, 2005. 530-1.
“Avoiding Comparisons.” Asian Studies Notes 9 (2003): 1-2.
“The Media’s Coverage of China’s Family Planning.” China Connection 9 (2003): 31-2.
“Miao Textiles and Globalization.” Fulbright Newsletter. Spring 2000: 3-5.
"The Reform of Service, the Service of Reform." College Composition and Communication 49.2
(1998): 106-8.With Frank Sullivan, Susan Wells, Dennis Lebofsky, and Eli Goldblatt.
"Ayer, A. J." "Frege, Gottlob." "Logical Positivism." Encyclopedia of Rhetoric. Ed. Theresa Enos.
New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1996. 58, 274, 406-7.
REVIEWS
Identity’s Strategy: Rhetorical Selves in Conversion by Dana Anderson. KB Journal 6 (2010).
Composition and Cornell West: Notes toward a Deep Democracy by Keith Gilyard. Composition
Studies 37 (2009): 149-152. With Henriette Recny.
Plagiarism: Alchemy and Remedy in Higher Education by Bill Marsh. Composition Studies 36
(2008): 102-5.
Kenneth Burke and the 21st Century by Bernard L. Brock. Rhetoric Society Quarterly 30 (2000):
98-100.
Kenneth Burke: Rhetoric, Subjectivity, Postmodernism by Robert Wess. Rhetoric Society
Quarterly 29 (1999): 145-8.
Bad Girls and Sick Boys: Fantasies in Contemporary Art and Culture by Linda S. Kaufman.
Journal of Modern Literature 22 (1999): 426.
Ethics After Idealism: Theory-Culture-Ethnicity-Reading by Rey Chow. Journal of Modern
Literature 22 (1999): 423.
Immigrant Subjectivities in Asian American and Asian Diasporic Literatures by Sheng-Mei Ma.
Journal of Modern Literature 22 (1999): 444
Provoking Agents: Gender and Agency in Theory and Practice edited by Judith Keegan Gardiner.
Electronic Book Reviews. 1996.
Reorienting Rhetoric: The Dialectic of List and Story by John O'Banion. Journal of Modern
Literature 19 (1996): 409-10.
Manly Writing: Gender, Rhetoric, and the Rise of Composition by Miriam Brody. Rhetoric
Review 13 (1994): 190-3.
Orators and Philosophers: A History of the Idea of Liberal Education by Bruce Kimball. Rhetoric
Review 7 (1989): 399401.
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
Invited
Seminar on "Psyche, Suasion, Style: Comparative Rhetoric and the Mind,” American Comparative
Literature Association, Utrecht, Netherlands, July 6-9, 2017.
Seminar on Cultural Rhetoric. Rhetoric Society of America Workshop. Indiana University-
Bloomington. May 22-27, 2017, with Luming Mao.
“Deliberative Acts and Post-Truth Politics.” University of Texas San Antonio. Skype. November 2016.
“Rewriting Refugees as Neoliberal Subjects: The Need for Oral Histories.”CEPP-IRRI Refugee and
Immigrant Research Review, May 2016.
“Confucian Audiences, Memes, and the Umbrella Movement.” UMass-Lowell. January 2015.
Summer Seminar in Comparative Rhetoric. Rhetoric Society of America Institute. University of
Kansas. June 3-7, 2013,with Luming Mao.
“Performative Deliberation: Deliberative Theory for the Twenty-first Century,” Edward Corbett
Lecture and Workshop, Ohio State University, May 2012.
Supersession on Human Rights, Rhetoric Society of America Conference, May 2012.
“Cultural Rhetorics and Deliberative Rights.” Frontera Retorica Association. University of Texas
at El Paso. Skype. March 2012.
“Beyond Similitude: Recognizing Cultural Rhetorics On Their Own Terms,” Penn State
Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, July 2011.
Talks on Writing for Academic Publication at Capital Normal University (Beijing) and Huazhong
University of Science and Technology (Wuhan), July 2010.
“Balancing the Personal and Professional Life,” Workshop Leader, Coalition of Women Scholars in
the History of Rhetoric and Composition, March 2010.
“Who Owns Composition? Disciplinarity and Identity,” opening address, SUNY Conference on
Writing, March 2009.
“Speech of Freedom: Deliberative Paradoxes in Human Rights Talk,” Syracuse University, April
2009.
