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Q&A With Calista Kelly

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Calista Kelly
Doctoral Student, Claremont Graduate University
Location: Ontario, CA United States
Joined: Sep 7th, 2013

About (request update)

I was born and reared in metro Atlanta, Georgia, more specifically in the suburbs of College Park, Georgia where I remained for the first twenty-four years of my life. I attended Fulton County public schools: Love T. Nolan (K-4) and Woodland Elementary (5) schools, Crabapple Middle School, and Tri-Cities High School; and I participated in many extracurricular activities like the Debate Team, the Spanish, Science, and Drama clubs, and the Student Government Association. Among other things, I was a student in the Visual and Performing Arts Magnet program at Tri-Cities and an honors student.

I enrolled at Paine College, a small, private historically black college in Augusta, Georgia after I graduated from high school. I declared a major in Journalism and then later changed it to English in the middle of my sophomore year to fit into my new scholastic identity as a Mellon-Mays Undergraduate fellow. I worked with the student and pre-alumni councils, held class offices as the freshman and senior class presidents, and continued performing in and outside of the theater department. I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree in English as the Salutatorian of my class and went on to enroll at Purdue University.

In the Fall of 2007, I began my Master of Arts degree program in English Language and Linguistics and continued my undergraduate research on African American Vernacular English and its use/non-use in the English composition classrooms at a particular historically black institution. I argued that English instructors could be committing "educational malpractice" (Baugh 1999) in their rejection or voluntary ignorance of a legitimate, linguistic system linked to African Americans, and thus, were contributing to the failure of black students at the institution due to students' assessments on mandatory, institution-wide writing exams, which students have to take in order to graduate (see CV link to view publications).

I decided to take two years off before pursuing a Ph.D. and was hired as an adjunct professor of English at the Community College of Philadelphia, where I taught introductory composition and reading, and as a 5th-8th grade group leader at EducationWorks, Incorporated, a non-profit organization seeking to provide health- and education-related resources to low-income families.

In 2011, I enrolled in the Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS) Master's degree program at Stanford's Graduate School of Education and completed it in June 2012. Currently, I am pursuing the PhD in the Teaching/Learning/Culture program at Claremont Graduate University where I plan to teach at the collegiate level part-time and later become a university administrator once I have completed.

Current Whereabouts:

I'm into my doctoral studies and coursework and my research at Stanford on an electronic portfolio initiative headed by Helen Chen, expert researcher on ePortfolios, and, of course, my faith is important, so I am active in my local church

Life & Professional Aspirations:

Teach at the collegiate level, seek a tenure-track professorship, publish, and become a university administrator

Website:

https://stanford.digication.com/luk/Biography/published

Education (request update)

Paine College class of 2007

Undergrad Major: English

Claim To Fame:

Salutatorian and Senior class president; Stanford University alum

Most Memorable Moment:

Reigning as the 2005-2006 Paine College Miss UNCF, coronations and student activities, Greek life, friendships, the UNCF Masked Ball UNCF Fundraiser

Stanford University class of

Grad Major:

High School: Tri-Cities High School in East Point, GA class of 2003

Activities & Accomplishments:

Visual and Performing Arts Magnet program, president of Science Club, organizer for graduation, Faculty Cup Student of the Year award recipient, Pepsi Cola scholarship recipient, VPA Student of the Ye

Best Memories:

Theater productions, the teachers--Ms. Roark (English), Mr. Westbrook (Physical Science) and Mr. Nanabuluku (Drama) to name a few, friendships, relationships. extracurricular activities

Experience

I currently work with Claremont Graduate University as Doctoral Student
I have 3 years of experience working in the Teaching / K-12 Education industry.

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