Michael J. Klein, Ph.D.

Professor
Department of Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies
James Madison University
971 Madison Drive MSC 1105
Harrisonburg, VA 22807

kleinmj@jmu.edu

Professional Appointments and Training

I'm a professor of Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies at James Madison University. I also coordinate and teach courses that are part of the cross-disciplinary minor in Medical Humanities.

My research interests include the relationship between popular culture and science and technology, graphic narrative in medicine, and medical humanities.

My full CV is available for download.

I hold the following degrees:

Ph.D., Science and Technology Studies, Virginia Tech
M.S., Technical Communication, Rensselaer
M.A., Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English, University of Arizona
B.A., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Creative Writing, University of Arizona
Graduate Certificate, Higher Education Assessment Specialist, James Madison University

Teaching (selected courses)

Undergraduate

HON 300. Rhetoric of Science and Science Fiction (Honors Course)
ISAT 131. Technology, Science and Society (ISAT Course)
MHUM 200. COVID-19 in Perspective (Medical Humanities Course)
WRTC 103. Rhetorical Reading and Writing (f2f and online)
WRTC 210. Introduction to Technical and Scientific Communication
WRTC 350. Science, Technology and Literature (f2f and online)
WRTC 351. Visual Rhetoric (f2f and online)
WRTC 358/HON 300. Writing about Science and Technology/The Zombie Course
WRTC 358/HON 300. Writing about Science and Technology/More Human Than Human: Cultural and Scientific Perceptions of Androids, Cyborgs and AI
WRTC 416. Rhetoric of Environmental Science and Technology
WRTC 426/HON 300. Body Talk: Conceiving the “Normal” Body
WRTC 426/MHUM 200. COVID-19 in Perspective (with faculty in the sciences and humanities) (online)
WRTC 458. Scientific and Medical Communication/The (Re)productive Body
WRTC 458/HON 300. Twin Pandemics: COVID-19 and Racism (f2f and online)
WRTC 488/HON 300. Writing in the Health Sciences (f2f and online)

Graduate

WRTC 510. Seminar in Technical and Scientific Communication (online)
WRTC 530. Research Methods in WRTC
WRTC 545. Ethical and Legal Issues in WRTC (online)
WRTC 595. Workplace Writing
WRTC 620. Science Writing
WRTC 644. Health and Medical Rhetorics
WRTC 648. Rhetoric of Science and Technology

Publications

Edited Collections

Klein, Michael J. (ed.). Effective Teaching of Technical Communication: Theory, Practice and Application. WAC Clearinghouse/U. Press of Colorado, 2021.
Winner of the Best Original Collection of Essays in Technical or Scientific Communication: Conference on College Composition and Communication, 2022.
Frana, Philip and Michael J. Klein (eds.). Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence: The Past, Present, and Future of AI. ABC-CLIO, 2021.

Refereed Book Chapters

Klein, Michael J., and Lisa DeTora. “Introduction. The Rhetoric of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Health Literacy and Disease Knowledge.” COVID Communication: Exploring Pandemic Discourse, edited by Douglas Vakoch, John C. Pollock, and Amanda Caleb, Springer, 2023, pp. 1-15. doi:10.1007/978-3-031-27665-1_1
Klein, Michael J. “Cross-Disciplinary Vaccine Education through a Campus-Community Partnership.” Composing Health Literacies: Undergraduate Writing Courses, Programs, and Extensions, edited by Michael Madson, Routledge, 2023, pp. 89-102. doi:10.4324/9781003316770-7
DeTora, Lisa, Michael J. Klein, and John C. Pollock. “Introduction. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the Media: Issues and Opportunities.” COVID-19 in International Media: Global Pandemic Perspectives, edited by John C. Pollock and Douglas Vakoch, Routledge, 2021, pp. 1-19.
Klein, Michael J. “Body Talk: A Cross-Disciplinary Course on Embodiment and Graphic Memoir.” Graphic Embodiments: Perspectives on Health and Embodiment in Graphic Narratives, edited by Lisa M. DeTora and Jodi Cressman, U. of Leuven Press, 2021, pp. 75-86. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1ccbg8p.9
Klein, Michael J., and Kristi L. Shackelford. “‘Hey Sammy, We're not in Kansas Anymore’: The Frontier Motif in Supernatural.” Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, and Ghosts on the Cinematic Frontier, edited by Cynthia Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper, Scarecrow Press, 2012, pp. 19-31.
Klein, Michael J. “Modern Myths: Science Fiction in the Age of Technology.” Frontiers of Cyberspace, edited by Daniel Riha, Rodopi, 2012, pp. 259-83. doi:10.1163/9789401208581_013
Klein, Michael J., and Kristi L. Shackelford. “Beyond Black on White: Combining Document Design with MLA Style in the Writing Classroom.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, volume 2, edited by Charlie Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, Parlor Press, 2011, pp. 333-49.
Klein, Michael J. “Incorporating Science Fiction into a Scientific Rhetoric Course.” Practicing Science Fiction: Critical Essays on Writing, Reading, and Teaching the Genre, edited by Karen Hellekson, Craig Jacobsen, Patrick Sharp, and Lisa Yaszek, McFarland and Company, 2010, pp. 24-36.
Klein, Michael J. “Beholding the Uncanny: Replicants, Cyborgs and Clones in SF.” Humanity in Cybernetic Environments, edited by Daniel Riha, Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2009, pp. 137-145.
Klein, Michael J. “Reconsidering the Lay-Expert Audience Divide.” Handbook of Research on Virtual Workplaces and the New Nature of Business Practices, edited by Kirk St.Amant and Pavel Zemliansky, IGI Global, 2008, pp. 692-701. doi:10.4018/978-1-59904-893-2.ch050

Refereed Journal Articles

Mitchell, Ryan, Julie Homchick Crowe, Sara DiCaglio, Lisa DeTora, Brynn Fitzsimmons, Tristin Hooker, Lisa Keränen, Michael J. Klein, Melissa Nicolas, and Shaunak Sastry. “A Dialogue on Un/Precedented Pandemic Rhetorics.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, vol. 6, no. 3, 2023, pp. 335-364. doi:10.5744/rhm.2023.3005
Chiu, Katherine A., Dayna S. Henry, and Michael J. Klein. “Provision of Advanced Care Planning Information by Public Institutions of Higher Education in the U.S.”. American Journal of Health Studies, vol. 36, no. 1, 2021, pp. 41-49. doi:10.47779/ajhs.2021.637
DeTora, Lisa and Michael J. Klein. “Invention Questions for Intercultural Understanding: Situating Regulatory Medical Narratives as Narrative Forms”. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, vol. 50, no. 2, 2020, pp. 167-186. doi:10.1177/0047281620906134
Klein, Michael J., Scott Lunsford, and Cindy Chiarello. “Embracing the Messy Business of Learning: Serving Multiple Stakeholders in a Technical Communication Internship.” Present Tense, vol. 3, no. 2, 2014.