PhD Graduate Instructors
Meet our PhD Graduate Instructors
Our graduate students come to us from four continents: Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America. Representing almost 15 countries (such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, China, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Germany and Italy), our students create a diverse community of emerging scholars, committed to learning, collegiality, cultural exchange, world citizenship, civility, and social outreach.
We currently have 37 graduate students enrolled in our programs, 22 for the MA in English and 15 for the PhD in Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture. While the majority of our students are financially supported through departmental teaching assistantships, two carry research assistantships outside of the department and one is funded through a dissertation fellowship. Five of our PhD students are self-funded and hold teaching, academic, or administrative appointments outside of the department or the university.
Habiba Akter
Habiba Akter, PhD Student
habiba.akter@ndsu.edu
Office: Minard 318E6
Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing and Culture, Department of English, North Dakota State University, 2027
M.A. in English Language, Department of English, Khulna University, 2012
B.A. in English, Department of English, University of Dhaka, 2008
Jainab Banu
Jainab Banu
Office: Minard 318E16
Email: jainab.banu@ndsu.edu
Jainab Tabassum Banu is a PhD student and graduate teaching assistant in the Department of English at North Dakota State University. Her research area lies in the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, class and disability in Postcolonial South Asian, Contemporary American and African American Studies. She is also interested in applying intersectional pedagogy in the First Year and Upper-Division writing classes. Besides, Jainab is a columnist and writes columns and blogs on different sociocultural and educational issues in a Bangladeshi English daily and other platform. She is an aspiring poetess who takes poetry as a tool to exhibit her existence in the world. Through her works, she focuses on the rhetoric of the experts to impart knowledge to the non-expert community.
Suman Dey
Ph.D. student, Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture
Email: suman.dey@ndsu.edu
Office: Minard 318E16
Biographical Sketch:
I am a Ph.D. student in the Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture program at North Dakota State University. My research explores language, identity, and power, with a focus on epistemic justice and equitable learning through AI-assisted writing instruction. Before joining NDSU, I would teach English literature and language in government colleges under Bangladesh’s National University system, where I developed a pedagogical approach that fosters critical engagement despite structural constraints. My academic work examines how language policies, colonial histories, and religious narratives shape discourse and influence power structures. I am particularly interested in how diverse linguistic and cultural perspectives challenge dominant ideologies, especially in relation to religious rhetoric, identity formation, and public discourse. Beyond academia, I have a strong interest in creative writing, using storytelling to explore themes of identity, power, and resistance. My scholarly and creative work often intersect, blending narrative and critical inquiry to engage with complex socio-political realities. I also closely follow global politics, media discourse, and the impact of postcolonial governance and digital rhetoric on public narratives and socio-political landscapes.
Fahad Hossain
Fahad Hossain, PhD Student
BA Hon’s in English Language and Literature (University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, 2009)
MA in English Literature (University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh, 2010)
MA in English - Rhetoric and Composition (Eastern Illinois University, USA, 2020)
Office: Minard 318E18
mdfahad.hossain@ndsu.edu
Biographical Sketch
Fahad Hossain is a PhD student in the Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture program. He currently teaches first-year writing classes at NDSU. Prior to starting his PhD journey, he taught first-year writing at Eastern Illinois University and tutored students at EIU Writing Center. He also taught several literature courses including Modern British Poetry, Victorian Fictions, Modern English Drama, and Postcolonial Fictions at Northern University Bangladesh. His research interest includes Translingualism, Language Politics, Culturally Relevant Pedagogy, Racial Literacy, Samuel Beckett, Deconstruction theory, Postmodernism, Postcolonialism, and Narrative theory. He loves to travel and take photographs.
Journal Article(s)
Hossain, Md. Fahad. "Time and Narrative in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Endgame." Crossings: ULAB Journal of English Studies 6.1 (2015): 62-66. Print.
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
"From an Adventure Novel to Colonialist Propaganda: Defoe and His Colonialist Propaganda Tool Robinson Crusoe Reconsidered." 2 Apr. 2019, EIU English Studies Conference. Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Illinois.
"Race, Literacy and Cultural Identity: Toward an Enabling Writing Center and Creating Space for ‘the Other’." 17 Apr. 2019, 55th Allerton English Articulation Conference. Allerton Park, Monticello, Illinois.
"Transcending the Multimodal Pedagogies in Online Writing Instructions." Beyond Tradition: Multimodality in English Scholarship, April 22, 2021, North Dakota State University, 2021.
