Melissa Smith
Associate Professor of English & Director of English Education
Irby 317B
(501) 852-2064
Melissa Smith (Ph.D., Syracuse University) is an Associate Professor of English Education and the program coordinator for the 7-12 English Education BA program. Her primary research focus is LGBTQ-inclusive educational practice, and her teaching is informed by social justice frameworks for English curriculum and instruction. She has published research in journals including Equity and Excellence in Education, Educational Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Record and contributed to edited collections including Critical Concepts in Queer Studies and Education: An International Guide for the Twenty-First Century, The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, and Transgender Studies in K-12 Education: Mapping an Agenda for Research and Practice. She teaches Methods of Teaching English and Composition, Internship I and II, and several general education courses. In addition to her responsibilities at UCA, Dr. Smith is Associate Director of Research for the Queering Education Research Institute (QuERI), an organization she has been involved with since 2008.