Melissa Ianetta Named Head of Writing & Communication Program

Posted June 2, 2020

By Michael Pearson

Melissa Ianetta, a writing and rhetoric professor at the University of Delaware, has been appointed to lead the Writing and Communication Program (WCP) in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Ianetta succeeds Rebecca Burnett, who is retiring from the Georgia Tech on August 1, 2020.

As director of the WCP and the Class of 1958 Professor in Communication, Ianetta will be responsible for overseeing classes in first-year composition, technical, and business communication, as well as learning support and research writing. Each year, some 5,000 to 6,000 Georgia Tech students from every major take courses in the WCP.

Ianetta also will be responsible for leading the Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellowship program.

“I’m delighted to welcome Dr. Ianetta to this important role,” said Richard Utz, chair or the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, which houses the WCP. “Melissa brings a wealth of experience that will benefit both our students and the Brittain Fellows.”

Ianetta is the Unidel Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Jr. Chair of Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Delaware, where she has directed the University Writing Centers since 2005.

Ianetta’s research focuses on writing studies with a specialization in research methods as well as undergraduate research. She has taught first-year writing classes, peer-tutor pedagogy, as well as graduate courses in empirical research methods and writing program administration.

Ianetta earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Bridgewater State College, and her Ph.D. from Ohio State University in 2002.

She is co-editor of College English, the nation’s most widely distributed journal in English studies. She will bring the journal to the Georgia Institute of Technology, Utz said. She also is co-author of The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors: Practice and Research.

The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit of Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.