A life in scholarship, mentorship, and support shaped by lived experience.
I am Dr. Josh Hanan: rhetoric scholar, Full Professor, mentor, and ADHD coach. I serve as Full Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Denver, where I have taught since 2012.
Over the past decade, I have published extensively in leading journals in rhetoric and the critical humanities while teaching courses in rhetorical theory, political economy, new materialism, disability, and technology.
That professional story matters, but it is not the whole story. The work I do now is also shaped by a much more personal history with ADD, school, expectation, and the long process of learning how to live with difference rather than against it.
The personal history behind the work.
I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder at age eight. My childhood and adolescence were marked by disciplinary interventions, stimulant medications, school transitions, and a persistent feeling that I did not fit the normative educational mold.
Over time, I came to understand that what was framed as a deficit was deeply entangled with institutional expectations, productivity norms, and broader cultural assumptions about success, time, and value. That realization changed not only how I understood myself, but how I understood schools, systems, and the ways people are taught to measure their worth.
Today, I bring those two trajectories together: rigorous scholarly expertise and lived experience as a neurodivergent academic. That combination makes this work personal for me, and it is why I try to meet people with both seriousness and care.
Helping people translate difference into strength.
As a professor, I have mentored hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students, earned consistently high teaching evaluations, and directed numerous theses and dissertations. As a neurodivergent scholar, I have made it a priority to support students and others who are navigating cognitive, emotional, and institutional barriers.
What I want people to feel here is not judgment, but recognition. The goal is not to force anyone into a narrow mold. It is to help them develop forms of agency, structure, and self-understanding that allow them to work with difference rather than against it.
If this story feels familiar, the next step can be a conversation.
Reach out if you want support grounded in both lived experience and long years of teaching, mentoring, and scholarly work.