Response to “Metaphysics of the Soul and the Development of Chinese and Greek Ethics,” UB
Humanities Institute, 2008.
“’Why Do the Rulers Listen to the Wild Theories of Speech-Makers?’ Or, Rhetoric, the Law, and
Ancient China,” Asia At Noon, UB, November 2006.
“Plagiarism and Speech Act Theory: What’s at Stake,” SUNY Council on Writing, March 2006. “Locating Rhetorical Authority: Classical Theorists of China and Athens,” Kenneth Burke Society at
Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, July 2005.
“Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club: the Good Mother and the Left Daughter,” Speakers Symposium,
University at Buffalo, March 2003.
Week of talks on American Culture at Guangxi University, December 2001.
“Feminism and Post-feminism in Disney’s Mulan,” American Studies Association of Korea, April
2000.
Talks on Pluralism, American Literary Canon, and Asian-American Literature throughout south
China, 1999-2000.
Faculty Roundtable on "Theorizing Politics: Politicizing Theory," Schuylkill Graduate
Conference, October 1998.
"Theorizing Feminist Rhetorics," Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference, August 1997.
Forum on Women in the Rhetorical Canon, Conference on College Composition and
Communication, March 1996.
"Plato and Feminists on Pluralism," Ohio State University, April 1993.
Selected Conferences Presentations
“Rethinking Plato’s Place in Rhetoric: A Discussion of James Kastely’s The Rhetoric of Plato’s Republic: Democracy and the Philosophical Problem of Persuasion." Rhetoric Society of America, 2016. Panelist.
“Identification, Shù, and the Refusal of Recognition,” Rhetoric Society of America, 2016.
“Confucian Audiences, Other Minds and the Umbrella Movement.” International Society of Chinese
Philosophy, 2015.
“Rights as Relationships: The Clash of Positive and Negative Rights in Hong Kong Demonstrations,”
Northeast Modern Language Association, 2015.
Roundtable on “Writing Human Rights: Pedagogy, Program Building, and Mentorship,” Conference
on College Composition and Communication, 2015.
“The Common Core and Argumentation: Embracing Confucian Remonstration.” International
Conference on Confucianism and Education, Confucius Institute, 2014.
“Forget Need: Overwhelming Student Desire for the Writing Center,” SUNY Council on Writing,
2014.
“Speaking for and with Each Other: Crossing Borders in the Company of Comparative Rhetoric,”
Roundtable, Rhetoric Society of America, 2014.
“A Comparative Meditation on Imperial Inclusions: Paradox and the Dao,” International Society of
Chinese Philosophy, 2013.
“The Problem of Recognition and Contingent Labor,” SUNY Council on Writing, 2013.
“Strengths and Limitations of a Rhetorical Approach to Human Rights,” Modern Language
Association 2012. With Lester Olson.
“The Unsustainable Economy of Composition and a Cattle Call to Action,” SUNY Council on
Writing, 2012.
“The Work of Positioning: How the Concept Shi (potential) Might Inform Epistemologies of
Location,” New York Conference on Asian Studies, 2011.
“Rejuvenating Feminism in a System of Institutional Fragmentation,” Conference on College
Composition and Communication, 2011.
“An End to Academic Discourse and a Return to Student Ownership,” SUNY Council on Writing,
2011.
“The Beauty of Arendt’s Lies,” Rhetoric Society of America, 2010.
“Disciplinary Diseases and the Preservation of Rhetorical Traditions in a Global Context,” SUNY
Conference on Writing, 2010.
“Owning First Year Writing: A Litmus Tests for Rethinking Instructor Knowledge,” Conference on
College Composition and Communication, 2010.
“Composition and the Preservation of Rhetorical Traditions in a Global Context,” Modern
Language Association, 2009.
“Procedural Democracy and Deliberative Rhetoric: Revising Habermas,” Rhetoric Society of
America, 2008.
“Narratives, Private and Public: Hannah Arendt’s Storytelling,” SUNY Conference on Writing,
2008.
“First Amendment Contradictions and Paradoxes, Northeast Modern Language Association, 2008.
“Four Ways of Looking at Comparative Rhetoric,” Conference on College Composition and
Communication, 2008.
“Representing Impossible Choices, Educating Deliberative Emotions,” New York College English
Association, 2007.
