Biography
Michael Ristich, PhD is a Specialist-Teacher in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures at Michigan State University and serves as Director of the Citizen Scholars Program in the College of Arts and Letters. His teaching and programmatic work focuses on rhetoric, leadership, civic engagement, and the ethical implications of emerging technologies. He is particularly interested in how rhetoric shapes democratic participation, institutional trust, and innovation. Through his teaching and leadership of the Citizen Scholars Program, he helps students connect academic learning with meaningful public and professional engagement.
Works
with Imari Tetu, Casey McArdle, and Liza Potts. “Artificial Intelligence and Rhetoric: Investigating Contextual Influence on Technological Design.” In Proceedings of the 42nd ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. Association for Computing Machinery, 2026.
with Bill Hart-Davidson, Casey McArdle, and Liza Potts. “The History of Technical Communication and the Future of Generative AI.” In Proceedings of the 42nd ACM International Conference on Design of Communication. Association for Computing Machinery, 2024.
with Bill Hart-Davidson, Casey McArdle, and Liza Potts. “Revisiting Four Conversations in Technical and Professional Writing Scholarship To Frame Conversations About AI.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 2024.
with Casey McArdle and Jackie Rhodes. “Assessing the Limits of Program Strategy: ‘Archi-Strategy’ in an Age of Disruption.” Programmatic Perspectives 12.1, 2021.
“J. Henri Burch,” “Frazier Augustus Burch,” “F.C. Antoine,” and “Robert I. Cromwell” entries in African American National Biography. Ed. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Evelyn Brooks Higgenbotham. New York: Oxford UP, 2008.
College of Arts & Letters News
- From AI to Urban Trees: College of Arts & Letters Faculty and Students Lead Ethics Week Events Inviting MSU...
College of Arts & Letters
February 16, 2026This week, Feb. 16-20, 2026, Michigan State University celebrates Ethics Week, a week-long series of events designed to engage students, faculty, staff, and the community in meaningful discussions about ethics and to encourage campus-wide engagement with contemporary moral […] Read Now →
- College of Arts & Letters Students Earn First-Place Awards at UURAF
College of Arts & Letters
April 23, 2025Nine MSU students whose primary majors are in the College of Art & Letters received first-place awards for their research and creative scholarship presented at Michigan State University’s 27th Annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF). The 2025 UURAF, […] Read Now →
- Michael Ristich Appointed Director of the Citizen Scholars Program
College of Arts & Letters
March 22, 2024Michael Ristich, Academic Specialist in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures, was appointed Director of the Citizen Scholars Program, effective Jan. 1, 2024. The Citizen Scholars Program, which is open to first- and second-year students with a major in the College […] Read Now →
- First-Year Writing Program Receives National Certificate of Excellence
College of Arts & Letters
March 30, 2023Michigan State University’s First-Year Writing (FYW) Program has been recognized as a national model of excellence by the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), the largest and most influential national organization in the field of composition and […] Read Now →
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