Lara Smith Sitton

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Dr. Lara Smith-Sitton is Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of English.  Dr. Smith-Sitton joined the KSU faculty in 2015, where she served as the Director of Community Engagement (2015–2021), 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, Internships in Writing and Rhetoric Programs: Opportunities, Locations, and Structures, employed a mixed methods approach to better understand internships and professional opportunities for students in writing and English studies. Previously, she has also served as the Student Engagement & Success Coordinator for the Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences (2024–2025) and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in English (2021–2023, 2023.–2024). 
 
In addition to community-based pedagogies and practices, Dr. Smith-Sitton’s teaching and research includes courses focused on professional writing and editing; nonprofit writing and communications; feminist rhetorical practices; and 18th- and 19th-century rhetoric. She teaches in both the undergraduate BA in English and the MA in Professional Writing. In 2022, Dr. Smith-Sitton was the recipient of the KSU Outstanding Teaching Award.

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; Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 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.