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First Year Composition Coordinator; Lecturer of English and Writing Studies Brianne Taormina
Department of Humanities
Specializations: Writing Studies and Literacy Education: Linguistic Justice, Writing and Identity, Multilingual Writing Education
Email: Brianne.Taormina@nevadastate.edu
Phone:
(702) 992-2693
Biography
Bri Taormina-Barrientos is the First Year Composition Coordinator, a doctoral student (candidacy expected 2026), and Lecturer in the English department at Nevada State. She teaches composition, literature, and writing studies courses. After starting her career in a writing center during graduate school, she fell in love with working one-on-one with diverse writers. She’s passionate about giving underrepresented populations access to writing instruction that best suits their needs, which is why her doctoral research is dedicated to improving our teaching and tutoring strategies for multilingual writers. Currently, she’s working on her dissertation in Linguistic Justice by employing Critical Race Theory Composite Storytelling methods to examine the ways teachers navigate barriers in higher education to Linguistic Justice and Critical Language Awareness work. Her education started as literature based, however, and she loves teaching additional classes in genre and in diverse communities’ literature, like Native American Literature. Though her coursework at UNLV where she obtained her MA in English Literature was focused in cultural literature, medievalism, Romanticism, and the Long 19th Century, her expertise reaches beyond that into professional writing, genre studies, pedagogical theory, writing center studies, and literacy education. She teaches First Year Composition Courses (ENG 116, ENG 101/100, and ENG 102), as well as Writing Studies Courses (ENG 201, ENG 212, ENG 401), and Native American Literature (ENG 494).
Education
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Doctor of Philosophy in Education: Teaching and Learning-Literacy
UNLV
01/01/2022 -
Master of Arts in English Literature and Rhetoric/Composition
UNLV
09/01/2017 - 05/01/2019 -
Bachelor of Arts in English
UNLV
09/01/2014 - 05/01/2017
Publications
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Supporting Student Linguistic Identity and Autonomy in Directed Self Placement Through Linguistic Domains Using Qualtrics Scoring
Journal of Writing Assessment
03/01/2024 -
PITCH AND SWITCH: Just How Adaptable Are You?
Routledge
01/01/2026 -
Navigating Trauma Through Intergenerational and Reciprocal Mentorship Relationships
The Rhetoric Review
07/01/2025
Work Experience
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First Year Composition Coordinator
Nevada State University — Henderson, NV
Oversee First Year Composition courses, observe PTIs and Dual Credit Liaisons, assess program outcomes07/01/2024 -
Lecture of English/Writing Studies
Nevada State University — Henderson, NV
Teach courses related to composition, writing studies, and literature08/01/2021 -
Adjunct Composition Faculty
University of Nevada, Las Vegas — Las Vegas, NV
Taught First Year Composition Classes08/01/2019 - 05/01/2021 -
Graduate Assistant Director of Composition
University of Nevada, Las Vegas — Las Vegas, NV
Mentored and observed incoming graduate assistants through their first year, evaluated and placed incoming freshman in first year composition courses08/01/2018 - 05/01/2019 -
Writing Center Staff
University of Nevada, Las Vegas — Las Vegas, NV
Tutor, admin (Lead Consultant), researcher08/01/2017 - 10/01/2021 -
Graduate Assistant
University of Nevada, Las Vegas — Las Vegas, NV
Taught courses in first year composition08/01/2017 - 05/01/2019
Achievements
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Teaching Excellence Award
Won the Teaching Excellence Award for Humanities in LASB11/30/2024