Denise Troutman

Dr. Denise Troutman is an Associate Professor in the department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures and the department of Linguistics and a former faculty-affiliate with the African American and African Studies (AAAS) Program. She is the winner of a 2001-2002 Fulbright Award and a 2003-2004 Postdoctoral Fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation and a 2009-2010 Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP) Award.  From 2004-2007, Dr. Troutman served as Diversity Coordinator for the College of Arts and Letters.

More recently, Troutman received a 2018-2019 Senior Fulbright Award to South Africa, working with North-West University (NWU). She served as the President (2023-2025) and Vice President (2021-2023) for the International Gender and Language Association (IGALA) and serves on the editorial boards for Gender and Language, Women & Language, Linguistics and Education, and Focus on (Im)politeness. Currently, Troutman is working on interrogations of politeness/impoliteness within the African American speech community, which she has presented in special lectures and conferences and which is the focus for a  current book manuscript.

Research Areas: Sociolinguistics; Women and language; Ebonics; African American Women and Linguistic Practices; (Im)politeness.

EducationPh.D., Michigan State University; M.A., Colorado State University; B.A., Bethune-Cookman University.

Research or Academic Affiliations: International Gender & Language Association (IGALA); Language Policy Committee, Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC); New Ways of Analyzing Variation (NWAV).