Nancy Small

Nancy Small is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Wyoming, affiliated with the College of Arts & Sciences. Her research focuses on storytelling, public memory, and rhetoric, with a particular emphasis on transnational spaces, research ethics, and feminist practices. She holds a Ph.D. in Technical Communication & Rhetoric from Texas Tech University, an M.A. in English from Texas A&M University, and a B.A. in English and Psychology from Texas A&M University.

Her research explores how everyday storytelling constructs shared lifeworlds, including projects on paradox and agency in transnational contexts, public commemoration of women’s suffrage, and qualitative research methods. She has been awarded grants such as the Mellon Foundation Grant ($850,000) for community story-gathering and the Wyoming Historical Society’s Lola Homsher Research Grant. Notable awards include the College of Arts & Sciences Extraordinary Merit in Teaching (2022) and the Faculty Advisor of the Year (2020).

Dr. Small’s work bridges academic and public humanities, including collaborative projects like the ‘Re-Storying the West’ initiative. She actively serves in professional organizations, such as the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in Rhetoric and Composition and the Rhetoric Society of America. Her teaching spans graduate and undergraduate courses on rhetorical theory, public memory, and civic discourse.

Current projects include monographs on early suffragist Estelle Reel and Wyoming’s public memory, as well as the Mellon-funded ‘Re-Storying the West’ project, which engages communities in storytelling to reimagine the state’s future. She also co-edits publications on research methods and positionality in writing studies.