My name is Lisa Arnold, and I have a PhD in Rhetoric and Writing Studies from the University of Louisville (Kentucky, US, 2011). Since 2015, I have worked at North Dakota State University (Fargo, US). My first academic position was at the American University of Beirut (Lebanon).  

My research focuses on global and multilingual sites of writing pedagogy and practice. I approach my research through both contemporary (qualitative) and historical (archival) lenses. My research has been published in various book chapters and journals of the field, including College Composition and Communication, College English, Research in the Teaching of English, and Composition Studies. I am the author of a single-authored book, An Imagined America: Literacy, Identity, and Coloniality at Syrian Protestant College, 1866-1920 (University of Colorado Press/WAC Clearinghouse, 2025), as well as a co-editor of Emerging Writing Research from the Middle East-North Africa Region (University of Colorado Press/WAC Clearinghouse, 2017), both open-access publications. 

I have accumulated more than a decade of experience as a writing program administrator at both universities where I have worked, and I also wrote a genre-oriented textbook that is used in all first-year writing classes at NDSU. I am passionate about supporting writing teachers at the college level and ensuring that students in our classes develop strong critical thinking, writing, and research skills appropriate for college and beyond. 

Teaching forms the core of my professional identity. I have taught writing, rhetoric, and pedagogy at the undergraduate and graduate level for more than 20 years. I work hard to engage and energize students, helping them make connections between course content and their personal lives. The joy of teaching is learning, and I never stop learning from my students, whether it is a new insight on a course reading or working collaboratively on a research project. It has been an honor to receive awards for my teaching and mentorship. 

On weekends, I facilitate volunteer-run English language classes for adult immigrants in the community through New Roots Midwest, a Somali-led nonprofit. 

After more than a decade of study, I am conversationally proficient in Arabic (Lebanese, Egyptian, and Sudanese dialects).