Writing Center Staff

Daniel M. Gross Professor, English
Campus Writing & Communication Coordinator
Director, Center for Excellence in Writing & Communication
PhD, Rhetoric, University of California, Berkeley, 1998

Daniel M. Gross is Professor of English and Affiliate Faculty in the Critical Theory Emphasis. His research in rhetoric runs along three tracks: writing and communication, history of the disciplines, and medical humanities. When it comes to writing and communication, Professor Gross has been deeply influenced by his time at the University of Iowa, where he worked with a large Communication Studies department typical of public universities in the Midwest, and where writing and speaking pedagogies are deeply integrated. His publications in writing and communication include an interview in Composition Forum on “The Passions of Rhetoric and Composition,” and a critical piece in the journal Pedagogy on the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing. In terms of history of the disciplines, Professor Gross has been working since his dissertation on rhetoric and the origins of the human sciences, arguing that the early human sciences including psychology, politics, and pedagogy were first rhetorical arts designed to move people, before they were partially reconfigured as descriptive sciences. Publications along these lines include a piece in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, and a forthcoming book Being-Moved: Rhetoric As the Art of Listening (University of California Press 2020). His work in the medical humanities focuses on emotion, also from a history-of-rhetoric perspective. Publications include The Secret History of Emotion: From Aristotle’s Rhetoric to Modern Brain Science (Chicago 2007), and Uncomfortable Situations: Emotion between Science and the Humanities (Chicago 2017). He has received grants from the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and from the University of California Office of the President, which has recently funded his gamification, and online teaching initiatives. dgross@uci.edu

Evin Groundwater Associate Director
PhD, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
MA, University of Oklahoma
BA, University of Oklahoma

Evin comes to Irvine most recently by way of Champaign, Illinois, although he’ll always be an Okie at heart. Having worked in writing centers for a decade as an undergrad peer tutor, graduate writing consultant, and Assistant Director before his current role as Associate Director, he views them as integral student support services, with his research focusing on the intersection of online pedagogy and writing tutorials. Evin’s non-writing center research interests include public/counterpublic studies, archival historiography, and rhetorics of masculinity. He firmly believes that writing centers work best when they collaborate with as many people as possible across the university, so let him know how the UCI Writing Center can collaborate with you! e.groundwater@uci.edu

Amber Clontz Writing Specialist
MA, Cal State Fullerton, 2014
BA, Boise State University, 2011

Upon moving to Germany after high school, Amber had the opportunity to learn another language outside the classroom and has since wanted to meld the excitement and frustration that comes from language learning with a career where she can help others overcome linguistic hurdles.As a student passionate about service learning and community-based education programs, Amber began tutoring as a Writing Center consultant at Boise State University in 2009- a school known for its large nontraditional student population. Here she worked with ESL students, student athletes, veterans, mid-career adult students returning to the classroom, refugees new to Idaho, and graduate students.Post-graduation, she began a research MA in Linguistics at Cal State Fullerton, completing her thesis abroad funded by Rotary International. Her training in ESL comes from a blend of Applied Linguistics courses, CELTA training, and career teaching experience.After teaching ESL to adults in the public and private education worlds, Amber is excited to return to the university setting working with UCI’s diverse student population. Her research interests are adult literacy, alternate language pedagogies, language politics/policy/ planning, and dual-immersion program statistics. aclontz@uci.edu

Percival Guevarra Writing Specialist (multilingual student emphasis)
MA, San Francisco State University, 2010
BA, UCLA, 2008

Language encompasses Percival’s academic life. As an undergraduate, he majored in Linguistics at UCLA, and as a graduate student, he did his master’s in TESOL at San Francisco State University (SFSU). While teaching academic English classes in the Bay Area, Percival also provided one-on-one student support at SFSU’s Learning Assistance Center. This transitioned to a career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing Center where he would stay for five years. In that time, he grew English language support for students and faculty, developed new Writing Center programs, and gained a broader perspective of both writing and academia. In his free time, Percival enjoys transferring rhetoric from the collaborative writing context to the competitive gaming context. percival.gv@uci.edu

Kerri McCanna Writing Specialist (multilingual student emphasis)
MA, Boise State University, 2005
BA, San Diego State University, 1995

Kerri has been at the Writing Center since 2016. Prior to that, Kerri was in UCI’s Academic English Program, where she taught Academic Reading/Vocabulary and Academic Writing. She continues to work closely with AE to help English Language Learners succeed at their academic writing. She was also an instructor at UCI Extension’s Intensive English Program. Over the past 20 years, Kerri has enjoyed teaching English as a Foreign Language at the preschool, middle school, and adult levels for students from 5 to 72 years old, as well as Developmental and Freshman Composition in the College/University setting, both online and face-to-face. Additionally, she acted as Boise State’s Service-Learning Writing Liaison, leading community writing in courses from Kinesiology to Feminist Studies. When not working with English Language Learners on the job, Kerri enjoys sailing, spending time with her spouse and their two daughters, and raising their yellow morph parrotlet, Peep. kmccanna@uci.edu

Leanne Ozaki Affiliate Writing Specialist
BA, University of California, Irvine, 2017

As an alumna of UCI, Leanne is excited to return to her alma mater in a professional capacity. During her undergraduate years, Leanne worked as a Writing and Library Research Undergrad Specialist at the Center for Excellence in Writing and Communication (CEWC) and as Lead Copy Editor at UCI’s California Plug Load Research Center.After she graduated in 2017 with a BA in English and a minor in Sociology, Leanne worked as a writer and editor for an independent marketing firm. In April 2020, she was hired by the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning (OVPTL) as a content writer to develop and oversee their written communications. Leanne’s time is split between the OVPTL and the CEWC, where she assists students with various writing and editing needs via online consultations.In her free time, Leanne enjoys cooking, reading, and spending time with her beloved dog, Yuzu. lozaki@uci.edu

Hello hello!! My name is Arline Arreguin, and I am a third-year Public Health Sciences major. I am a big fan of watching shows for hours then ending my day with one or two movies. I am currently halfway through the Marvel movies (I know I’m a tad late, but I just never had the chance to get into them)! When everything was open, I enjoyed going to plays and musicals at local theaters. At home, I love to laugh at and with my family. I am also a part of Flying Sams, a pre-health organization that used to take monthly clinic trips to Mexico (and hopefully will again soon).

Hi! My name is Phoebe Chen and I am a third year nursing major. In my free time, I enjoy hiking, watching Netflix shows like Mad Men and Glow, and trying new foods. I love traveling and plan to learn Spanish this summer so I can better navigate foreign countries and communicate with Spanish-speaking patients when I work as a nurse in the future. Besides working at the Writing Center, I am the secretary of Alpha Tau Delta, a professional nursing fraternity here at UCI. I am very excited to be working at the Writing Center again, so come on by and meet all of our wonderful specialists, tutors, and staff!

Hi! My name is Martha Ochoa, and I am a fourth-year Political Science major, my goal is to attend law school. I was born and raised in El Salvador, and I love pupusas! (no surprise there, hehe). Besides being an administrative assistant at the UCI Writing Center, I volunteer at the Center for Student Wellness and Health Promotion and do presentations with the Emotional Well-Being team. During my free time, I love to explore the city of San Diego, I also love to go hiking, and my favorite trail is South Fortuna Mountain at Mission at Trails Regional Park. Lastly, I love spending time with my family and watch movies together.