Bonita Dattner Pfleiger, Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln
M.A., University of Nebraska Omaha
B.A., University of Texas at Austin

Qualitative Research Methods
Communication Studies
Business Communication
British Literature
International Literature

Bonita Dattner Pfleiger, Ph.D., teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in contemporary literary theory, British and international literature, rhetoric and composition, communication research methods and community-engaged learning.

Dattner Pfleiger has also taught Qualitative Research Methods and other courses for the Department of Communication Studies and has served on the admissions and review board for candidates in the graduate Communication Studies program.

She previously served on the Advisory Board for McGraw-Hill’s Annual Editions — Mass Media and has reviewed textbooks for academic publishers.

Dattner Pfleiger’s scholarship has long examined how language and stories shape public understanding and action. Her earlier article, “The Strategic Raiding of a Campaign Discourse of Change,” analyzes how organizations appropriate influential public language to shape their relationships with consumers and interest groups. That interest in the persuasive power of narrative later developed into her community-engaged teaching, where students examine how literary stories reveal injustice, affirm human dignity and encourage ethical judgment.

In Literature and Community Engagement, students connect the social concerns raised by literature with community service and create research-based outreach materials designed to inform public audiences, correct misconceptions and encourage responsible action.

Drawing upon the Catholic Social Tradition of Inquiry and Bernard Lonergan’s transcendental method, this pedagogy moves students from literary encounter to understanding, judgment and response. Dattner Pfleiger develops this approach in her 2026 publication, “From Literary Encounter to Responsible Action: Adapting Lonergan’s Transcendental Method to EN 2375.”

Dattner Pfleiger has also incorporated emerging technologies and artificial intelligence into composition instruction. As a selected participant in St. Mary’s RattlerAI/nebulaONE pilot program, she integrated the platform into two sections of Rhetoric and Composition and developed an AI interaction-log model to encourage transparency, reflection and purposeful student engagement with artificial intelligence.

Dattner Pfleiger serves as the ProQuest Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Graduate Administrator for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

In this role, she supports graduate students and academic programs throughout the final thesis and dissertation review and submission process.

Pfleiger, B. D. (2026). “From Literary Encounter to Responsible Action: Adapting Lonergan’s Transcendental Method to EN 2375.” St. Mary’s University Digital Commons. https://commons.stmarytx.edu/sanjoselccp/7

Dattner-Garza, B. (2010). “The Strategic Raiding of a Campaign Discourse of Change.” The International Journal of the Humanities, 8(3), 199–206. https://doi.org/10.18848/1447-9508/CGP/v08i03/42884

Dattner-Garza, B. (1999). Identity through the Social Phenomenon of Sadomasochism in Conrad, Wilde, and Poe [Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska–Lincoln]. University of Nebraska–Lincoln Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9929194

Dattner-Garza, B. (1988). Parenthetic Function, Characterization, and the Voice of Authority in “The Ring and the Book” [Master’s thesis, University of Nebraska at Omaha]. University of Nebraska Omaha Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/studentwork/3191/

Pfleiger, B. D. (2026, July). “From Literary Encounter to Responsible Action: Adapting Lonergan’s Transcendental Method to EN 2375.” San José–Lonergan Chair Faculty Workshop, Béziers, France.

Pfleiger, B. D. (2026, March). “RattlerAI (NebulaOne) in EN 1311: Classroom Integration and the AI Interaction Log Model.” Department of English Literature and Language, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas.

Dattner-Garza, B. (2015). “Technology in the Classroom: Using a Crowd-Sourced Database for Education.” Summer Faculty Institute on Learning Technologies, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas.

Dattner-Garza, B. (2004). “The Next Level to Teach Writing for Multiple Contexts:
Intertextuality in the Classroom.” Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio, Texas.

Dattner-Garza, B. (2003). “Intertextual Literacy: Rescuing the Theory of Reading from the Anarchy of Pure Subjectivism?” Department of English Literature and Language, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas.