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Xiaoli Li

Associate Professor

Full-Time Faculty

College of Arts and Sciences: English

Contact

Email: Xiaoli Li
Phone: 937-229-3435
HM 211
Website: Visit Site

Degrees

  • Ph.D., Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design, Clemson University
  • MBA, University of Dayton
  • M.A., English (Scientific and Technical Communication), Bowling Green State University

Profile

Xiaoli Li was born in China and received her B.A. in English Language and Culture from Xi’an International Studies University in Xi’an, China (a city which is well-known for its terra-cotta warriors and horses museum). She later attended a graduate-certificate program at Johns-Hopkins University–Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China, before coming to the U.S. for graduate studies. 

In 2012, Dr. Li joined UD as an Assistant Professor of Professional and Technical Writing. Her research and teaching interests include international professional and technical communication; experiential learning and collaboration with community and industry. She is keen on promoting the development of technical communication in China as a profession and a discipline. She coordinated and conducted three technical writing teaching workshops in Xi’an and Suzhou, China, in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Dr. Li received tenure and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2018. Since many of her students come from UD’s School of Business Administration, she decided to pursue an MBA because it could give her the vocabulary to communicate with her students, making her an “insider," or someone who speaks “their language."  

Building on her experiences as an international graduate student, Dr. Li has been passionate in promoting international education. She hosts visiting scholars from China on research and technical communication program development. Since joining UD, she has taught three times at University of Dayton China Institute (UDCI) in Suzhou, China. She has twice led the Business in Germany and Central Europe and Business in London and Dublin study abroad programs, serving as a faculty member and program coordinator. During the winter intersessions of 2019 and 2020, she took students in her Professional and Technical Writing in Global Contexts class to China. Students visited three universities and 10 companies where they met with over 50 technical writers in China. Dr. Li also regularly teaches COILED (Collaborative Online International Learning) classes.  For example, her ENG 372 Business and Professional Writing class students participate in a Virtual Business Professional project with over 500 students in 100 teams and 19 professors from 16 universities in seven countries. A COILed class like this helps students develop their global skills and virtual intelligence, which are essential workplace skills in the post-COVID era.

Research interests

  • International professional and technical communication
  • Technical communication program development and administration
  • Experiential learning
  • Collaboration with community and industry
  • Client-based professional and technical writing and/or service learning
  • Document design and UX writing

Professional activities and affiliations

  • Chair, International Committee, Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication (CPTSC)
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, Association for Business Communication (ABC)
  • Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  • Society for Technical Communication (STC)
  • Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW)

Courses taught

  • ENG 627: Professional Writing and Editing
  • ENG 507: Technical Writing
  • ENG 475: Usability in Technical Writing
  • ENG 378: Professional and Technical Writing in Global Contexts
  • ENG 375: Writing for the Web
  • ENG 372: Business and Professional Writing
  • ENG 371: Technical Communication
  • ENG 370: Reports and Proposals
  • ENG 368: Introduction to Professional and Technical Writing
  • ENG 271-L: Technical Writing Lab (designed for international engineering students)
  • ENG 270: Reading and Writing in American Universities (designed for international students)
  • ENG 200: Research-based Writing Seminar (designed for second year students)
  • ENG 198: Honors Writing Seminar
  • ENG 100: First Year Writing Seminar

Selected publications

Logemann, M. et al. (2022). Standing strong amid a pandemic: A global team project stands up to a real-life test during a public health crisis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 53 (3), 577–592.

Tao, Y., Xie, M., Zhou, Q., & Li, X. (2020). 英语技术写作精要 Becoming a Technical Writer, (an English technical writing textbook designed for students in translation studies in China), Fudan University Press. 

Williams, S., Ammetller, G., Rodriguez Ardura, I., Li, X. (2020). Narratives of international entrepreneurship: An exploratory case study of identity negotiations in technology startups. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 63 (1), pp39–51. 

Li, X., Ding, H. (2017). Technical translation in China: Overview, practice, and resources. In Shei, C., Gao, Z. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of Chinese translation (pp 537–550). London: Routledge.

Selected presentations

Li, X., & Sun, H. “Designing a Trustworthy Live Commerce Experience: Opportunities for Content Designers & Technical Communicators”, the 2022 STC Summit, Chicago, May 15–18, 2022.

Hutter, L., Li, X., & Thomas, P. “Understanding Disciplinary Practices for Writing Assessment in Engineering”, the Writing Research Across Borders Virtual Conference. March 5–6, 2021.

Li, X., Dong, L., Gu, B., St Amant, K., & Gao, Z. Panel presentation “A Comparison of the State of Technical Communication Industry and the Landscape of Technical Communication Education in China and the US” at the tcworld 2021 China, Sept. 11, 2020 (online presentation).

Li, X., Howard, T., Tham, J., & Williams, S. "A Roundtable for Global Technical Communication Educators", the 2019 Annual CPTSC Conference, West Chester, Pa., Oct. 10–12, 2019.

Aritz, J., Cardon, P., Insignares, F., Li, X., Logemann, M., Roebuck, D. & Woolstenhulme, K., Palmer, S., Springer A. & Springer, S. Panel presentation “Teaching with VBP” at the International Conference of the Association for Business Communication.  Miami, Oct. 24-27, 2018.