“Following the Political Dao: Han Fei’s Rhetor and Identity Denied,” College Composition and
Communication, 2007.
“Sinocentric Cultures, Plagiarism, and Speech Act Theory,” Modern Language Association, 2006.
“Han Fei and the Speech Act of Silence,” Conference on College Composition and Communication,
2006.
“Locating Rhetorical Authority: The Imagined Rhetor in Classical Athens and China,” National
Communication Conference, 2005.
“(Mis)representations of China’s Population Replacement Policies,” New York Conference on
Asian Studies, 2003.
“Misrepresenting Missing Women,” Feminism(s) and Rhetoric(s), 2003.
“Teaching Confucian Rhetoric, or How to be a Pseudo-Sinologist,” Conference on College
Composition and Communication, 2003.
“Acknowledging Differences When Writing Rhetorical History,” Conference on College
Composition and Communication, 2002.
“Existing Ideologies as Pedagogical Deflections in the TA Classroom,” Modern Language
Association, 2001.
“A Confucian Reading of Speaking and Silences in Ha Jin’s Ocean of Words, Asian-American
Studies Conference, 2001.
“American Feminist in a Sichuan Classroom: Different Teaching Strategies in Different Cultures,”
Conference on College Composition and Communication, 2001.
"Strong Composition in the Rhetorical Tradition," College Conference on Composition and
Communication, 1999.
"Rhetorical Deliberation: Burke and Austin on Action," Rhetoric Society of America, 1998.
"Manly Writing and Feminist Reading: Revising the Canon," Modern Language Association,
1997.
"Real World Rhetoric: Production More than Interpretation." Penn State Conference on Rhetoric
and Composition, 1997.
"Intentions and Rhetoric," Rhetoric Society of America, 1996.
“What is Freshman Writing?" Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, 1995.
Forum on Literature and Composition, College Conference on Composition and Communication,
1995.
"Literary Rhetorics, Ethics, and Cultural Orthodoxies," Modern Language Association, 1994. "Literary Rhetoric and Intentionality," Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, 1994.
“Philosophical Stories: Constructions of `Language,'" Rhetoric Society of America, 1994.
"Anti-Pluralist Stances in English Departments," College Conference on Composition and
Communication, 1994.
"Feminism, Historiography, and Plato," Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition,
1993.
"Wittgenstein's Stories: Desiring Less, Accruing More," International Narrative Conference, 1993.
"Commensurability in English Studies?" Modern Language Association, 1992.
"Plato, Pluralism, and Violence," Speech Communication Association, 1992.
"Wittgenstein and Narrative Proof," Penn State Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, 1992.
"Rhetoric and Violence," Rhetoric Society of America, 1992.
"Metaphoric Productivity vs. the Disciplinary Police," Conference of College Composition and
Communication, 1992.
"When the Panopticon Is Not Enough: Women, Violence, and Power," Conference of College
Composition and Communication, 1991.
"Just Say No: Positioning in the Negative," International Rhetoric Council, 1990.
"Disciplining the Community," Rhetoric Society of America, 1990.
"Aims, Actions, Structures of Association: The Dynamics of Disciplinarity," Conference of
College Composition and Communication, 1990.
"Wittgenstein and the Construction of Self," Rhetoric Society of America, 1988.
"Susanne Langer: Mother and Midwife at the Rebirth of Rhetoric," Conference on College
Composition and Communication, 1988.
Selected Recent Presentations and Workshops at Universityat Buffalo
“Writing for Publication.” Medical Educator Group for Psychiatry Residents, Spring 2015.
“Approaches to Successful Academic Writing,” Center for Comparative and Global Studies in
Education,Spring 2015.
“Strategies for Assessing Writing: Criteria, Holistic Scoring, or No Assessment at All,” UB
AssessmentDay 3.0. Fall 2014.
“Technical Writing: Thirty Years of Writing Pedagogy in Thirty Minutes,”SEAS Colloquium,
Spring 2014.
“Tackling Long Writing Projects,” SEAS Colloquium, Fall 2013.
“How to Assign and Respond to Student Writing,” Graduate Student Teaching Conference, Summer
2013.
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
National and State Service
American Academy in Berlin Fellows Reviewer: 2015
Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition: Advisory Board
Member 06-12, ex-officio 12-16, Book Award Committee 15-16.