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Shana Kraynak

Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Writing
Shana Kraynak
Email kraynak@usc.edu

Biography

Shana Kraynak utilizes pedagogical kindness to cultivate confident, authentic student voices and to validate individual student skills, opinions, and experiences so that every student, no matter their interests or background, can thrive during their writing journey. Her teaching style is one that invites meaningful and engaged discussion, making each class feel like a community while also ensuring that each student recieves tailored feedback needed for success. Dr. Kraynak geniunely loves being in the classroom and her passion, enthusiasm, and bad jokes are known to be contagious. 

Her scholarly interests include rhetoric, pedagogy, comic books, graphic novels, film, philosophy, and cultural studies. Her personal interests include watching WWE and coaching her son’s Little League team. Both of these spaces are used in class as example for rhetorical analysis, as both spaces reflect larger cultural narratives and everyday argument. By bringing her personal interests into the classroom, she hopes to demonstrate the ways in which our lived experiences and interests can lead to exciting, meaningful, and unique arguments that students truly care about. 

 

Education

  • Ph.D. Literature & Criticism, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 5/2015
  • M.P.W. Creative Writing, USC, 5/2008
  • B.A. English, University of Pittsburgh, 4/2006

  • Conference Presentations

    • “Orientalism in the WWE: How the Exotic Portrayal of Japanese Wrestlers Upholds White Supremacy” , Southwest Popular/American Culture AssociationTalk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Albuquerque, NM, Spring 2026
    • “When Academic Research Collides with Real Life: Using Scholarly Personal Narratives to Better Understand the Self and the World at Large” , National Advanced Writing Symposium Talk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Spring 2026
    • “What Makes a Man?” Talk/Oral Presentation, City Theater Group, Invited, Los Angeles, CA, Spring 2019
    • “Reconstructing a Gendered New York Skyline: The Use of Hyper-Masculinity in Post-9/11 Superhero Comics.” , New York Metro American Studies AssociationTalk/Oral Presentation, Invited, New York, NY, Fall 2013
    • “Masculinization of the Great Machine: Reconstructing the Post-9/11 Superhero in Brian K. Vaughan’s Ex Machina.” , Midwest Popular and American Culture AssociationTalk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Columbus, OH, Fall 2012
    • “Unmanned: Deconstructing Post-9/11 Hypermasculinity in the Works of Brian K. Vaughan.” , Mid-Atlantic Popular American Culture AssociationTalk/Oral Presentation, Pittsburgh, PA, Fall 2012
    • “A Pre- and Post-9/11 Discussion of Fight Club and Gender.” , IUP Center for Film StudiesLecture/Seminar, Invited, Indiana, PA, Spring 2012
    • “Between Worlds: Post-9/11 Hyper-Masculinity and Conflict in the Social Space of Online Gaming.” , Indiana University of Pennsylvania Graduate Student Association ConferenceTalk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Indiana, PA, Spring 2012
    • “The Hyper-Commodified Simulacra of War: Post-9/11 Militarism in the Call of Duty Franchise.” , Mid-Atlantic Popular American Culture Association, Talk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Philadelphia, PA, Fall 2011
    • “Unmanned Utopia: Deconstructing Masculinity, Cultural Mythology, and Reproductive Futurism in Y: The Last Man.” , The Rocky Mountain Language Association, Scottsdale, AZ, Talk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Scottsdale, AZ, Fall 2011
    • “Gender Representation and Reconstruction in the Film Adaptation of Watchmen.” , Pippi to Ripley: Heroines of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Ithaca, NY, April 23, 2011. Talk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Ithaca, NY, Spring 2011
    • “Traumatic Exploitation: Manipulation of Patriotism in Country Music War Anthems.” , IUP English Department Colloquium Series: Media(ting) Traumas After 9/11Roundtable/Panel, Invited, Indiana, PA, Spring 2011
    • “Redefining Vengeance and Masculinity: The Supernatural and Spiritual in The Boondock Saints.” , Mid-Atlantic Popular American Culture AssociationTalk/Oral Presentation, Invited, Alexandria, VA, Fall 2010
    • “D’oh!: Using The Simpsons to Enhance Student Engagement and Understanding of Poe’s Technological Satires.” , American Literature AssociationTalk/Oral Presentation, Invited, San Francisco, CA, Spring 2010

  • Book Chapters

    • Kraynak, S. “The Danger that Keeps Knocking: Representations of Post-9/11 Masculinity in AMC’s Breaking Bad”. Representing 9/11 Washington DC: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.

    Journal Article

    • Kraynak, S. “Unmanned: Deconstructing Post-9/11 Hyper-Masculinity in the Works of Brian K. Vaughan.”. Works and Days2015
    • Outstanding Dissertation Award Nomination, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2014-2015
    • Outstanding Teaching Award, IUP English Graduate Department of Literature & Criticism, 2012-2013
    • Teaching Associate Award, IUP Center for Teaching Excellence, 2012-2013

  • Other Advisement or Time Devoted to Students

    • Faculty Advisor, 08/01/2022 –
    • Faculty Evaluation Committee, Fall 2024
    • Instructional Advisor, 2022-2023

  • Committees

    • Member, Assessment Committee, 08/01/2019 –
    • Member, Lower Division Assessment Committee, 08/01/2016 –
    • Member, Merit Review Committee, Fall 2025

    Other Service to the University

    • Fulbright Campus Committee Evaluation and Advisement, 08/01/2023 –
    • Undergraduate Writer’s Conference , 03/01/2018 –
    • Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work, 2024-2025
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