Diana Hacker
Diana Hacker was an American writer and educator who authored several prominent writing manuals. Her guide, A Writer's Reference, became the number one best-selling college textbook in the United States. According to the Open Syllabus Project, Hacker is the most assigned female author on college campuses.
Raised in Washington, Illinois, Hacker was an English professor at Prince George's Community College for 35 years. Hacker is widely acknowledged for her contributions to the field of rhetoric and composition. She died of cancer in 2004.
Biography
Hacker was raised in Washington, Illinois. Her father was a line worker for Caterpillar who managed to move his family "squarely into the middle class" after becoming a supervisor. Hacker obtained a master's degree in English composition from the University of Illinois.Hacker moved to Washington, D.C. in 1967 after her husband, Robert Hacker, a lawyer, obtained a job with the Securities and Exchange Commission. She briefly taught at the University of Maryland before joining the faculty at Prince George's Community College. Hacker remained an English professor at PGCC for 35 years until her retirement in 2000. She continued tutoring after her retirement at the school's Writing Center.
Hacker also chaired the nominating committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication at regional and national meetings. Hacker died from cancer on January 12, 2004, at the George Washington University Hospital.
Legacy
The Diana Hacker TYCA Outstanding Programs in English Award was formed in Hacker's honor and is sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English along with Bedford/St. Martin's. The award is given out annually to two-year college teachers and their institutions for "exemplary programs in English studies and its related disciplines."Hacker is widely acknowledged for her contributions to the field of rhetoric and composition. A previous version of the Open Syllabus Project placed Hacker's guides, A Writer's Reference and A Pocket Style Manual as the number one and number third assigned texts at American colleges, respectively and placed Hacker as the second most read female author on college campuses after Kate L. Turabian. The newest version of the Open Syllabus Project places A Writer's Reference as the second most assigned text and Hacker as the most assigned female author . In total, Hacker's works appear on more than 25,500 syllabi, ahead of Aristotle.
A syllabus obtained by Politico revealed that First Lady Jill Biden, a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College, assigned Hacker and Sommer's Rules for Writers alongside comedian Trevor Noah's autobiography, Born a Crime, for her introductory English course. Rules for Writers is also given to prisoners participating in the Bard Prison Initiative.
Hacker left notes for revisions to her handbooks, which also include The Bedford Handbook, to be made to the next editions. After her death, Nancy Sommers became the co-author.