Dr. Allegra Smith is a new Assistant Professor of Professional Writing in the English Department. She is from South Lyon, MA, and earned her BA in Professional Writing, Women’s & Gender Studies, and MA in Digital Rhetoric & Professional Writing at Michigan State University. She received her PhD in Rhetoric & Composition from Purdue University in 2021.

Smith’s areas of expertise in English are rhetoric and composition, with regards to technical and professional writing. Her research looks at how “intersecting facets of our identities affect how we use technology, and how in turn those technologies influence our writing.” Smith says that her current position at JSU is “pretty much [her] dream job.” She explains, “I pursued a PhD so I could help students who know that they have an interest in English, but who want to pursue careers outside of teaching, literature, or creative writing.”

For the Fall 2021 semester, Smith will be teaching Oral Communication, Technical Writing, and Writing for Social Media. She looks forward to Writing for Social Media the most, as she thinks it will be fun to analyze the varied brands online and differentiate between their online personas. Smith says that she is currently enjoying helping her students develop the skills necessary to find the answers to perceptive questions that they create together. Her personal hopes for teaching at JSU are to “help students to tell compelling stories and to leverage the power of storytelling for local stakeholders and their communities.”

Smith was drawn to JSU when she saw there was an opening for an Assistant Professor of Professional Writing, who would help advance the Professional Writing program. From the beginning, Smith says she felt “welcomed by the faculty and staff of the Department of English and CAH throughout the application process and was excited for the opportunity to contribute to the culture of learning and professionalization here.” Her favorite aspect of the English Department is how its members genuinely care for their students’ participation, careers, and well-being. 

“On the first day of class, I saw English faculty standing in the halls of Stone Center to help students find their way to their classrooms,” Smith shares. “I have never been at a university where the employees do that, and it felt like such a small but potent gesture of how deeply they care about student success.”

When she is not teaching, Smith researches and promotes pedagogies “that center difference in the classroom.” She clarifies, “Frameworks like Universal Design for Learning (UDL) can help learners build understanding and demonstrate their expertise in ways that allow multiple forms of engagement, representation, and expression—making the classroom a more accessible place for all kinds of folks.”

Additionally, Smith is working on a research project to learn how adults aged sixty and older use technology. “I go to retirement communities and watch septua- and octogenarians with their computers and other devices and do work around building capacity for them to reach their digital goals,” she explains. “A lot of the time this involves writing documentation for routine tasks, like creating email lists, sending Facebook messages, or buying shoes on Amazon.”

Smith is well-versed in research work, as she won a research competition sponsored by Microsoft and the Association for Computing Machinery in 2017.

In her spare time, Smith volunteers with the AARP Foundation as an income tax preparer for the elderly and those with low-income. “It’s actually really fun, and also I know so much about tax law now,” she shares. She also sings in a choir, tries new recipes, binge-watches British comedies and Golden Girls, and spends “way too much time looking at dog memes.” Smith even took part in a 100-mile bike ride on an antique from 1909 with no padding on the seat. “It was the worst; 0/10, do not recommend,” she advises.

Smith’s advice to her students is: “Be present and curious. Take care of yourselves and your community. Sometimes you will need to make peace with the questions that you have so you can live your way into the answers.”