Tamara Issak

Associate ProfessorDirector of Writing Across Communities
Ph.D. Syracuse University, Composition and Cultural RhetoricM.A. Rutgers University-Newark, English LiteratureB.A. William Paterson University, English; Secondary Education K-12 English; Humanities Honors Track

Tamara Issak is an Associate Professor of First-Year Writing in the Department of Core Studies and holds a joint appointment in the Department of English. She has served as Director of Writing Across Communities since 2022. Her research focuses on Islamophobic rhetoric, Muslim women’s rhetoric, and community engagement. Issak is the recipient of several fellowships including an American Association of University Women Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship to Syria. She was recognized by St. John’s University for her teaching and service as the recipient of the Faculty Excellence in Student Engagement Award.

 

Before starting at St. John’s, she taught at Syracuse University, Rutgers University-Newark, Concordia University-Chicago, Triton Community College, and DePaul University. Born and raised in New Jersey, she has been an active member of various community organizations in the New York/New Jersey area. In the past, she was a contributing radio producer and host of Tahrir: Voices of the Arab and Muslim Community which aired on Pacifica's WBAI 99.5 FM, and she was a co-producer of the disciplinary podcast, This Rhetorical Life

 

First-Year Writing courses taught:  

Literacy and Social Change  

Writing and Your Career  

Honors: Writing Your Past, Present, and Future 

Writing the Future 

 

Selected Publications

“Fulfilling Allah’s Trust: Rhetoric of Amannah as a Foundation for Social Change.” Literacies of/from the Pluriversal: Tools for Perseverance and Livable Futures. With Lana Oweidat. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023.  

 “Never Forget: Ground Zero, Park51, and Constitutive Rhetorics.” Constellations. Issue 3, 2020.  

 “How Does it Feel to be a Problem at the 9/11 Museum?” Writing Democracy: The Political Turn in and Beyond the Trump Era. Eds. Shannon Carter, Deborah Mutnick, Jess Pauszek, and Steve Parks. Routledge: 2019.  

“Thinking Collectively about Academic Labor.” With Ben Kuebrich, Karrieann Soto, Allison Hitt, and Jana Rosinski. Present Tense 3.2 (2014).  

 Co-Edited Collections  

The Best of the Independent Rhetoric and Composition Journals, 2014. Co-edited with Steve Parks, James Seitz, Jessica Pauszek, Heather Christiansen, and Brian Bailie. Parlor Press, 2016.  

  Revolution by Love: Emerging Arab Youth Voices. Co-edited with Lindsey Banister and Theresa Keicher. New City Community Press. 2012.  

 

Selected Presentations

“Graduate Writing Across the Curriculum.” Collaborative Project Participant. Watson Conference: University of Louisville, March 2024.

“Rebuilding Connections and Collaborations Across High School and College Writing Contexts. Collaborative Project Participant. Watson Conference: Virtual, March 2024.

“Literacy Narratives Across Borders.” University of Connecticut Conference on Writing: Storrs, CT, April 2024.

“New York City to Amman: Initiating Global Online Writing Exchanges.” Conference on College Composition and Communication: Chicago, IL, February 2023.

“Fulfilling Trust: Arab-Islamic Rhetorics of Amannah as a Foundation for Social Change.” With Lana Oweidat. Rhetoric Society of America: Baltimore, MD, May 2022.

“Arab/Muslim Standing Group Roundtable on Challenging Oppressive Systems.” Conference on College Composition and Communication: Chicago, IL, March 2022.

“Living the ‘Work’: Being Accountable to Communities Within and Beyond the Institution.” Roundtable Discussion. Conference on Community Writing: Philadelphia, PA, October 2019.

“Disrupting a Hegemonic Narrative of Tragedy: An Arab/Muslim Identity Performance in the 9/11 Memorial Museum.” Conference on College Composition and Communication: Pittsburgh, PA, March 2019.

“Organizing Muslim Women: The Affordances and Limitations of Interventions.” Cultural

Rhetorics Conference: Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, November 2018.

“Muslim Women Write Back.” Conference on College Composition and Communication: Kansas City, MO, March 2018.

“All Our Relations: Teaching Social Justice Movements.” Workshop Co-Presenter. Conference on College Composition and Communication: Kansas City, MO, March 2018.

“Learning Together: Gathering Resources and Building Critical Mass for Feminist Community Writing.” Seminar Co-Presenter. Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference: Dayton, OH, October 2017.

“Gitmo, The Muslim Male, and Torture: A Transnational Feminist Reading.” Conference on College Composition and Communication: Tampa, FL, March 2015.

“Narrations of the Arab Spring—Challenges in Community Engagement and Service Learning.” New Jersey College English Association Conference: Seton Hall University. South Orange, NJ, April 2014.

“Park51 and Transnational Feminism.” Feminist Workshop at the Conference on College

Composition and Communication: Indianapolis, IN, March 2014.