CV & Awards

A pdf of Daisy’s most recently updated CV [May 2011] is available for download here: 2011PortfolioCVDaisy Pignetti

Highlights from that document include the following:

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Computer-Mediated Teaching & Communication; Rhetorical Theory; Technology, Identity & Community; Research Methodologies; Digital Humanities

EDUCATION

Ph.D. English, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 2010

Field: Rhetoric and Composition Studies

Dissertation: Writing to (Re)New Orleans: The Post-Hurricane Katrina Blogosphere and Its Ability to Heal and Inspire Recovery [Defended March 26, 2010]

Committee: Joseph Moxley (chair), Joyce R. Walker, Trey Conner, Meredith Zoetewey

Abstract: Nearly every website or software application these days features a feed to subscribe to, a network to join, or a social timeline to track—all of which do their part to influence public opinion, promote products, and bring people closer together. Being a blogger exposed me to these user-generated trends, but never did I expect my blog space, or any others, to play such an important role in my emotional well-being; not until Hurricane Katrina hit.

Choosing to share my story as a transplanted New Orleanian watching the disaster unfold from afar in a public forum quickly linked me to other local voices, and soon I discovered a burgeoning “Big Easy” blogosphere. By profiling those who have been directly impacted by Hurricane Katrina and examining their perpetual posting of blog entries, photos, videos, and status updates, this dissertation illustrates how online communications have the ability to evolve into cathartic and socially responsible exchanges during and after traumatic times of disaster.

Relying on qualitative research methods and current scholarship on the blog genre, this dissertation exposes a range of opinions from a population that might otherwise go unnoticed. Much of the importance of these bloggers’ openly shared and permanently archived postings is that those who actively search the Internet in order to better understand the city’s rebuilding efforts can read them and gain a deeper, truer reading of what is going on in what is now a post-Katrina New Orleans.

M.A. English, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 1999

Field: Composition Studies and Linguistics

B.A. English, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA, 1996

Major: Writing

Minor: Ballet

AWARDS/HONORS/FELLOWSHIPS

National Endowment of the Humanities
Application under review, Summer Stipends Program. 2011

University of Wisconsin-Stout
Application under review, Professional Development Grant. 2011
Recipient, Emerging Technology Grant. 2010
Recipient, Just in Time Professional Development Grant. 2009
Team Recipient, Curricular Incubation Grant [MSTPC course proposals]. 2009
Recipient, Emerging Technology Grant. 2009
Recipient, Professional Development Grant. 2008

University of South Florida
Alice Hearne Scholarship for Outstanding Doctoral Candidate. 2008
Alma Bryant Award for Outstanding Graduate Student. 2008
Florida Center for Writers Award for Distinguished Scholarship. 2006

Oxford Internet Institute
Summer Doctoral Programme. Berkman Center for Internet and Society. 2007

Conference on College Composition and Communication
Scholar for the Dream. 2005

Northeastern University
Fellowship, Martha’s Vineyard Summer Institute on Writing, Reading and Teaching. 1999
Graduate Essay Writing Prize. 1999

Loyola University
Award of Excellence in English. 1996
Outstanding English Writing Lab Tutor. 1996
Outstanding College of Music Student, Ballet Program. 1996