Lydia Benda

My research is focused on rhetorics of women’s health, particularly historical rhetorics of women’s health/women’s bodies that endure to this day. My dissertation (defended with honors in May of 2026) is titled Tropology, Topology, and Folded Time: Enduring Early Modern Rhetorics of Women’s Health.

I hold a Ph.D. in English (Rhetoric & Composition) as well as a Graduate Certificate in Medieval and Early Modern Studies and a bachelor’s degree in journalism (all from KU). 

I love teaching English to undergraduate students at KU and seeing their eyes light up when they realize that they can write and that their ideas are good ideas. I gain no small amount of pleasure from encouraging students to write about matters of importance to them – because when students are empowered in the classroom, they do better and enjoy the writing process more.