Rate My Professor Diana Ashe

Diana Ashe is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where she has been a faculty member since 2000. She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. from Texas A&M University, a Certificate from the Rice University Publishing Program, and a B.A. from Southwestern University. Throughout her career at UNCW, Ashe has distinguished herself as a pedagogical leader both on campus and nationally. She has taught over 30 undergraduate and graduate courses, many of which she designed herself, consistently receiving strong teaching evaluations. From 2016 to 2022, she served as Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, and from 2016 to 2023 as Director of the Center for Faculty Leadership. In these roles, she developed innovative faculty programming, including the Course Design Institute, Transparency Camp, workshops following Hurricane Florence, and Modality Meet-ups during the pandemic. Ashe currently serves as Vice President of the Faculty Senate for 2025-2026. Her contributions to teaching excellence have been recognized with the 2026 UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award, the Board of Trustees Teaching Excellence Award, and the Distinguished Teaching Professorship Award.

Ashe’s research specializations include technical and business writing and publishing, classical and modern rhetorical theory, writing program administration, assessment, first-year and advanced composition, critical theory, environmental writing, and literary non-fiction. Notable publications include “The Space between Text and Action: Redefining Nature Writing through the Work of Rick Bass and John McPhee,” forthcoming in a collection edited by Alan Weltzien (University of Utah Press), and the Instructor’s Manual with Tests and Transparency Masters for Information in Action: A Guide to Technical Communication (Allyn & Bacon, 1996). She has presented at conferences such as the Conference on College Composition and Communication. Ashe extends her impact through interdisciplinary initiatives, such as having her digital composing students create electronic portfolios for ceramics students and developing grant writing seminars for STEM doctoral students targeting NSF and NIH fellowships. Her work fosters trust, transparency, and joy in the classroom, significantly influencing teaching practices at UNCW and beyond.