Executive Director in the Longhorn Center for Academic Equity (LCAE)
B.A., English, Wabash College
M.A., English, The University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D., Rhetoric, The University of Texas at Austin
Hometown: Spencer, Indiana
Dr. Eric Dieter is Executive Director in the Longhorn Center for Academic Equity (LCAE). He directs College-to-Career (C2C) Initiatives, and co-directs McNair Scholars. C2C programs include Explore Law, a partnership with Huston-Tillotson and Austin Community College, and Explore Business, a partnership with the University Co-op. He coordinates with partners across campus–including the University Writing Center, the Sanger Learning Center, and the University Libraries–to offer their support services to LCAE-affiliated students. He is also part of the LCAE’s assessment team.
Previously, he was Executive Director of Dual Enrollment Initiatives in the Longhorn Center for School Partnerships. Before that he was Program Coordinator and Curriculum Developer for the Students Partnering for Undergraduate Rhetoric Success (SPURS) dual enrollment program.
He has teaching appointments in the Department of Rhetoric and Writing and the College of Education. His courses include E 360R: Literary Studies for High School Teachers of English and RHE 330E: Rhetoric and Politics of the 1960s, along with several versions of RHE 306 and RHE 309K, covering a range of topics from Rhetoric in Adaptation, to Rhetoric and Politics on the Silver Screen, to Keepin’ in Weird: Rhetoric and the City of Austin. He is a former Assistant Director of the Department of Rhetoric and Writing.
In addition to his experience with higher education administration, institutional assessment, and co-curricular academic student support, his research is interested in how people talk about their character in a variety of public spheres, popular, political, and pedagogical. His dissertation, Enduring Character: The Problem with Authenticity and the Persistence of Ethos looked at the tangled relationship between authenticity and ethos, or what is taken as the distinction between intrinsic and constructed character.
He is a first-generation college student, and supports current first-generation students. He has lived in Austin since 2001. He can be reached via email ericdieter@austin.utexas.edu and LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/ericdieter.
