Identity and Leadership in Virtual Communities

Dona J. Hickey is Professor of English at the University of Richmond. She teaches courses in rhetoric and composition and in modern and contemporary American literature. A native of Wisconsin, she earned her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is the author of <em>Developing a Written Voice</em> (1993) and <em>Figures of Thought for College Writers</em> (1999) and co-editor (with Donna Reiss) of <em>Learning Literature in an Era of Change: Innovations in Teaching</em> (2000). Dona's articles have appeared in a variety of chapbooks, journals and collections, both in print and online. She created the WAC program at the University of Richmond in 1992 and served as senior associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, 2003-2011. Outside of the academy, she enjoys spending time with her granddaughter, Olivia and riding their spoiled rotten Arabian pony, Ryder at Four Seasons Horse Center in Chester, VA. Joe Essid directs the Writing Center at the University of Richmond, where he teaches courses in writing pedagogy, literature and cyberculture. He is a Richmond native who did his undergraduate work at the University of Virginia, then earned a Master's and Ph.D. at Indiana University. His research interests include technology in the writing-intensive classroom, virtual worlds and their development and the history of technology. His academic writing has appeared in <em>Computers and Humanities</em>, <em>The Writing Lab Newsletter</em> and anthologies about technology and writing. He freelances as a science-fiction writer, with recent work in the anthology <em>Catastrophia</em> and forthcoming in <em>Hagerty Magazine</em>. He writes op-ed pieces about energy, localism, homesteading, transportation and education for <em>Style Weekly</em>, <em>Eighty One</em>, and <em>RVA</em>. When not being an academic, he can be found keeping bees and learning the trade of an organic farmer.