Anis Bawarshi

Anis Bawarshi is Professor and Thomas L. & Margo G. Wyckoff Endowed Chair in the University of Washington's Department of English, where he previously directed the Program in Writing and Rhetoric for ten years and chaired the English department for six years. His career bridges administrative leadership with foundational scholarship in writing studies.

His academic preparation includes:

• B.A. in English from California State University, Northridge (1992)
• M.A. in English from the University of Kansas (1995)
• Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas (1999)

Bawarshi's research centers on rhetorical genre theory as a framework for understanding writing's social functions. He investigates how genres serve as sites of invention, mediate knowledge transfer across contexts, and shape identity formation through writing practices. His work challenges traditional dichotomies in composition studies by emphasizing writing's role in everyday social participation and organization, with recent focus on translingual approaches and anti-racist pedagogy.

Analysis of his 15 most recent publications reveals three dominant trajectories: (1) Genre theory's application to public discourse (climate petitions, Israel-Palestine debates), (2) Writing knowledge transfer across disciplines and linguistic boundaries, and (3) Critical examinations of uptake mechanisms in writing ecologies. His scholarship increasingly integrates social justice frameworks with genre studies, particularly through translingual and anti-racist lenses.

His honors include:

• Karen Shabetai Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award

Bawarshi has mentored 18 doctoral students whose dissertations explore writing transfer, translingualism, and genre theory across diverse contexts. Recent graduates include Hunter Little (2025) on mental disability knowledge, Joseph Anthony Wilson (2023) on transnational writing, and Sumyat Thu (2020) on raciolinguistic ideologies. He contributed to the English department's $150,000 College Spark Washington grant (2017) supporting writing initiatives.

He leads the Program in Writing and Rhetoric as its former director, fostering collaborative research on writing pedagogy, and co-edits the Reference Guides to Rhetoric and Composition series, shaping national scholarship in the field through sustained editorial stewardship.