Department: Writing, Rhetoric and Technical Communication

Areas of expertise:

• Girlhood Studies 
• Feminist Methodologies 
• Identity Performances
• Digital Rhetorics 

Jen Almjeld's research centers on digital rhetorics, identity performances, feminist methodologies and community engagement. Her recent work considers ways that gendered identities and digital spaces intersect to encourage certain identities and empower and limit identity performances. Almjeld is particularly interested in girlhood identities in regard to girls as technology users and girls as leaders. For several years she has lead girls' technology and leadership summer camps and afterschool programs and is currently researching the language of leadership related to girls and girlhood. Almjeld also participates in and researches community engagement partnerships in higher education. She is currently working with a team of researchers to study the barriers university faculty face when working with community partners and strategies for overcoming those obstacles. 

She received a doctorate in English, writing and rhetoric from Bowling State University, master's in English, rhetoric and composition at Eastern Kentucky University, and her bachelor's in journalism from Eastern Kentucky University.

Media contact: Eric Gorton, gortonej@jmu.edu