Professor of Technical & Professional Communication ·
East Carolina University
Michelle F. Eble
I study how communication is designed: what it asks people to notice, whom it serves, and whom it leaves out. That question runs through my research, my teaching, and the leadership work I do at ECU.
Current leadership
Where I lead at ECU
Graduate education
PhD Program Coordinator
I coordinate ECU’s PhD in Rhetoric, Writing, and Professional Communication, supporting doctoral students from admission through the dissertation and building a program where mentoring is part of the design.
Research ethics
Chair, Behavioral & Social Sciences IRB
Since 2012 I have chaired ECU’s Behavioral and Social Sciences Institutional Review Board, helping researchers across disciplines design studies that protect participants as digital and AI-assisted methods change what research looks like.
Faculty development
Faculty Fellow, Office for Faculty Excellence
As a Faculty Fellow and a member of ECU’s AI Strategy Taskforce, I help colleagues across campus rethink teaching and assessment for generative AI, with AI literacy built into how we teach.
New · Second edition · Routledge, 2026
Primary Research and Writing: People, Places, and Spaces
Our textbook teaches the writing process through archival and primary research through curiosity and community engagement: interviews, fieldwork, observation, and the archive itself. The second edition adds new readings and student examples, expanded “Profile of a Primary Researcher” and “Communities in Context” sections, guidance on using generative AI in research, and multimodal ways to share what students find.
Also in progress
Current projects
AI literacy
Navigating AI & Charting a Path
Two AI literacy courses in development at ECU, built around the practices and expectations for grounded in rhetorical situation theory.
Career readiness
MLA Pathways Grant
Co-PI with Erin Clark on career-readiness work for ECU’s online BS in Professional Writing and Information Design, connecting humanities and rhetorical training to workplace-technology careers in Eastern North Carolina.
Community Engagement
Technical Rhetorics Innovation Lab
More information coming soon.
Connect
Find my full profile
My complete bio, publications, and current CV are on my ECU faculty page. For professional updates, or to talk about a collaboration, find me on LinkedIn.
Department of English · East Carolina University · Greenville, North Carolina