Nathan Shank

Nathan Shank is an Associate Professor of English at Oklahoma Christian University, specializing in writing pedagogy and cognitive approaches to literature. He coordinates the university's writing center (Writer’s Block) and serves as faculty sponsor for the Soundings arts journal. Dr. Shank co-leads the Summer Shakespeare Experience study abroad program to Canada and actively participates in Oklahoma Humanities’ community engagement initiatives.

• Director of the writing center
• Study abroad program co-leader
• Community engagement speaker

Research Focus: His work bridges technical communication, narrative theory, and trauma studies, with publications examining flipped classroom methods, memory rhetoric, and psychological dimensions of literature. Articles reflect interdisciplinary applications of adult learning theory to writing instruction and analyses of consciousness representation in postwar American novels.

Article Trends: Recent publications emphasize pedagogical innovation (2024) and rhetorical analysis (2023), while earlier works explore trauma narratives (2017), game-based storytelling (2015), and literary irony (2014). The collection demonstrates sustained interest in cognitive processes and narrative structures across educational and literary contexts.

Personal & Professional: Dr. Shank advocates for “engaged and lived pedagogies,” highlighting the educational value of imperfect, vulnerable belief expression. Outside academia, he enjoys family time with his wife Manda and children Hannah and Amos through gardening, cooking, and local cultural participation.