By Emily Aderhold, Graduate Teaching Assistant in the English Department

Dr. Cathie English, an Assistant Professor of English and Co-Director of the Ozarks Writing Project, received the 2017 Excellence in Public Affairs Award. Each year, three faculty members are awarded a $1,500 grant to continue their work in MSU Public Affairs.

She has focused on community literacy and social justice her entire teaching career, which is evidenced through progressive pedagogical techniques and a passion for compositional studies. This semester, her work continues in the ENG 520/629 course: Composition and Rhetoric in High School and Junior College. Missouri State University teacher candidates will write alongside adolescents from Greenwood Laboratory School and Rare Breed to learn about their own development as writers.

Dr. English used the Public Affairs Award to attend the International Association for Research in Service Learning and Community Engagement at the National University of Ireland in Galway, Ireland. Dr. English plans on applying the discussion of fellow scholars to her work with Rare Breed.