Caroline Gottschalk, M.A., M.S., Ph.D.
Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, Department of English
Senior Fellow in Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity, Institute for Research in the Humanities
Faculty Affiliate, Department of Geography
University of Wisconsin-Madison
caroline.gottschalk.druschke@wisc.edu | Google Scholar here.

Dr. Gottschalk uses her training in rhetoric to consider the logics and practices of freshwater management. Gottschalk has presented internationally on her work, published widely across rhetorical studies and environmental sciences, and received fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, US Environmental Protection Agency, and AAUW and funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, ACLS, and the National Park Service. Her interdisciplinary work began with a B.A. in Social Work at the University of Iowa (1999), and a concentration in Gender and Women’s Studies and a fellowship in the NSF-IGERT program in Landscape, Ecological and Anthropogenic Processes at the University of Illinois at Chicago (2011), and continued with a M.S. in stream ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2021).

Current graduate students

Taylor Dickson, Ph.D. candidate, Program in Composition and Rhetoric, Department of English

Taylor brings a whimsical and embodied spirit to research at the intersections of writing program administration, trauma-informed pedagogy, and community engagement. She started with a B.A. in English Literature with a minor in American Multicultural Studies with distinction. She received her M.A. in Composition and Rhetoric with distinction, before starting her PhD at UW-Madison. Using interdisciplinary methods, she highlights the overlap in writing studies between administrators, researchers, and teachers to insist on a path that honors how these roles mutually inform each other and the ways people operate from them simultaneously. Her most recent publication “Local Assessment Design and Graduate Student Wellbeing” (2025) offers an example survey design process for measuring wellbeing for graduate students. 

Henry Covey, M.S., Ph.D. candidate, Program in Composition and Rhetoric, Department of English

Henry “Hank” Covey studies the documentation of natural disasters and how crisis communication in different discourse ecologies helps communities create constellations of care during events, recover from emergences in the aftermath, and build coalitions focused on their futures. Covey joined the Headwaters Lab after two decades of editing and writing in multiple roles and modalities, including: adjunct writing professor and researcher at Portland State University, where he received his M.S. in professional and technical communication (2019); technical writer for Oregon DEQ, the Municipality of Alaska, and multiple other state government agencies; science communications copyeditor for the Simons Foundation divisions and programs; managing editor for a Pacific Northwest imprint of Simon & Schuster and senior editor at Cogitate Editing; and more. His research and writing have received the ACM-SIGDOC’s Best Paper Award for his article “Disaster Documentation Revisited” (2021) and the Joyce M. Melville Award for his article on the “Literacies of Disaster” (2022), and he and coauthors received an honorable mention for the Programmatic Perspectives Research Article Award for their 2021 paper “Open Educational Resources and Technical and Professional Communication: Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions” (2022). He is also coauthor with Dr. Gottschalk on a chapter about oral histories in The Field Guide to Mixing Social and Biophysical Methods in Environment Research (2025). 

Gareth Baldrica-Franklin, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Geography

Gareth Baldrica-Franklin is a PhD student in Geography at UW-Madison. As a cartographer, he uses a process-based approach to mapping centered on pedagogy and community engagement, exploring how mapmaking can be used in service of justice—while also critiquing its colonial and ecological entanglements. A few of his recent projects at UW use narrative to convey a layered perspective on landscape and place. These include a story map for the Maple River Restoration in Western Michigan, Mapping Teejop, a series of digital, Indigenous walking tours centered on campus, and Global Madison, which transforms Madison into a living classroom to teach students about globalization. His journey in mapping began with a B.S. In Earth Sciences From Oregon State University, where he also worked as a digital scholarship developer. In addition to his collaboration with the Headwaters Lab, he is an active member of the UW Cartography Lab.  

Lab alums

Ben Sellers / M.S. in Agroecology and Environment & Resources (2024) / Thesis: Development of a Predictive Tool to Assess Stream Temperature Impacts of Riparian Vegetation Management in a Driftless Area Trout Stream / Current: Intern, NASA Develop

Liz Anna Kozik / Ph.D. in Environment & Resources (2023) / Dissertation: Re-Peopling Prairie: History, Ecology + How They Can Better Inform Prairie Science / Current: Research Coordinator, Rethinking Lawns, Chicago Botanic Garden and Freelance Science Illustrator

Sydney Widell / M.S. in Freshwater & Marine Sciences (2023) / Current: Watershed Coordinator, Coon Creek Community Watershed Council, Inc.

