Inspires students to achieve their best.
Sigrid Streit serves as Associate Professor of English and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at the University of Detroit Mercy, where she has been since 2015. Prior to this appointment, she taught in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University and at Penn State University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in Rhetoric and Composition from Kent State University, along with a second M.A. from Dresden University of Technology in Germany. Streit's career trajectory reflects a commitment to advancing rhetorical education and interdisciplinary writing practices.
In her research, Streit examines the relationship of knowledge to embodied practices and explores teaching and learning in multimodal settings. Her current projects investigate how movement forms implicit arguments, particularly in complementary and alternative medicine contexts. A key publication is her co-authored book, Gilbert Austin's Chironomia Revisited: Sympathy, Science, and the Representation of Movement, published in 2020 by Southern Illinois University Press, which delves into historical rhetorical theories of gesture and delivery. Streit received the 2021 Faculty Achievement Award at the University of Detroit Mercy, acknowledging her excellence in teaching and scholarship. As Director of Writing Across the Curriculum, she collaborates with faculty across disciplines to integrate effective writing instruction and conducts practical workshops, including sessions on resume creation and refinement with the Writing Center. She has also engaged in professional conferences such as those of the Rhetoric Society of America, contributing to discussions on rhetorical activism, gesture, and pedagogical interventions. Through her work, Streit influences the field by bridging rhetorical theory with practical, embodied learning experiences, enhancing student and faculty capabilities in communication across academic domains.
