Karen J. Head
Adjunct Faculty
- School of Literature, Media, and Communication
- ADVANCE IAC
Overview
Dr. Karen Head (Ph.D. University of Nebraska, M.A. University of Tennessee, B.A. Oglethorpe University, A.A. DeKalb College) is the Associate Chair and Professor in Georgia Tech's School of Literature, Media, and Communication and Executive Director of the Institute-wide Communication Center. She has been at Georgia Tech since 2004.
In 2020, she was named the inaugural Poet Laureate of Fulton County, Georgia.
She is also the editor of Atlanta Review and the immediate past editor of Southern Discourse in the Center: A Journal of Multiliteracy and Innovation.
On a more unusual note, she is currently the Poet Laureate of Waffle House—a title that reflects an outreach program to bring arts awareness to rural high schools in Georgia, which has been generously sponsored by the Waffle House Foundation.
She has published five books of poetry (Lost on Purpose, Sassing, My Paris Year, On Occasion: Four Poets, One Year, and Shadow Boxes) and exhibited acclaimed digital poetry projects. Since 2006, she has been a Visiting Scholar at Technische Universität-Dortmund, Germany, where she serves as primary consultant for their academic tutoring center.
Her research focuses on higher education rhetoric, sustainable and innovative pedagogy and space design, communication theory and pedagogical practice, especially the implementation and development of writing centers, writing program administration, and multidisciplinary communication. Her book, Disrupt This! MOOCs and the Promises of Technology was published by University Press of New England in 2017.
In 2012-13, she was awarded a Georgia Tech Fund for Innovation in Research and Education Grant. Head's classes center on analyzing, critiquing, evaluating, and creating a variety of texts that demonstrate an understanding of audience and adaptation of multimodal rhetorical strategies and tools. Students and colleagues consistently rank her teaching as excellent. In 2012-13, she won the CETL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Award. In 2019, she was honored with the Georgia Tech Outstanding Service Award.
- Ph.D., University of Nebraska
- M.A., University of Tennessee
- B.A., Oglethorpe University
- A.A., Dekalb College
Distinctions:
- 2019 Georgia Institute of Technology, Class of 1934 Outstanding Service Award
- 2019 Higher Education Leadership Development Program (HERS Institute)
- Waffle House Poet Laureate
- 2017 Oglethorpe University Talmage Award (Distinguished Alumni Award)
- 2016 Dekalb College/Perimeter College at Georgia State Distinguished Alumni Award
- 2016 Women Out Front “Class of 2016” Service Award
- 2015 & 2019 GT Office of Diversity: Faces of Inclusive Excellence
- 2013 GT Women’s Leadership Conference “Woman of Distinction Faculty Award”
- 2013 CETL/BP Junior Faculty Teaching Award
- 2010 Oxford International Women’s Festival Poetry Prize
- 2009 All Nations Press Editor’s Choice of Excellence in Poetry
- Class of 1934 Course Survey Teaching Effectiveness Award (multi-year winner)
Interests
- Communication
- Digital Media
- Literary and Cultural Studies
- Media Studies
Focuses:
- Europe
- United States
- United States - Georgia
- United States - Southeast
- Gender
- Communication
- Community engagement
- Creativity in Context
- Cross-Cultural Understanding
- Digital and Mixed Media
- Digital Communication
- Education
- Education Policy
- Higher Education: Teaching and Learning
- Innovation
- Interdisciplinary Learning and Partnering
- International Communication
- Language and Popular Culture
- Literature
- Media
- Performance
- Poetry
- Science and Technology
- Sustainability
Courses
- LCC-3206: Communication & Culture
- LCC-3222: Regionalism-Amer Lit
- LCC-3226: Major Authors
- LCC-3234: Creative Writing
- LCC-3403: Tech Communication
- LCC-3823: Special Topics Lit/Cult
- LCC-3843: Spec Topic-Communication
- LCC-4406: Profession Communication
- LMC-3204: Poetry and Poetics
- LMC-3222: Regionalism American Lit
- LMC-3226: Major Authors
- LMC-3234: Creative Writing
- LMC-3823: Special Topics Lit/Cult
- LMC-3843: Spec Topic-Communication
- LMC-4811: Special Topics
Publications
Recent Publications
Books
- Lost on Purpose
Date: 2019
Chapters
- Applying Critical Thinking within Administrative Contexts: Perspectives from Two Programs: Administrative Contexts in Two Programs.
