Danielle Griffin

Danielle Griffin serves as Assistant Professor of English at Emory University, where she contributes to the Department of English through teaching and research focused on rhetorical history and contemporary discourse analysis. Her scholarly profile integrates historical recovery work with critical examinations of current rhetorical practices.

Education:

• PhD, University of Maryland, 2022

Professor Griffin's research centers on three interconnected domains: the history of rhetorical theory in early modern contexts, feminist rhetorical practices across time, and labor/working-class rhetorical strategies. She investigates how marginalized groups—particularly women and working-class individuals—have historically used petitions, financial documentation, and other discursive forms to articulate need and challenge systemic barriers. Her work reveals how rhetorical concepts like 'deservedness' evolve from early modern petition culture to contemporary financial aid systems.

Her publication trajectory demonstrates increasing engagement with contemporary applications of historical rhetoric. While her 2019 work established expertise in early modern women's rhetorical contributions through analysis of Madeleine de Scudéry's dialogues, her 2021 co-edited collection expanded feminist rhetorical theory across temporal and spatial boundaries. The 2025 Technical Communication Quarterly article represents a significant pivot to analyzing present-day policy discourse through historical rhetorical frameworks, particularly examining FAFSA applications as sites of rhetorical negotiation.

Professor Griffin teaches diverse undergraduate writing courses including multilingual composition, health sciences writing, and specialized seminars in rhetorical history and feminist theory. Her pedagogy emphasizes archival research methods and critical analysis of how discourse shapes socioeconomic access, directly connecting her research interests to classroom practice. She actively mentors students in rhetorical analysis across historical and contemporary contexts through course-based research projects.