Kelly Sassi

Kelly Sassi (Ph.D, University of Michigan, 2008). Sassi is a Professor with a joint appointment—55% in the English department and 45% in the School of Education.  She directs the Red River Valley Writing Project and teaches courses in both English education and composition. Her research agenda focuses on social justice issues, including race in the classroom, fair practices in writing assessment, feminist research methodologies, pedagogical approaches to Native American literatures, multicultural field experiences, and the high school to college transition in writing.

Sassi co-authored three books, Writing on Demand (2005) and A Student Guide to Writing on Demand (2006), and Writing on Demand for the Common Core State Standards Assessments (2014) with Anne Gere and Leila Christenbury. She has also published articles on anti-racist teaching practices (2008) and issues of plagiarism (2011) in English Journal with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas. Her chapter, “Bending the Arc of Writing Assessment Toward Social Justice: Enacting Culturally Responsive Professional Development at Standing Rock,” appeared in Writing Assessment, Social Justice, and the Advancement of Opportunity (2018).

A former high school English teacher, Sassi has presented around 50 professional development workshops for teachers on writing and reading strategies as a consultant for the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) and a trainer for Project CRISS, a research-based learning strategies program.

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