I’m Dr. Ryan Eichberger. I teach and research medianatures, or the intersection of electronic media and environment. What interest me is how we can make the world more livable, usable, and accessible.
I ask questions like:
- How can we use media to tell necessary environmental stories more effectively?
- How do contemporary digital media and technoliteracies fit into longer, older traditions of human making and materials?
- How can we be good ancestors and stewards of our more-than-human world?
- How can we make climate action joyful and collective, not overwhelming and isolating?
As a rhetorician, I’m also always thinking about how I can make the teaching of writing more effective, pleasurable, and accessible. So, I also research how documents like syllabi can be made more people-friendly, such as for neurodiverse folks. As an autistic guy, I’m doing the work I wish had been available to me when I was an undergrad.
I’m also a baker, birder, and photographer. A lifelong Great Lakesian, I earned my B.A. and M.A. from Northern Illinois University (Journalism and English; Literature and Rhetoric & Composition); and my Ph.D from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (Rhetoric and Scientific and Technical Communication with specialization in the Environmental Humanities). I’m always happy to chat at eichbe1@stolaf.edu.
Ryan Eichberger 