Hi there ~ I’m Naomi.
I am a professor at the University of Iowa who studies writing, inquiry, and the creative process.
I love exploring and expressing ideas and the alchemy of composing elements into a project that is greater than the sum of its parts. Candidly, I also struggle as a writer to trust in the creative process, and will regularly squelch a train of thought before I have gotten words onto a page.
Whether figuring out arguments, disseminating discoveries, or imagining possibilities, I believe that we enhance our work when we can move between chosen solitude and connection.
As a researcher, teacher, workshop leader, and writing consultant, I engage others in approaching inquiry as a generative process – one too often stripped of its purposeful, personal, and process-based dimensions.
Professional Overview
PhD in English, UC Irvine (certificates in critical theory and interdisciplinary gender studies)
Postdoctoral Fellow in Rhetoric, Stanford University
Harvard-Radcliffe Institute Research Fellow (Summer 2022)
Provost’s Research & Administrative Fellow, Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, University of Iowa (2023-24)
Mellon Fellow with HuMetrics, a values-enacted framework for the scholarly life well-lived (2022-23)
Executive Director POROI, Iowa’s Project on Rhetoric of Inquiry
Senior Head Writing Coach, NCFDD, the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity