Summary
Kristin Marie Bivens is an associate professor of English and Director of the Core Writing Program at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Her primary field of research is the rhetoric of health and medicine; her secondary field of research involves qualitative research methodologies and research design. Generally, her research examines the circulation of information (writing/communication) between experts and non-experts in critical care contexts, such as sudden cardiac arrest, opioid overdose, and intensive care units, and in clinical research, such as patient and public involvement.
Her most recent book, "A History of Rhetoric, Sound, and Health and Healing" (Routledge, 2024), was published open access through generous funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation. In it, she proposes medico-sonic knowledge as a blend of different kinds of listening, along with a novel research concept for field studies: sound in all research (SiAR), and theorizes how sound disciplines bodies in health, healing, and hospital contexts.
Her latest book project, "Patient and Public Involvement in Clinical Research: Implementation and Practice" (CRC Press, forthcoming), provides practical guidance on how clinical researchers can implement patient and public involvement (PPI) in clinical research and promote PPI contributors as active partners in healthcare.
Research interests
- Rhetoric of health and medicine and health technologies
- Sonic rhetoric
- Qualitative research methodologies: field studies and grounded theory
- Scientific writing/writing in the sciences
Selected publications
Monographs
- Kristin Marie Bivens. (2024). A History of Rhetoric, Sound, and Health and Healing. Routledge.
Edited collections
- Kristin Marie Bivens, Amélie Guyon, David Schwappach, and Eva Segelov, eds. (CRC Press; under advanced contract). Patient and Public Involvement in Clinical Research: Implementation and Practice.
Peer-reviewed articles
- Candice A. Welhausen and Kristin Marie Bivens. (2022) “Civilian First Responder MHealth apps, Interface Rhetoric, and Amplified Precarity.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, 5(1), 11–37.
- Kristin Marie Bivens and Candice A. Welhausen. (2022) “Using a Hybrid Card Sorting-Affinity Diagramming Method to Teach Content Analysis: An Experience Report.” Communication Design Quarterly, 9(3), 4–13.
- Candice A. Welhausen and Kristin Marie Bivens. (2021) “mHealth Apps and Usability: Using User-Generated Content to Explore Users’ Experiences with a Civilian First Responder App.” Technical Communication, 68(3), 97–112.
- Kristin Marie Bivens and Candice A. Welhausen. (2020). “Pivoting Toward Rhetorical Ethics by Sharing and Using Existing Data to Reduce Data Waste: An Ethical Research Practice for the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, 3(4), 483–493.
- Kristin Marie Bivens, Kirsti Cole, and Leah Heilig. (2020). “The Activist Syllabus as Technical Communication and the Technical Communicator as Curator of Public Intellectualism.” Technical Communication Quarterly, 29(1), 70–89.
- Christa Teston, Laura Gonzales, Kristin Marie Bivens, and Kelly Whitney. (2019) “Surveying Precarious Publics.” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, 2(3), 321–351.
- Kristin Marie Bivens. (2019). “Constructing a Cultural Logic from a Swedish Context.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 49(4). 411–432.
- Kristin Marie Bivens. (2019). “Rhetorical Ventriloquism, Earwitnessing, and Soundscapes in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).” Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, 2(1), 1–32.
- Kristin Marie Bivens. (2019) “Reducing Harm by Designing Discourse and Digital Tools for Opioid Users’ Contexts: The Chicago Recovery Alliance’s Community-Based Context of Use and PwrdBy’s Technology-Based Context of Use.” Communication Design Quarterly, 7(2), 17–27.
- Kristin Marie Bivens and Kelli Cargile Cook. (2018). “Coordinating Distributed Memory: An Environmental Engineer’s Proposal Writing Process Using a Product Calculator.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 32(3), 205–307.
- Kristin Marie Bivens and Kirsti Cole. (2018) “The Grotesque Protest in Social Media as Embodied, Political Rhetoric.” Journal of Communication Inquiry, 42(1), 5–25.
- Kristin Marie Bivens, Lora Arduser, Candice A. Welhausen, and Michael J. Faris. (2018). “A Multisensory Literacy Approach to Biomedical Healthcare Technologies: Aural, Tactile, and Visual Layered Health Literacies.” Kairos, 22(1).
- Carie S. Tucker King, Kristin Marie Bivens, Erin Pumroy, Susan Rauch, and Amy Koerber. (2018). “IRB Problems and Solutions in Health Communication Research.” Health Communication. 33(7), 907–916.
Book chapters
- Maria Freddi, Kristin Marie Bivens, Eva Sophie Lunde Pedersen (2025). Finding pedagogical value by rhetorically analyzing scientific article introductions. In O. Dontcheva-Navrátilová and R. Povolna (Eds.), Analytical Perspectives on Text Analysis: Beyond the Surface of the Text. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Kristin Marie Bivens, Kirsti Cole, and Amy Koerber. (2019). Activism by accuracy: Women’s health and hormonal birth control. In J. White-Farnham, B.S. Finer, & C. Molloy (Eds.), Women’s Health Advocacy: Rhetorical Ingenuity for the 21st century. Routledge.
- Kristin Marie Bivens. (2018). “Rhetorically Listening for Microwithdrawals of Consent in Research Practice'' in L. Melonçon and J.B. Scott, (eds). Methodologies for the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine. Routledge.
Other publications
- Kristin Marie Bivens, Amélie Guyon, Valerie Behan, and Eva Segelov. (2025) “An Approach to Implementing Patient and Public Involvement in Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trials.” Swiss Medical Weekly. 155(6), 4563.
- Kristin Marie Bivens and Candice A. Welhausen. (2023). “Improving Usability in Smartphone Apps.” Intercom.
- Kristin Marie Bivens and Marie Moeller (2020). “Make COVID-19 Visuals Gross” in BMJ MH Blog.
Courses taught
- ENG 737: Teaching College Composition
Education
- Ph.D., Technical Communication and Rhetoric, Texas Tech University, 2015
Professional certifications
- Certificate, Medical Writing and Editing, University of Chicago, 2021