Gehendra Koirala
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I am currently a tutor at the writing center of UTEP and a PhD student in the Rhetoric and Composition program. Before arriving at UTEP in Fall 2023, I was an assistant professor at Tribhuvan University (TU), Nepal's oldest and largest university. I completed my M.A. from TU in 2004, and M. Phil. from the same university in 2021. I find the tutor job very fascinating because I feel I have learned something new from visiting students. Interacting with students of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, listening to the stories of their literacy journeys, and collaborating with them on their assignments are activities that not only develop professionalism but also give inner peace and a sense of satisfaction. The experience of the writing center also helps me link practical knowledge with the theories and approaches of pedagogy that we discuss in the classrooms. The writing center is a space where tutors like us go through different texts in which the individual voice of each student can be heard through his/her writing, and we must respect it. I suggest each student develop and promote their distinct authorial voice.
As I aim to complete a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition, I can hone my professional skills as a writing instructor and help my students learn skills to write in the discipline they have selected for their future careers. I hope to expand my research horizon in the area of my interest. I am currently more interested in emerging fields of rhetoric and composition like digital rhetoric, multimodal composition, technical communication, and multiliteracies. I wish to explore further the use of digital storytelling (DST) as a tool for asserting agency and fighting for social justice. Moreover, I am planning to examine the positive and negative impacts of LLMs and AIs in the writing process and composition pedagogy.