Rate My Professor Lara Smith-Sitton

Lara Smith-Sitton is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of English at Kennesaw State University, joining the faculty in 2015. Her roles at KSU have included Director of Community Engagement from 2015 to 2021, Director of Undergraduate Studies in English from 2021 to 2024, and currently RCHSS Student Engagement & Success Coordinator from 2024 to 2025. She earned her PhD in English with a focus on Rhetoric and Composition from Georgia State University in August 2015, with concentrations in Writing Program Design and 18th- and 19th-Century Rhetoric. Her dissertation, titled Internships in Writing and Rhetoric Programs: Opportunities, Locations, and Structures, utilized a mixed-methods approach to explore professional opportunities for students in writing and English studies. She also holds a BA in English, magna cum laude, with a concentration in Rhetoric and Composition from Georgia State University. Before her academic career at KSU, Smith-Sitton served as Associate Director of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association from 2006 to 2012 and Managing Editor of South Atlantic Review from 2006 to 2013. She also worked as an adjunct lecturer and co-manager of the Business Writing Center at Emory University's Goizueta Business School from 2010 to 2015.

Smith-Sitton's teaching and research emphasize community-based pedagogies and High Impact Practices, including professional writing and editing, nonprofit writing and communications, feminist rhetorical practices, and historical rhetoric from the 18th and 19th centuries. She teaches in both the undergraduate BA in English and the MA in Professional Writing programs. Her scholarship has resulted in numerous publications, such as the co-edited collections Green Card Youth Voices: Stories from an Atlanta High School (first edition 2018, second edition 2019), peer-reviewed articles like "Inclusive Storytelling: Immigrant Experiences and Community Reaction in Georgia" (Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 2025), "Reclaiming the Work of Wendy Bishop as Rhetorical Feminist Mentoring" (Peitho, 2023), "Pathways to Partnerships: Building Sustainable Relationships Through University Supported Internships" (Community Literacy Journal, 2019), and book chapters including "What is 'Fake News'?" in Teaching Critical Reading and Writing in the Era of Fake News (2020). She has received significant recognition, including the Kennesaw State University Outstanding Teaching Award (2022), Cobb County Chamber of Commerce Teacher of the Year Award (2022), KSU Department of English Distinguished Early Career Faculty Award (2019), and KSU Outstanding Community Engagement Award (2019). Additionally, she serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Global Initiatives.