Kaia Simon, Ph.D.
Contact Information
105 Garfield Avenue
Eau Claire, WI 54702
Biography
Kaia Simon directs the Blugold Seminar Writing Program and teaches courses in the Rhetorics of Science, Technology, and Culture emphasis in the English Department. Her research focuses on literacy, multilingual writers, feminisms, rhetoric, and first-year writing/composition. Dr. Simon’s current work on Hmong women and literacy has been published in Literacy in Composition Studies and College Composition and Communication. Before earning her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Dr. Simon taught secondary English at the middle and high school levels.
Education
- Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, English with a Certificate in Writing Studies
- M.A., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, English
- B.A., University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, English Education
Teaching and Research Interests
Teaching interests
- First-year rhetoric and writing
- Cultural rhetorics
- Histories and theories of rhetoric
- Feminist rhetorics
Creative/Scholarly interests
- Literacy Studies
- Transnational feminist literacies and rhetorics
- Hmong women’s literacies and rhetorics
- Multi- and translingual writers
- First-year rhetoric and writing
Administrative and Service Responsibilities
- Director, Blugold Seminar First-year Writing Program
- Critical Hmong Studies Advisory Board
- Affiliate, REGSS
Published Research
Simon, Kaia. “Developing Audience Awareness and Brokering Social Justice in First Year Writing Classrooms.” In Building a More Linguistically Just Campus: Pedagogy and Advocacy for Multilingual Students, edited by Eunjeong Lee, Norah Fahim, Jennifer Johnson, and Brooke Schreiber, Multilingual Matters Press, 2021, pp. 72-86.
Simon, Kaia. “Translating a Path to College: Literate Resonances of Migrant Child Language Brokering.”College Composition and Communication, vol. 71, no. 1, Sept 2019, pp. 60-85.
Simon, Kaia. “Daughters Learning from Fathers: Family Literacies that Mediate Borders.” Literacy in Composition Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, March 2017, pp. 1-20.
Honors And Recognition
UWEC Honors and Awards
- Inaugural Debra Maben Mid-Career University Fellow, 2023-2028
- Wisconsin Teaching Fellow, 2022-2023