About the Author

Ronda Leathers Dively

Professor Ronda Leathers Dively received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English (with teacher certification) and her Master of Arts degree in English (literature) from Eastern Illinois University. After gaining a few years of teaching experience in the secondary English classroom, she pursued her Doctorate of Arts degree in English (Rhetoric and Composition) at Illinois State University, completing her degree in 1994 and accepting an assistant professorship in the English Department at Southern Illinois University Carbondale that same year. Currently an associate professor at SIUC, Dr. Dively serves as the Director of Writing Studies for the Department of English and teaches in the Rhetoric and Composition program. Her areas of teaching specialization include composition pedagogy, empirical research methods, intermediate and advanced composition, and classical rhetoric. She has also enjoyed teaching special topics courses that explore intersections between creativity theory and composition theory. Professor Dively’s scholarship investigates how intersections of creativity and composition theory may illuminate how individuals negotiate transitions between various academic composing contexts—from high school to college classrooms, from general education to discipline-specific writing courses, from status as undergraduate student to graduate student, from status as graduate student to professional. Such interests generated a book-length empirical study entitled Preludes to Insight: Creativity, Incubation and Expository Writing (Hampton Press, 2006), as well as various articles and conference presentations. She has also published in the areas of knowledge transfer and religious expression.