Dr. Kara Poe Alexander

Dr. Alexander has served as Director of the University Writing Center since May 2017 and Managing Director of the Center for Writing Excellence since 2025. Dr. Alexander joined the faculty at Baylor in 2006 after finishing a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Louisville. She is currently Professor of English in the Professional Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) Program in the English Department. Her research examines the ways that people use writing to form identity, effect change, and negotiate and fulfill the complex task of writing. She has published one co-edited book, Multimodal Composing and Writing Transfer (Utah State UP, 2023), one co-edited book forthcoming, Multimodal Transfer Pedagogy, and numerous articles in journals and edited collections.

Since joining the Baylor faculty, Dr. Alexander has taught a range of courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including literacy studies, argumentative and persuasive writing, new media writing and rhetoric, technical writing, professional and workplace writing, tutoring writing, and creative nonfiction. She served as Coordinator of the PWR major from 2013-2017 and a Baylor Fellow for the Academy of Teaching and Learning from 2014-2015. She also served as the resident director of the Baylor in Maastricht Study Abroad Program in Summer 2017 and Summer 2023. 

Since Dr. Alexander became director, some of the changes she facilitated include hiring the first cohort of undergraduate consultants (2018-2019), implementing online video conferences and Written Feedback tutorials (2018), moving the UWC to Moody Library (Spring 2019), and expanding the UWC's social media presence (2018). She also initiated proposals that resulted in the hiring of both an assistant director (2020) and a coordinator (2022) of the UWC. Along with Dr. Becca Cassady, she worked to merge the University Writing Center and Graduate Writing Center to form the Center for Writing Excellence (opened in Fall 2025). Dr. Alexander attended the 2019 IWCA Summer Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and is an active member of IWCA (International Writing Centers Association) and SCWCA (South Central Writing Centers Association). She is currently serving as IWCA Representative for SCWCA (2025-2028). 

Dr. Alexander is married to Shane, and they have three children: Elizabeth, Peyton, and Levi. Dr. Alexander enjoys traveling, reading, attending her kids' events, taking her dogs on walks, riding the Peloton, and watching Astros baseball.