Appointments
Director, MSE/ESM Engineering Communication and Professional Development Program
Co-Director, Virginia Tech Engineering Communication Center (VTECC)
Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Education
Research Interests
Communication in engineering education and practice; design communication; interdisciplinary collaboration; teaching, learning, and assessing the ABET professional skills
Current Courses - Spring 2012
MSE 4085-86: Senior Design - Wednesday, 4-5:15 p.m., Holden 110
ESM 4015-16: Creative Design - Tues./Thurs. 3:30-4:45 pm, McB 126
EngE 5704: Seminar - Fri., 10:30-Noon
Recent Publications
Jones, B. D., Paretti, M. C., Hein, S. F., & Knott, T. W. (2010). An analysis of motivation constructs with first-year engineering students: Relationships among expectancies, values, achievement, and career plans. Journal of Engineering Education, 99(4), 319-336.
McNair, L. D. and M. C. Paretti (2010). Activity Theory, Speech Acts, and the ‘Doctrine of Infelicity’: Connecting Language and Technology in Globally Networked Learning Environments. Journal of Business and Technical Communication. 24(3): 323-357
Paretti, M. C., D. M. Richter, and L. D. McNair (2010). Sustaining Interdisciplinary Projects in Green Engineering: Teaching to Support Distributed Work. International Journal of Engineering Education. 26(2): 462-469.
Williams, C. B., L. D. McNair, E. D. Crede, M. C. Paretti and J. P. Terpenny (2010). Designing Hands-On Teaming Activities for Courses with Large Enrollments. International Journal of Engineering Education. 26(2): 408-417.
McNair, L. D., M. C. Paretti, and M. Davitt (2010). Towards a Pedagogy of Relational Space and Trust: Analyzing Distributed Collaboration Using Discourse and Speech Act Analysis. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. 53(3): 233-248.
Paretti, M. C. and K. Powell, Eds. (2009). Assessing Writing. Tallahassee, FL: Association of Institutional Research.
Paretti, M. C. (2009). When the Teacher is the Audience: Assignment Design and Assessment in the Absence of ‘Real’ Readers. In B. Fehler, E. Weiser, and A. Gonzalez, Eds., Teaching Audience: Theory and Practice. Urbana, IL: NCTE Press.
Paretti, M. C., L. D. McNair, K. Belanger, and D. George (2009). Reformist Possibilities? Exploring Cross-Campus Writing Partnerships. WPA: Writing Program Administration. 33(1-2): 74-113.
Richter, D. M. and M. C. Paretti (2009). Identifying Barriers to and Outcomes for Interdisciplinarity in the Engineering Classroom. European Journal of Engineering Education 34(1): 29-45.
Paretti, M. C., and L. D. McNair (2008). Communicating on Global Virtual Teams: Managing Complex Activity Systems. In P. Zemliansky & K. St. Amant, Eds., Handbook of Research on Virtual Workplaces and the New Nature of Business Practices. Hershey, PA: Idea Group. 24-38.
Paretti, M. C., McNair, L. D., & Holloway-Attaway, L. (2007). Teaching Technical Communication in an Era of Distributed Work: A Case Study of Collaboration Between U.S. and Swedish Students. Technical Communication Quarterly, 16(3).
Paretti, M. C. (2006). Audience Awareness: Leveraging Problem-Based Learning to Teach Workplace Communication Practice. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 49(6), 189-198.
McNair, L.D., M. C. Paretti, and A. Kakar. (2007) Case Study of Prior Knowledge: Expectations and Identity Constructions in Interdisciplinary, Cross-cultural Virtual Collaboration. Mudd Design Workshop. Claremont, CA. May 23-25.
Paretti, M. C., McNair, L. D., & Burgoyne, C. B. (2006). Work in Progress: Pedagogies for Developing Cross-Cultural Communication Competencies in an Era of Virtual Collaboration. ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, San Diego, CA. October 28-31.
McNair, L. D., Paretti, M. C., Knott, M., & Wolfe, M. L. (2006). Work in Progress: Using e-Portfolio to Define, Teach, and Assess ABET Professional Skills. ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, San Diego, CA. October 28-31.
Education
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin - Madison (English), 1997
M.A., Virginia Tech (English), 1990
B.S. Virginia Tech (Chemical Engineering), 1986