Paige Stork / M.S. in Freshwater & Marine Sciences (2023) / Current: Technical Professional, Wood

Nina Delgadillo / B.S. in Environmental Science and Conservation Biology with a Certificate in Sustainability (2023) / Current: Digital Communications Coordinator, Milwaukee Water Commons

Amanda Rose Pratt / Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric (2023) / Dissertation: From Changing the World to Rhetorical Worldbuilding: Toward a Constitutive Theory of Transformative Psychedelic Rhetoric / Current: Assistant Professor of Rhetoric of Science, Kennesaw State University

Kassia Krzus Shaw / Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric (2023) / Dissertation: Ecological Restoration as Rhetorical Practice: Stories Landscapes & Multispecies Relations at the Former Badger Army Ammunition Plant / Current: Teaching Faculty III, School of Business, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Jon Isaac / Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric (2022) / Dissertation: “The University Works Because We Do”: University Decision-Making and Rhetorics of Graduate Labor / Current: Assistant Teaching Professor, Program for Writing Across Campus, University of Washington

Emma Lundberg / Ph.D. in Environment & Resources (2021) / Dissertation: Managing Freshwater Resources: A Critical, Interdisciplinary Reimagining / Current: Aquatic Resiliency Scientist, Trout Unlimited

John Koban / Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric (2021) / Dissertation: Productive Dissensus: Toward a New Theory of Deliberative Rhetoric for Political Change / Current: Marketing and Communications Specialist, Synergy

Kevin Jones / Undergraduate researcher / University of Wisconsin-Madison 2019 / Current: Trout Stream Intern, Utah Division of Wildlife

Jamie Remillard / Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition (2017), University of Rhode Island / Research Assistant, National Park Service / Dissertation: Teaching Writing with Play: A Study of Community-Based Science Education in a National Park / Current: Assistant Professor, Worcester State University

David Weinberg / Undergraduate Research Scholar / University of Wisconsin-Madison (2019) / Current: Public Relations at ICF Next

Jon C. Vander Werff / Master of Environmental Science Management (2018), University of Rhode Island / Research Assistant, The Future of Dams / Current: Fisheries Biologist, Save the Sound-Connecticut Fund for the Environment

Valerie Preler / Master of Environmental Science and Management (2018), University of Rhode Island / Research Assistant, The Future of Dams / Current: Program Director, Block Island Maritime Institute

Jenna Morton-Aiken / Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition (2017), University of Rhode Island / Research Assistant, SciWrite@URI / Dissertation: Metadata and Relational Architecture: Advancing Arrangement, Agency, and Access with New Methodology / Current: Senior Associate Director for Writing and English Language Support, The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning, Brown University

Paul McDivitt / Research Assistant, National Park Service / Current: Communication Specialist, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota

Kristen Hychka / Research Associate, National Park Service / Current: Postdoctoral Associate, New York State Water Resources Institute

Francesca Soluri / Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, NSF-EPSCoR (2016), University of Rhode Island

Hannah Dallas / Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, NSF-EPSCoR (2016), University of Rhode Island

Sara Randall / Research Assistant, The Future of Dams (2016)

Megan Skrip / Graduate Research Assistant, National Park Service (2015-2016) / Ph.D. 2016, Ecology and Ecosystem Sciences specialization / Current: Science Communicator, Center for Geospatial Analytics, NC State University

Alison Fisher / Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, NSF-EPSCoR (2015-2016), University of Rhode Island

Jay Peters / Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition (2015), University of Rhode Island / Dissertation: The Sentinelle Affair: A Case Study in Multilingual Language Practices / Current: Associate Professor, Department of English, Cal Poly

John Lee / Research Associate, National Park Service (2014-2015)

Lena Weiss / M.A. in Marine Affairs, Research Associate (2015)

Dylan Hogan / Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow, NSF-EPSCoR (2015)