Director, OU Writing Center
Director, Expository Writing Program
Assistant Professor of Writing
Affiliate Faculty of English
she/her
Dr. Talisha Haltiwanger Morrison serves as Director of the OU Writing Center, Director of the Edith Kinney Gaylord Expository Writing Program, Assistant Professor of Writing, and affiliate faculty in the OU English Department.
Dr. Morrison completed her PhD at Purdue University in Rhetoric and Composition with secondary areas in Writing Center Studies and Public Rhetorics after earning an M.A. in Rhetoric and Composition at Colorado State University and a B.A. in Writing at the University of Oklahoma.
Dr. Morrison’s research and administration interests span writing center theory, community-based writing, and Black feminist studies. In particular, her research focuses on intersectional approaches to the space and work of the writing centers, applying racial justice theories and Black feminist perspectives to examine student-tutor experience and the administrative approaches that help shape those experiences.
As an administrator, Dr. Morrison centers the mentoring, support, and professional development of student consultants and the value of cross-campus partnerships. As Director of the OU Writing Center, she has fostered relationships with units such as OU Libraries, the OU Graduate College, the College of Education, and TRiO Programs.
Dr. Morrison regularly presents at national and international conferences including the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Conference on Community Writing, and the International Writing Centers Association Conference. Her current projects include Writing Centers and Racial Justice: A Guidebook for Critical Praxis (forthcoming, August 2023), a resource book for current and aspiring writing center directors on how to incorporate racial justice into administrative responsibilities such as consultant education and campus outreach. She is also currently working on a solo-authored book about the mentoring and professional development experiences of women of color in Rhetoric and Writing Studies graduate programs.
Writing Centers and Racial Justice: A Guidebook for Critical Praxis, co-edited with Deidre Anne Evans Garriot. Forthcoming (August 2023), Utah State University Press
Haltiwanger Morrison, Talisha. (forthcoming, August 2023). “Tutors Matter, Too: Supporting Writing Tutors Through Racial Justice.” Writing Centers and Racial Justice: A Guidebook for Critical Praxis, Talisha Haltiwanger Morrison & Deidre Anne Evans Garriott, eds.
Haltiwanger Morrison, Talisha and Sherri Craig. (forthcoming, January 2023). “Imagine We Knew All Our Names.” Journal of Multimodal Rhetoric. Special Issue “Fantasies and Futures.”
Haltiwanger Morrison, Talisha. (2022). “Making and Taking up Space as a Black Woman at a Predominantly White Institution.” Praxis: A Writing Center Journal. Special Issue “Have We Arrived? Revisiting and Rethinking Responsibility in Writing Center Work: The Need for Transformative Listening and Mindfulness of Difference.” Invited Column.
Haltiwanger Morrison, Talisha. (2021). “A Balancing Act: Black Women’s Negotiation of Racial Tension in the Center.” Writing Center Journal, 39(1-2), 119-141.
Haltiwanger Morrison, Talisha. (2019). “Being Seen and Not Seen: A Black, Female Body in the Writing Center.” Out in the Center: Public Controversies and Private Struggles, Harry Denny, Robert Mundy, Liliana M. Naydan, Richard Sévère, & Anna Sicari, eds.
-Nominated for 2020 Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA) Outstanding Scholarship Award. (individual)
-Winner of 2019 International Writing Centers Association (IWCA)Outstanding Book Award. (collection)
“The Waymaking Promise of Black Women in the Academy: Failed Attempts and Lessons Learned” with Sherri Craig at Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, IL. (virtual), March 2022
“How do we do this, the Antiracism, like for Real, from the Center?” Questioning as Antiracist Praxis for WPAs. Sponsored Panel for Untenured and Alternative-Academic WPA Standing Group with Stacy Kastner, Angela Mitchell, Amy Columbo, Amilia Evans, Sarah Polo, and Iris Ruiz at Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, IL. March 2022 (virtual, invited)
“Designing and Delivering: Improving Writing Center Administration through Consultant Feedback” with Ashton Foley-Schramm at South Central Writing Centers Association, Baton Rouge, LA (virtual), February 2022
“Weaving Inclusive Communities through Black Feminist Waymaking” with Sherri Craig at Conference on Community Writing, Washington DC (virtual), October 2021
“Rhetorical Pedagogies: Centering Local Community Perspectives and Considering Indignation as a Rhetorical Virtue” with Jessica Shumake at Conference on Community Writing, Philadelphia, PA, October 2019
“Interruptions/Reimaginings: An Afrofuturistic Call and Response on the Citizen Center” with Zandra L. Jordan and Neisha-Anne S. Green at International Writing Centers Association Conference, Atlanta, GA, October 2018
“Frameworks for Disability: A Service-Learning Partnership with a Campus Disability Resource Center” at Conference on Community Writing, Boulder, CO, October 2017 (accepted)
“Coding, DeCoding, and ReCoding: Content Analysis of Alumni Tutor Survey for Program Development” with Tammy Conard-Salvo, Harry Denny and Elizabeth Geib at International Writing Center Association Collaborative at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, Portland, OR, March 2017