In: It Works for Me with Critical Thinking: A Step-by-Step Guide [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2019
- Fashioning a Framework: The Role of New Technologies in Drafting Creative Writing Projects
In: Creative Writing: Drafting, Revising, Editing [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2019
Interviews
- Meet Waffle House’s Poet Laureate. She’s Touring Georgia High Schools to Promote College Access
In: Chronicle Interview. The Chronicle of Higher Education
Date: September 2019
- Waffle House has an official poet laureate. For real
In: Atlanta Magazine
Date: August 2019
All Publications
Books
- Lost on Purpose
Date: 2019
- Disrupt This!: MOOCs and the Promises of Technology.
Date: 2017
- On Occasion: Four Poets, One Year
Date: 2014
- My Paris Year
Date: 2009
Winner of the 2008 Editor’s Choice Award for Excellence in Poetry
- Sassing
Date: 2009
- Shadow Boxes: Poems and Prose Poems
Date: 2003
Book - Editors
- Teaching as a Human Experience: An Anthology of Poetry
Date: 2015
Journal Articles
- The Centrality of the Center: Best Practices for Developing a Robust Communication Center on Campus
In: Carolinas Communication Annual [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2019
- An Approach to Serving Faculty in the Writing Center.
In: WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2017
- Rethinking Grammar Instruction: Empowering Tutors to More Comprehensively Address Tutees’ Needs and Concerns
In: Synergy [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2017
- Are MOOCs the Future of General Education?
In: Journal of General Education: A Curricular Commons of the Humanities and Sciences [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2014
- Left Off
In: Inside Higher Ed
Date: 2014
- Shifting the Center: Piloting Embedded Tutoring Models to Support Multimodal Communication Across the Disciplines
In: Praxis: A Writing Center Journal Special Issue: Course-Embedded Writing Support Programs in Writing Centers [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2014
- Lessons Learned from a Freshman Composition MOOC
In: The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Wired Campus
Date: September 2013
- Inside a MOOC in Progress
In: The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Wired Campus
Date: June 2013
- Massive Open Online Adventure
In: The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Digital Campus 2013
Date: April 2013
- Sweating the Details of a MOOC in Progress
In: The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Wired Campus
Date: April 2013
- Of MOOCs and Mousetraps
In: The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Wired Campus
Date: February 2013
- Here a MOOC, There a MOOC: But Will it Work for Freshman Composition
In: The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Wired Campus
Date: January 2013
Chapters
- Applying Critical Thinking within Administrative Contexts: Perspectives from Two Programs: Administrative Contexts in Two Programs.
In: It Works for Me with Critical Thinking: A Step-by-Step Guide [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2019
- Fashioning a Framework: The Role of New Technologies in Drafting Creative Writing Projects
In: Creative Writing: Drafting, Revising, Editing [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2019
- toryboard(ing): Multimodal Tool and Artifact
In: Multimodal Consulting: A Guide for Tutors [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2019
- STEM Students and the Design of Writing Studio Pedagogy
In: Writing Studio Pedagogy: Space, Place, and Rhetoric in Collaborative Environments [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2017
- From the ground up: shaping community, collaboration, and multiliteracies
In: Making Space: Writing Instruction, Infrastructure, and Multiliteracies [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2016
- Imagining It. Building It. Living It
In: Sustainable Learning Spaces: Design Infrastructure, and Technology [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2015
- The Single Canon: MOOCs and Academic Colonization
In: MOOCs and Open Education Around the World [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2015
- The Hidden Costs of MOOCs
In: Invasion of the MOOCs [Peer Reviewed]
Date: 2014
Interviews
- Meet Waffle House’s Poet Laureate. She’s Touring Georgia High Schools to Promote College Access
In: Chronicle Interview. The Chronicle of Higher Education
Date: September 2019
- Waffle House has an official poet laureate. For real
In: Atlanta Magazine
Date: August 2019