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

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 Ƶ 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.  

Dr. Lara Smith-Sitton

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.

Office: EB 165B

Email CV

 

    • Applied Writing
    • Composition and Rhetoric
    • PRWR 6000 Intro to Professional Writing
    • PRWR 6800 Careers in Professional Writing
    • PRWR 6810 Publishing in the 21st Century
    • “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.