Amy Nichols

Amy Nichols is an Assistant Professor at Eastern Kentucky University specializing in rhetoric and composition. Her work bridges academic scholarship with community-based literacy initiatives, evidenced by leadership roles including Director of Writing Resources at Berea College (2017-2025) and Kentucky State Representative for the Southeastern Writing Center Association (2022-2025).

Her educational foundation includes:

• Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition, University of Louisville
• M.A. in English Literature, University of Louisville
• B.A. in English Literature, Transylvania University

Dr. Nichols' research investigates literacy sponsorship networks with emphasis on rural communities, positioning writing centers as vital hubs for community engagement. She pioneers mixed-methods approaches to map literacy ecosystems in underserved areas, while maintaining strong commitments to first-year writing pedagogy and place-based literacy studies.

Her publication trajectory since 2017 reveals dual scholarly and creative productivity, highlighted by the 2024 Routledge monograph on rural literacy mapping and co-authored works in Community Literacy Journal. This output demonstrates consistent contributions to composition theory alongside literary publications in Appalachian-focused journals, reflecting interdisciplinary depth.

Professional engagement includes sustained membership in the Conference on College Composition and Communication (2017-present) and leadership in regional writing center networks. Her collaborative projects, such as the 12-author multimodal composition study (2017), showcase commitment to collective knowledge production and cross-institutional partnerships.

Though no formal research lab is documented, her decade of writing center administration demonstrates expertise in building academic support structures that connect campus resources with community literacy needs, particularly through Berea College's community-engaged programming.