Stephanie Lemmer
Stephanie Lemmer, PhD Student
MA in Rhetoric and Writing (St. Cloud State University, 2016)
MA in English Studies (St. Cloud State University, 2018)
Office: Minard 318E14
stephanie.lemmer@ndsu.edu
Disquisition Project:
Biographical Sketch
Stephanie Lemmer is a doctoral candidate in the Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture program. Stephanie’s research is focused primarily in queer theory and critical ethnic studies.
Conferences, Presentations, and Publications
Lemmer, Stephanie. “Excellence is Welcome Here: On Meritocratic Tropes." Red River Graduate Student Conference, 2017.
Lemmer, Stephanie. “What Does It Mean to Teach Writing?" Minnesota Writing and English Conference, St. Paul, MN, 2016.
Lemmer, Stephanie. “How are Our Bodies (Pre)Marked for Capacity or Debility Toward Life or Death?” Panel facilitator, Survive and Thrive Conference, St. Cloud, MN, 2015.
Obehioye Omokhuale
Obehioye Omokhuale, Ph.D. Student
Email: obehioye.omokhuale@ndsu.edu
Office: Minard 318E34
MA in Communication, North Dakota State University, 2024.
B.L., Nigerian Law School, 2019.
LL.B., University of Benin, 2018.
Bio: Obehioye Omokhuale is a Ph.D. student in Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture at North Dakota State University (NDSU) and a Graduate Teaching Assistant, teaching College Composition II to first year undergraduates. Her varied background has granted her a broadened perspective on contemporary issues and fuels her desire to engineer social change through her research. Her research interests include UX research, particularly Usability study, the concept of the other, monster theory, postcolonial theory, social support theory, and African Literature.
Alexandra Rowe
Alexandra Rowe, PhD Student
BA in English Language and Literature (University of California, Riverside, 2015)
MA in English Literature (California State University, Long Beach, 2018)
Office: Minard 318E6
Email: Alexandra.rowe.1@ndsu.edu
Biographical Sketch
Alexandra Rowe is a graduate teaching assistant and a PhD student in English Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture at North Dakota State University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from the University of California, Riverside and a Master of Arts in English Literature from California State University, Long Beach. During her time at CSULB, she ran the Writing, Communication, and Resource Center (WCRC) for the department of engineering. She is currently teaching two sections of ENGL 120 for first year undergraduate college students. Her scholarly interests include the 19th Century British Romanticism, Critical Theory, Ecocriticism, Supernatural Studies, and Rhetoric and Composition.
Conferences and Publications
Rowe, Alexandra. “Ecocriticism is Absurd and Absurdism is Ecocritical: The Joy of Eternal Damnation.” Journal of Camus Studies, 2017.
Rowe, Alexandra. “Lord Byron’s Darkness: The Beginnings of the Science Fiction Poetical Canon.” Annual Acacia Conference, 2018.
Nazifa Tasnim
Nazifa Tasnim, PhD Student
Email: nazifa.tasnim@ndsu.edu
Office: Minard 318E6
MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) (BRAC University, 2023)
BA in English (BRAC University, 2020)
Biographical Sketch: I am a doctoral student at the Writing, Rhetoric and Culture program at the English department, NDSU. I teach College Composition II to first-year undergraduate students. My research interests include sociolinguistics, teaching pedagogy and language ideology.
Amanda Swenson
Ph.D. student, Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture
Email: amanda.swenson.2@ndsu.edu
Biographical Sketch: Amanda is a graduate teaching assistant and a second-year PhD student in Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture at North Dakota State University. Her research interests include disability studies, medical writing, animal studies, postcolonial studies, and science writing.
S.J. Williamson
PhD Student, Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture
BA in English Literature (California State University, San Bernardino, 2016)
MA in English (Bemidji State University, 2021)
Office: Minard 318E6
Email: SJ.Williamson@ndsu.edu
Biographical Sketch: S.J. Williamson is a PhD student in the Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture program. They tutored for the AVID program for 7 years and then taught high school English before moving from California to Minnesota for their MA in English. They taught first-year composition for 3 years at Bemidji State University, and English 120, 320, and 459 at NDSU. S.J. also writes opinion articles for NDSU’s newspaper, The Spectrum. Their scholarly interests include dis/ability studies, writing pedagogy, animal studies, and their intersections with rhetoric and composition.
Recent Publications:
2025
"Rhetoric of Dissensus in Approaches to Accessibility in Writing Centers." (forthcoming, RSA 2024 conference proceedings anthology).
2024
"Rejection Sensitivity & the Search for Paid Work Experience." Voices of Academia Blog. https://voicesofacademia.com/2024/09/20/rejection-sensitivity-and-the-search-for-paid-work-experience-by-s-j-williamson/