Dr. Lara Smith-Sitton

Director of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Professor of English; RCHSS Student Engagement & Success Coordinator

lsmith11@kennesaw.edu
Office: EB 165B

Lara Smith-Sitton is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of English. She also serves as the Student Engagement & Success Coordinator for the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Dr. Smith-Sitton joined the KSU faculty in 2015 as the Director of Community Engagement, in line with her teaching and scholarship that largely focuses on High Impact Practices initiatives where students can explore community-based learning and professionalism with non-profit and corporate partners. She earned her PhD in Rhetoric and Composition from Georgia State University, with concentrations in Writing Program Design and 18th- & 19th-Century Rhetoric. Her dissertation employed a mixed methods approach to better understand internships and professional opportunities for students in writing and English studies.  
 
In addition to community-based pedagogies and practices, Dr. Smith-Sitton’s teaching and research includes professional writing and editing; nonprofit writing and communications; feminist rhetorical practices; and 18th- and 19th-century rhetoric. Publications include Green Card Voices: Immigration Stories from an Atlanta High School and an array of articles and book chapters in outlets including Reflections; Peitho; Community Literacy Journal; The Journal for Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, and Perspective; and Double Helix.  
 
Prior to her academic career, Dr. Smith-Sitton had a career focused on professional writing and employment practices. She is an experienced nonprofit administrator and board member working with literacy, the arts, and education. For a number of years, she was the Associate Director of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association and Managing Editor of South Atlantic Review.

• Link to CV

• Concentration Area(s)
  • Applied Writing
  • Composition and Rhetoric
• MAPW Courses Taught
  • PRWR 6000 Intro to Professional Writing
  • PRWR 6800 Careers in Professional Writing
  • PRWR 6810 Publishing in the 21st Century
• Select Publications
  • “Reclaiming the Work of Wendy Bishop as Rhetorical Feminist Mentoring: A Cluster Conversation.” Co-Authored with Lynee Lewis Gaillet, et al. (Peer Reviewed Article). Peitho, Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric & Composition, 26.1, Fall 2023. 
  • “Inclusive Storytelling: Community Reaction to Immigrant Youth Experiences in Atlanta.” Co-Authored with Paul McDaniel and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez. Atlanta Studies. 16 September 2021. 
  • “’What is “Fake News’? Walls, Fences, and Immigration: How Community-Based Learning Can Prompt Students to Employ Critical Reading and Research Practices” (Book Chapter). Co-authored with Courtney Bradford. Teaching Critical Reading and Writing in the Era of Fake News, Eds. Ellen Carillo and Alice Horning. Peter Lang, 2020.  
  • “Building an Infrastructure for a Jail Writing Community Partnership through Student Internships and Community Writing Projects” (Peer Reviewed Article). Co-authored with Brody Smithwick. Reflections, 19.2, Fall/Winter 2019–2020 (170–194). 
  • “Pathways to Partnerships: Building Sustainable Relationships Through University Supported Internships” (Peer Reviewed Article). Community Literacy Journal, 14.1, Fall 2019 (73–82). Special Issue: Reciprocity in Community-Engaged Food and Environmental Justice Scholarship.  
  • “Considering the History and Data: Institutional, Employer, and Student Goals in Study Abroad Assignment Design” (Peer Reviewed Article). Coauthored with Joan McRae. The Journal for Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, and Perspectives, 14.1, Spring 2019 (119–148). Special Issue: The Impact of Communications Technologies on Study Abroad.  
  • “When Local Community Writing Initiatives Crashed into White House Public Policy: Green Card Youth Voices: Stories from an Atlanta High School” (Peer Reviewed Article). Co-authored with Darlene Xiomarda Rodriguez and Paul McDaniel. Spark: A 4C4Equality Journal (Working & Writing for Change), Spring 2019. 
  • Green Card Youth Voices: Stories from an Atlanta High School, Second Edition (Edited Collection/Community Engagement Project). Co-edited with Tea Rozman Clark and Darlene Xiomara Rodriguez. Minneapolis: GCV/Ingram, 2019.
  • “Why Writing Matters: Helping Students Rethink the Value of English and Writing Studies” (Peer Reviewed Article). Co-authored with Shannan Rivera. Double Helix: A Journal of Critical Thinking and Writing, Volume 6, 2019.
  • “Bridging Town and Gown: The Potentialities within Academic Internships.” With Lynée Lewis Gaillet. (Book Chapter). Rewriting Success: Constructing Careers and Institutional Change in Rhetoric and Composition. Eds. Carrie Leverenz, Amy Goodburn, and Donna LeCourt. Parlor P 2012.
  • “Beyond Economics: Intersections and Opportunities with Adam Smith in the Writing and Rhetoric Classroom.” (Peer Reviewed Article). Xchanges: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Technical Communication, Rhetoric, and Writing Across the Curriculum 7.2. 2011.