Shireen Campbell Professor of English | Director of the College Writing Program

I teach a variety of literature courses, with special interest in genre fictions, fanfiction, young adult fiction, and contemporary women writers, as well as writing courses, including creative nonfiction, memoir, professional writing, and writing with the community.  I founded and, until recently, directed the college Writing Center and have research interests in writing center theory and practice, second language writing, digital writing, and information fluency.  I currently direct our first-year WRI program, which plays a crucial role in helping students transition to reading, research and writing practices requisite in college.

Currently, I am collaborating with my colleague Rebeca Fernandez on a longitudinal project examining the rhetorical and linguistic development of advanced multilingual writers.  Recent conference presentations have focused on shifts in syntactic complexity (AAAL 2019), potential correlations between complexity and cultural relevance of paper topics (SLWS 2018), and the impacts of covid on incoming international writing (SLWS 2023).

My other major interest is in book censorship in schools, particularly in regard to school libraries amid the recent upsurge in efforts to purge books from school collections.  I’ve participated in extended interviews, given presentations, and blogged about this compelling challenge to the student right to receive information that accompanies the first amendment right to receive information.