Christyne Berzsenyi

Christyne Berzsenyi
Program Coordinator, Multidisciplinary Studies
Professor, English
Hayfield House, 216
Penn State Wilkes-Barre
44 University Drive
Dallas, PA 18612
W 1-4, T/R 8:45-9:15, 12:05-12:30, 1-1:30, apt

Christyne Berzsenyi, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English, teaching Techno-Rhetoric and Professional Writing as well as genre-based literature and cultural studies at Penn State Wilkes-Barre since 1998. Currently she is the program coordinator for the Multidisciplinary Studies program.

Dr. Berzsenyi’s research utilizes rhetorical discourse analysis and theorizing of media rhetoric, pop culture, and computer-mediated communication texts in e-dating, film/video promotions, constructing interlocutor relationships online, and writing pedagogy.

Current research essay projects include the following:

  • Ways in which the Columbo Method has been adopted for workplace communication by healthcare, sales, ministry, and teaching professionals
  • Illustration of the strong influence of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment on Columbo
  • Testimonies of women mega church leaders that enable their leadership in contemporary Evangelical ministries
  • God’s judgment and wrath and the devil’s welcome to eternal residence in hell as recruitment strategies expressed in Evangelical signage
  • The rhetorical functions of horror anthology and film “talkers” who host and promote their work; realistic superhero powers and spectatorship in Limitless.
  • Critical communication educational game development

Based on a previous publication, Dr. Berzsenyi has been asked to write a bibliographic essay on the scholarship about The Golden Girls for the Oxford University Bibliographies. She recently took a sabbatical leave from teaching to complete scholarly projects and present her research.

Columbo: A Rhetoric of Inquiry with Resistant Responders. Typesetting by University of Chicago/Intellect Books, Ltd. 2019.

“The Columbo Method—A Rhetoric of Inquiry Practiced Across Professions,” Journal of Professional Communication. Vol. 6, No. 2. Fall 2020.

“Writing to Meet Your Match: Rhetoric and Self-Presentation for Four Online Daters,” Innovative Methods and Technologies for Electronic Discourse Analysis. August, 2013.

“Inviting ‘Millennials’ to Be Voices for Social Justice in Their Creative Writings,” College English Association Forum. July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2011.

The Golden Girls share signature stories: Narratives of aging, identity, and communal desire,” Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, 1900 to Present. 2010.

“ ‘We’re Just Kidding’: Sexual Obscenities in Classroom Chat and Teaching about Audience,” The Writing Instructor. 2004.

“Evil, Deadly, Beautiful: Drive-in Horror’s Monstrous Women!” 2003.

“Comments to comments: Teachers and students in written dialogue about critical revision,” Composition Studies. 2001.

“Teaching interlocutor relationships in electronic classrooms,” Computers and Composition. 1999.