The Thinking and Writing course is coordinated by assistant professor of English, Kate Tirabassi. Involved in teaching first-year writing since 1999, Kate taught First-Year Writing, Introduction to Creative Nonfiction, Critical Analysis, and Technical Writing, and served as a tutor and then as assistant director of the Robert J. Connors Writing Center, at the University of New Hampshire. As assistant professor of English at Keene State College, her courses include Creative Nonfiction Writing, Experimental Nonfiction and Travel Writing, literacy and composition theory, as well as ITW and professional writing courses for the Integrative Studies Program. Kate is a member of the Task Force on Writing, a coordinator of Creative Writing Day for senior writing minors, a judge for the President’s Writing Award, a participant in the Calderwood Institute for the Teaching of Writing and a member of the ITW and Integrative Studies Program Committees. Beyond Keene State, Kate facilitates workshops and presentations on the teaching of writing—at the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages conference (TESOL) and the Northeast Writing Centers Association, where she’s served on the Steering Committee in various capacities since 2002. Her ongoing scholarship on the teaching of writing includes a chapter on writing literacy narratives called “Snapshots of Our Literacies” co-written with Michelle Cox (Bridgewater State University) that will appear in forthcoming international collection on college writing and an article called “Teaching Writing for the Real World: Community and Workplace Writing” co-written with Michelle Cox and Christina Ortmeier-Hooper (University of New Hampshire), which appears in English Journal. Kate enjoys the unexpected discoveries, challenges and rewards of teaching writing–especially working with first-year students—as well as talking with other faculty who are engaged in the exciting work of teaching writing at Keene State College.
If you have questions about the Thinking and Writing course, please contact professor Tirabassi by e-mail at ktirabassi@keene.edu or by phone at 603.358.2924.
