Kristin Arola
- arola@msu.edu
- Bessey 288 / Owen 103W
- Karen L. Gillmor Endowed Professor of Professional Writing || Director American Indian & Indigenous Studies
- Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures
Biography
Kristin Arola is the Gillmor Endowed Professor of Professional and Public Writing, as well as the Director of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, at Michigan State University. Hailing from the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, she is a proud Finndian who actively engages with her Ojibwe and Finnish-American heritage. Through her tribally enrolled mother, she is a first-generation descendant of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians. Her research and teaching are rooted in Ojibwe community practices, histories, and futures. Specifically, she looks to how indigenous knowledge systems can help re-imagine decision making and research practices. Her work pays particular attention to the role that writing plays in problem solving, particularly as it pertains to environmental issues. To do this work, she brings together composition theory, rhetorical ecologies, and cultural rhetoric.
Research Areas: Cultural Rhetorics, American Indian Studies, Environmental Rhetoric, Composition Studies, Professional Writing, Technical Writing.
Education: PhD., Michigan Technological University, 2006 || B.A., University of Michigan, 1998
Research and Academic Affiliations: Affiliate Faculty, American Indian & Indigenous Studies Program || Affiliate Faculty, Digital Humanities Program
Works
Selected Publications
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Gonzalez, Guadalupe and Kristin L. Arola “Water Walks, Indigenous Feminism, and the Persuasive Power of Anishinabekweg.” In The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminist Rhetoric. Edited by Suban Nur Cooley and Jacqueline Rhodes. Routledge, 2025.
- Arola, Kristin L. and Victor Villanueva. CrossTalk in Comp Theory. 4th Edition. National Council of Teachers of English. 2024.
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Schelly, Chelsea, Val Gagnon, Kathleen Brosemer and Kristin Arola. “Engagement for Life’s Sake: Reflections on Partnering and Partnership with Rural Tribal Nations.” Rural Sociology, Jan. 2024.
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Collins, Jason, Kristin Arola and Marika Seigel. “Land-People Ecologies.” In Rhetorical Ecologies. Edited by Sid Dobrin and Madison Jones. NCTE/CCCC Press, 2024.
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Arola, Kristin and Thomas Rickert. “Rhetorical New Materialism: Conversations toward a Future New Materialism across Boundaries.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 2, Mar. 2022, pp. 190-198.
- Ball, Cheryl E., Jennifer Sheppard, and Kristin L. Arola. Writer/Designer: Making Multimodal Projects, 3rd Edition. Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2022.
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Schelly, Chelsea, Valoree Gagnon, Kristin L. Arola, Andrew Fiss, Marie Schaefer, Kathleen E. Halvorsen. “Cultural Imaginaries or Incommensurable Ontologies? Relationality and Sovereignty as Worldviews in Socio-Technological System Transitions.” Energy Research and Social Science, vol. 80, 2021, pp. 1-7.
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Schelly, Chelsea, Douglas Bessette, Kathleen Brosemer, Valoree Gagnon, Kristin L. Arola, Andrew Fiss, Joshua M. Pearce, Kathleen E. Halvorsen. “Energy Policy for Energy Sovereignty: Can Policy Tools Enhance Energy Sovereignty?” Solar Energy, vol. 205, 2020, pp. 109-112.
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Sackey, Donnie Johnson, Casey Boyle, Mai Nou Xiong, Gabriela Raquel Ríos, Kristin L. Arola, Scot Barnett. “Perspectives on Cultural and Posthumanist Rhetorics.” Rhetoric Review, vol. 38, no. 4, 2019, pp. 375-401.
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Arola, Kristin L. “A Land-Based Digital Design Rhetoric.” Routledge Companion to Digital Writing & Rhetoric, edited by Jonathan Alexander and Jacqueline Rhodes, Routledge, 2018, pp. 199-213.
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Arola, Kristin L. “Composing as Culturing: An American Indian Approach to Digital Ethics.” Handbook of Writing, Literacies, and Education in Digital Cultures, edited by Kathy Mills, Amy Stornaiuolo, Anna Smith & Jessica Zacher Pandya, Routledge, 2018, pp. 275-284.
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Arola, Kristin L. and Adam C. Arola “An Ethics of Assemblage: Creative Repetition and the Electric Pow Wow.” Assembling Composition, edited by Kathleen Blake Yancey and Stephen J. McElroy, National Council of Teachers of English, 2017, pp. 204-221.
College of Arts & Letters News
- Kristin Arola Named Director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies ProgramCollege of Arts & Letters
November 6, 2024Kristin Arola has been named Director of American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) at Michigan State University after serving as its Interim Director since Fall 2022. A first-generation descendant of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of the Lake Superior Band of Chippewa […] Read Now →
- Gordon Henry’s Legacy and Career Celebrated with Indigenous Literature and SongCollege of Arts & Letters
November 29, 2023Gordon Henry, Professor in the Department of English and the inaugural Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in North American Indian and Indigenous Literary Studies, will retire from Michigan State University on December 31, 2023, after more than 29 years of service to the […] Read Now →
- Inaugural Endowed Professor Teaches How to Connect Writing With CultureCollege of Arts & Letters
November 15, 2022As the inaugural Karen L. Gillmor Ph.D. Endowed Professor in Professional and Public Writing at Michigan State University, Kristin Arola, an innovative scholar and researcher, is not only teaching students persuasive and effective writing skills she also is showing them how to […] Read Now →
- College of Arts & Letters Faculty Honored at 2022 InvestitureCollege of Arts & Letters
September 29, 2022The Michigan State University community gathered at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts on Sept. 14 for the investiture of the 2022 class of endowed chairs, endowed professors, and MSU Foundation professors. The ceremony was a celebration of their accomplishments and a […] Read Now →
- MSU Awarded Grant to Study Renewable Energy Adoption in MichiganCollege of Arts & Letters
November 19, 2019Michigan State University was awarded close to $1 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a five-year study of renewable energy options using a cross-disciplinary research approach in eight Michigan communities, including two Native American communities. The […] Read Now →
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