Randy D. Nichols is a candidate for the PhD in the Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design program at Clemson University where he teaches Composition and Communication. 

Much of Randy's recent research has centered around developing a new approach for equipping students for cultural engagement while studying abroad. After conducting a successful pilot project for the “Cultural Literacies Across Media” course, Randy conducted the new multimodal version of the program with students across the globe in Spring of 2010, and will teach teh course again in Spring 2011.  Recent Media attention given to Nichols' course include articles in the AAH Magazine of Clemson University's College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities and in the recent issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education.

His dissertation is focused on a "stoloniferous" model of engaging cultural "texts" across various media. The "Stolons method" is a rhetorical approach that acknowledges the multiplicities of "observable acts and artifacts" that form the complex and dynamic organic systems that comprise "culture."