USC: System Affairs and Extended University

Current Research and/or Teaching Interests

Dr. Sheffield’s primary research area involves the intersections of rhetoric, technology, and community.  Her dissertation focused on the developing relationship between weblogs and social movements, suggesting that weblogs can be valuable tools for activists, but that their potential for encouraging democratic deliberation may not yet be fully realized.  Some areas of particular interest for future research are the uses of weblogs for community maintenance and for discussing health issues.  She also is interested in popular culture texts, especially as they relate to technology, and in environmental communication, especially the rhetoric of America’s national parks.

Courses Taught

At USC: SPCH 140, SPCH 331

Elsewhere: Small Group Communication, Persuasion and Propaganda, Communication and Information Technology, Studies in Pubic Address, Media Use and Civic Engagement, Politics and the Internet

Recent Publications

Sheffield, Jessica.  “Theodore Roosevelt, ‘Conservation as a National Duty’ (13 May 1908).” Voices of Democracy: The U.S. Oratory Project, online at: www.voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu, 2010.

Sheffield, Jessica, and Elyse Merlo.  “Biting Back: Twilight Anti-Fandom and the Rhetoric of Superiority.”  In Bitten by Twilight: Youth Culture, Media, and the Vampire Saga, edited by Melissa Click, Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, and Lissa Behm-Morawitz.  New York: Peter Lang, 2010.

Simpson, Scott, and Jessica Sheffield.  “Neocolonialism, Technology, and Myth in the Stargate Universe.”  In Sith, Slayers, Stargates, and Cyborgs: Modern Mythology in the New Millennium, edited by John Perlich and David Whitt, 73-98.  New York: Peter Lang, 2007.

Recent Presentations

“‘Fur is Murder’ to ‘Veggie Love’: Social Movement Organizations, Weblogs, and the Changing Face of Affiliated Movement.”  Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, 2009.

“Weblogs and Activism: A Social Movement Analysis of the Blogosphere.” Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities, 2009.

Jessica Sheffield and Elyse Merlo.  “Biting Back: Twilight Anti-Fandom and the Rhetoric of Superiority.”  As part of panel: “‘Your mood swings are kinda giving me whiplash’: Twilight Fans and the Negotiation of Gender, Feminism and Sexuality.”  Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, 2009.

“Barack Obama, ‘A More Perfect Union’ (18 March 2008).”  As part of panel: “Political Communication in Philadelphia: A Journey Through the Centuries.”  Annual Convention of the Eastern Communication Association, 2009.

“Value vs. Risk: The Debate over LNG in Mobile, Alabama.” As part of panel: “Environmental Advocacy in the American South: A Critical and Rhetorical Exploration of Social Change.”  Annual Convention of the Southern States Communication Association, 2008.

“A Moral Imperative: Theodore Roosevelt, ‘Conservation as a National Duty,’ 1908.”  Annual Convention of the National Communication Association, 2008.

Reflecting, Selecting, and Deflecting the Web: Weblogs as Terministic Screens.”  Seventh Triennial Conference of the Kenneth Burke Society, 2008.

“Community Weblogs: An Ethos for Identification.”  Annual Convention of the Eastern Communication Association, 2008.

Other Interests

When not teaching or lost in the library, I enjoy traveling, particularly to America’s national parks.  I have visited over fifty units in the NPS system, including thirty national parks.  I have served as a Volunteer-In-Parks (VIP) at Yosemite National Park and am currently a VIP at Congaree National Park.

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Curriculum Vitae

E-mail: sheffj@mailbox.sc.edu

Phone: 803.777.8155

Fax: 803.777.9357

Office: Byrnes, 609A

Directions: Campus Map

Mailing Address:

Extended University
Byrnes, 605
Columbia, SC 29208