Assistant Professor, Associate Director for Graduate Programs and Research
hwoods@ksu.edu
Campus office: 324 D Nichols Hall
Heather Suzanne Woods is a scholar and teacher of digital rhetoric. She has been researching and teaching about the relationship between technology and culture for nearly a decade.
Dr. Woods researches how technology influences culture, and how culture influences technology. Most recently, she has studied how memes influence political elections, how people negotiate the rise of artificially intelligent virtual assistants, and how people communicate with unknown others on social media. Her current research focuses on the smart home. Her latest book, “Living in Digitality: The Rhetoric of Smart Homes,” is under advance contract with the University of Alabama Press for inclusion Rhetoric + Digitality series. You can find out more about her research here: https://heathersuzannewoods.com
Dr. Woods is primarily an interpretive scholar, but has training and experience in mixed-method qualitative approaches, project management, public engagement, and the digital humanities. Dr. Woods’ research has been featured in Wired, The Atlantic, CBC’s Spark, The Washington Post, The LA Times, and more. She also advises not-for-profit and advocacy groups on digital strategy and offers digital literacy and communication training in person and at a distance.
Dr. Woods routinely teaches COMM 330: Rhetoric in Western Thought, the introduction to rhetoric course in the Department of Communication Studies. She also teaches COMM 332: Comm and Technology and COMM 434: Rhetoric and Social Movements. At the graduate level, Dr. Woods frequently teaches COMM 732: Contemporary Rhetorical Theory.
Dr. Woods is also the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication Studies. You can find out more about our Master’s Program here: https://commstudies.k-state.edu/gradstudents/