

Assistant Professor, Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum & Instruction
Campion 116
Telephone: 617-552-8305
Email: jon.wargo@bc.edu
Advanced Qualitative Research; Teaching Reading; Teaching the Social Sciences and the Arts; Teaching Language Arts
Critical literacies; qualitative methodologies; civic education; educational technology; social justice education; urban education
TESpECI Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum & Instruction
Jon Wargo is committed to education equity. By exploring the intersection of language, culture, literacy education, and technology, he endeavors to understand how new media alter the lives of contemporary youth—particularly those belonging to historically marginalized populations. Combining his passion for social justice and urban education, Wargo also seeks to improve the quality of teaching in culturally sustaining ways.
As a core faculty member in the TESpECI department at the Lynch School, Wargo teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy education, technology, and qualitative research. He also serves as the Literacy Research Association’s Program Area Chair for Literacy, Media & Technology.
Wargo earned his doctorate from Michigan State University. In 2017, he received the AERA Queer Studies SIG Article of the Year Award and the College Composition & Communication Lavender Rhetorics Dissertation Award, plus honorable mention for the NCTE Promising Researcher Award.
With a grant from NCTE, Wargo is studying the acoustic ecologies of writing culture through #hearmyhome: (Re)Learning to Listen to Community Literacies. His forthcoming book project, Lifestreaming Queer Culture: Techne, Technology, and the Politics of LGBTQ Youth Writing the Digital Real, explores how LGBTQ youth use technology to design more just social futures.
Refereed Book Monographs
Wargo, J.M. (forthcoming). Lifestreaming Queer Culture: LGBTQ Youth Writing with Mobile Media. New York: Routledge
Select Refereed Book Chapters
Wargo, J.M. (in press). “I Don’t Write So Other People Notice Me, I Write So I can Notice Myself…” Locating Queer at the Intersection of Rhetoric, Resistance, and Resource-Based Pedagogy. In C. Mayo & M. Blackburn (Eds.), Applying Queer, Trans, and Intersectional Theory to Educational Practice: Student, Teacher, and Community Experiences. New York: Routledge
Wargo, J.M. & Apol, L. (in press). “But I Can’t Use This in a Classroom!” Or, Teaching ‘Risky/Risqué’ Young Adult Literature in Colleges of Education. In Cadden, M., Coats, K. & Trites, R.S. (Eds), Teaching Young Adult Literature. MLA Options for Teaching Series. New York: Modern Language Association.
Wargo, J.M. (2018) “Lines, Lives, and Spacetimemattering: An Intra-Active Analysis of a ‘Once OK’ Writer. In C. Kuby, J. Thiel & K. Spector (Eds.). Posthumanism and Literacy Education: Knowing/Becoming/Doing Literacies (pp.130-141). New York, NY: Routledge.
Smith, A. & Wargo, J.M. (2017). From Ekphrasis to Experience: Digital Writing and the Emerging Communicative Landscapes of Youth Composing Selves. In Mills, K., Stornaiuolo, A., Smith, A., and J.Z. Pandya. (Eds.) Routledge Handbook of Digital Writing and Literacies in Education. New York: Routledge
Wargo, J.M. (2017). At the Risk of Feeling Brown in Gay YA: Machismo, Mariposas, and the Drag of Identity. In Bullen, E., Moruzi, K., & M. Smith (Eds.) Emotional Control: Affect and Children’s Texts. New York: Routledge
Select Refereed Journal Articles
BC Technology and Mentoring (TAM) Grant 2019-2020
BC Research Incentive (RIG) Grant 2018-2020
BC Academic Technology/Innovation Grant (ATIG) 2018-2019
BC Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) “Called to Serve” Cohort 2018-2019
AERA Division K (Teacher Education) Early Career Faculty Pre-Conference Event 2017
University Enrichment Fellowship, Michigan State University 2011-2016
Cultural Heritage Informatics [CHI] / MATRIX Fellowship 2015-2016
MSU Department of Teacher Education, Travel Grants 2011-2016
NCTE Conference for English Education (CEE) Research Initiative Grant 2015
Teacher Education Dissertation Enhancement Fellowship 2014-2015
Teacher Education Research Enhancement Fellowship 2013-2014
Eastern Michigan University Human Equality Research Grant 2013-2014
MSU College of Education, Summer Research Renewable Fellowship 2012-2014
MSU Residential College of Arts and Humanities Fellowship 2012-2014
MSU College of Education, Fellowship to Enhance Global Understanding 2013
MSU College of Education, Urban Education Retention Fellowship 2012
Divergent Award for Excellence in 21st Century Literacies Research 2020
ELATE National Technology Leadership Initiative (NTLI) 2019
CAE Concha Delgado Gaitán Presidential Fellowship 2018
NCTE Promising Research Award (Honorable Mention) 2017
AERA Queer Studies SIG Article of the Year Award 2017
College Composition & Communication Lavender Rhetorics Award for Excellence in Queer 2017 Scholarship’s Dissertation Award
AERA Language and Social Processes SIG Emerging Scholar Award 2016
International Literacy Association’s Inaugural 30 Under 30 Recipient 2015
College Composition & Communication Gloria Anzaldúa Rhetorician Award 2015
Indiana University Courson- Greeves Essay Award 2008
The Rote of Alle Wikkedness: Un-Kyndley Similitude and Langland’s Tree of Charity
Hutton Honors College “Work in Process” Thesis Award 2008