Vanessa Hopper

Vanessa Hopper is a Senior Lecturer at Southern Methodist University (SMU), specializing in teaching critical thinking and writing across the Writing and Reasoning Sequence. She co-edited the department's textbook Criteria: Discernment and Discourse Reader and Guide and contributed to the literary magazine Duck Soup. Her research focuses on war/revolution legacies, justice, language functions, and civic responsibility. She has received 17 student-nominated teaching awards, including the Provost's Teaching Excellence award.

Education: M.A. from SMU; completed Rice University's Publishing Program.

Her signature seminars include Voices of the Vietnam War Era, In Search of the Cyberpunk, and Blood, Beauty, and Brutality: Reading the Vampire. She has served as a freelance editor for books and screenplays, and as a writing consultant. Her work emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to personal and societal choices shaping communities.

Awards:

• Three SMU Laura Devlin Lecturer appointments
• Provost's Teaching Excellence Award
• Multiple H.O.P.E. awards

Advising & Grants: While no formal grants are mentioned, her extensive editorial work and seminar design reflect ongoing academic engagement. She has mentored students through writing consultations and curriculum development.

Labs/Teams: Collaborated on the Criteria textbook and Duck Soup literary magazine, fostering student contributions to academic discourse.