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Sarah Orem

Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Writing
Sarah Orem
Pronouns She / Her / Hers Email sorem@usc.edu

Biography

Sarah Orem is an Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Writing at the University of Southern California. Before joining the faculty at USC, she received her PhD in English from the University of Texas at Austin in 2015 and held postdoctoral fellowships at Smith College and the University of California, Irvine. She has published essays in Signs: A Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Modern Drama, and the Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. Orem’s essay “Weepy Rhetoric,” published in enculturation, was chosen for inclusion in the Best of the Journals in Rhetoric and Composition in 2017. Her current book project, Shut-In Publics, recuperates the pathologized figure of the shut-in as a key performer of feminist, disability, and healthcare activism. 

Education

  • Ph.D. English, University of Texas at Austin, 8/2015
  • M.A. Performance Studies, New York University, 2008
  • B.A. English, Rice University, 2007
    • Andrew W. Mellon/Sawyer Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities, University of California, Irvine, 08/2019 – 07/2020
    • McPherson-Eveillard Postdoctoral Fellow in American Studies, Smith College, 01/2016 – 07/2019

  • PostDoctoral Appointments

    • Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities, University of California, Irvine, 07/2019 – 07/2020
    • McPherson-Eveillard Postdoctoral Fellow in American Studies, Smith College, 01/2016 – 06/2019

  • Journal Article

    • Orem, S. (2021). Tangles of Resentment. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. Vol. 46 (4), pp. 963-985.
    • Orem, S. (2017). Un/Necessary Procedures: Black Women, Disability, and Work in Grey’s Anatomy. African American Review. Vol. 50 (2), pp. 169-183.
    • Orem, S. (2017). Signifyin(g) When Vexed: Black Feminist Revision, Anger, and A Raisin in the Sun. Modern Drama. Vol. 60 (2), pp. 189-211.
    • Orem, S., Simpkins, N. F. (2016). Weepy Rhetoric: Trigger Warnings and the Work of Making Mental Illness Visible in the Writing Classroom. enculturation: A Journal of Rhetoric, Writing, and Culture. Vol. 20
    • Orem, S. (2015). Body Arts: OCD’s Perceptual Challenges and Tehching Hsieh’s Time Clock Piece. The Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. Vol. 9 (1), pp. 53-69.

  • Committees

    • Member, MLA Medical Humanities and Health Studies Forum, 08/2022 –

    Editorships and Editorial Boards

    • Editorial Board, Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, 2015 –
    • Managing Editor, Praxis: A Writing Center Journal, 2013 – 2015
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