JT Torres Co-Authors Book Titled ‘Nonviolent Response’ Written with Sheri Rysdam of Eastern Oregon University, the book offers strategies for responding to writing in positive and motivating ways.

By Brian Laubscher
August 25, 2026

JT Torres, director of the Houston H. Harte Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington and Lee University, recently co-authored a book published by the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Titled “Nonviolent Response: Strategies for Responding to Writing,” the book illustrates how teacher comments can build confident, critical writers rather than shutting them down. Drawing on research and the tenets of nonviolent teaching, Torres and his co-author, Sheri Rysdam of Eastern Oregon University, offer evidence-based, time-saving strategies for feedback that is clear, motivating and useful to teachers of writing as well as reviewers in professional and public settings.

Torres also published “Teaching, Learning and Caring in Higher Education” in 2025 and served as co-editor of “How to Incorporate Equity and Justice in Your Teaching,” which was published in 2024.

Torres joined the W&L faculty in 2024 after serving as director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Quinnipiac University. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Central Florida, a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Georgia College and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Washington State University.

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