Patti Hanlon-Baker is a native Californian who returned after a decade-long absence during which she earned her PhD in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of Nevada, Reno. She has taught at Truckee Meadows Community College, University of Nevada, Reno, Southern Connecticut State University, and Teachers College at Columbia University.

She teaches courses focusing on education equity, gender politics, and environmental ethics. As a teacher, Patti values how students explore the power of language and become savvier rhetoricians. Her research interests center on how feminist critiques reveal the ways in which various discourses influence perceptions and expectations of women's bodies and experiences. She is currently completing an article on how popular descriptions of pregnant bodies influence women's perceptions of "fit bodies" and balanced nutrition during pregnancy. Her other research and teaching interests include service learning, visual rhetoric, and the rhetoric of education politics.