Elizabeth Kleinfeld

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Elizabeth Kleinfeld

Professor of English

Undergraduate Studies

Bio

If you listen carefully, you’ll catch just a bit of my Long Island roots in the way I say “peanut butter” and “orange.” I grew up just a short walk from the beach in Northport, NY, and then moved to the Washington, D.C. metro area when I was 9, where I learned the proper way to use the word “y’all.” I moved to Illinois for college, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Latin American history from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and Master’s and doctoral degrees in English Studies from Illinois State University.

After earning my Master’s, I moved to Denver on a whim and began teaching at the Community College of Aurora and Red Rocks Community College. I eventually joined the full-time faculty at Red Rocks Community College, where I taught until 2008, when I joined the MSU Denver faculty.

My hobbies include – of course – reading and writing. Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, e.e. cummings, Virginia Woolf, Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, and Michael Chabon are some of my favorite authors. I also like to cook and bake. Desserts are my specialty (some might say obsession) – my family and friends like to play “stump the dessert chef” with me. Other hobbies include traveling (especially to Mayan ruins in Central America or any place with plentiful water); camping, rafting, and other outdoor pursuits; yoga, running, and working out; and lounging outside with smart companions and a tall glass of almost anything.

I am a stroke survivor and have low vision, face blindness, and some paralysis on my left side

I blog about grief, disability, and joy at https://elizabethkleinfeld.com/.

Degree

PhD in Composition/Rhetoric

Illinois State University

MS in Literature

Illinois State University

BS in History

Bradley University

Published Works

  • Kleinfeld, A. E. . "Cripping Sex As We Age: Caregiver Memoirs and Anti-Ableist Approaches to Sex". (). Bristol University Press.
  • Kleinfeld, A. E., Lee, S., Prebel, J. (2024). Disruptive Stories: Structural Marginalization, Globalization and Marginalization, and Embodied Marginalization . ,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2022). The No-Policy Policy: Negotiating with (Neurodivergent) Clients. (in press). WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship.
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2022). The Revise & Resubmit. (). .
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2022). Teaching Toward a More Just Citation Practice. (). University Press of Colorado/Utah State University Press .
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2021). Elizabeth Kleinfeld on Emotional Labor in the Writing Center. WLN ,
  • Braziller, S. A., Kleinfeld, A. E. (2020). Instructor's Manual for The Bedford Book of Genres: A Guide & Reader. Bedford/St. Martin's,
  • Braziller, S. A., Kleinfeld, A. E. (2020). The Bedford Book of Genres: A Guide & Reader. Bedford/St. Martin's,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2020). Undergraduate Research and Labor Practices in Writing Studies. (). Parlor Press.
  • Kleinfeld, A. E., Lee, S., Prebel, J. (2020). Whose Voices Are Heard?: A Demographic Comparison of Authors Published in WLN 2005-2017 and Writers Interested in Publishing. WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, 45(7-8), 11-17. .
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2020). From Great to Good Enough: Recalibrating Expectations as WPA . (). Utah State University Press.
  • Braziller, S. A., Kleinfeld, A. E. (2020). The Bedford Book of Genres: A Guide & Reader. Bedford/St. Martin's,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2019). Researching About Research, Writing About Writing from Sources . (). Utah State University Press.
  • Kleinfeld, A. E., Wright, A. (2019). An Assignment Model for Teaching Students to Write from Sources. Currents in Teaching and Learning, 11(1). .
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2018). Just Read the Assignment: Using Course Documents to Analyze Research Pedagogy. (). Utah State University Press. Points of Departure Rethinking Student Source Use and Writing Studies Research Methods
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2018). Re-imagining Multimodality through UDL: Inclusivity and Accessibility. (). Utah State UP.
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2018). Taking an Expansive View of Accessibility: The Writing Center at Metropolitan State University of Denver . Composition Forum , 41 http://compositionforum.com/issue/39/.
  • Herring, J. T., Morrison, A. C., Young, S. K., Kleinfeld, A. E., MacDonald, E. L. (2017). Take a SIP of This: Peer-to-Peer Promotion of Strong Instructional Practices. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, (29.3), 571-579. http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/current.cfm .
  • Kleinfeld, A. E., Jamieson , S. . working title: Source Use Textbook . Bedford/St. Martin's,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2016). Using Citation Analysis in Writing Center Tutorials to Encourage 'Excessive Research'. Praxishttp://www.praxisuwc.com/.
  • Braziller , A., Kleinfeld, A. E. (2015). series on multimodal composition . , http://www.digitalrhetoriccollaborative.org/2015/09/03/myths-of-multimodal-composing/
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. . How FYC Documents Construct Source Use. Research Exchange: An Index of Contemporary Writing Research, http://researchexchange.colostate.edu/
  • Braziller, S. A., Kleinfeld, A. E. (2014). The Bedford Book of Genres: A Guide & Reader. Bedford/St. Martin's,
  • Braziller, S. A., Kleinfeld, A. E. (2014). The Bedford Book of Genres: A Guide. Bedford/St. Martin's,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2013). Sixty Audio Essays in Two Semesters with One iPod: Innovating and Making Do at a Community College. Computers & Composition Online, (Fall 2013). .
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2012). Fragments of an Open Door College Professor's Discourse on Mystory. Computers & Composition Online, (Fall 2012). www.bgsu.edu/departments/english/cconline/new_media_cc/Kleinfeld/Kleinfeld.html.
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2011). Writing Centers, Ethics, and "Excessive Research". Computers & Composition Online, (Fall 2011). http://cconlinejournal.org/ethics_special_issue/Kleinfeld/.
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2011). Teaching Carnival 4.6. The Chronicle of Higher Education, chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/teaching-carnival-4-6/30295
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2010). MetaSpace: Meatspace and Blogging Intersect. (pp 226-238). .
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2006). Writing @ RRCC: A Handbook. Pearson,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2005). Writing @ RRCC: A Handbook. Pearson,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2003). Telecoop Distance Learning Consortium Annual Report. ,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2002). Growing Up Incarcerated: The Prison-Industrial Complex and Literacy as Resistance. (). .
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2002). Telecoop Distance Learning Consortium Annual Report. ,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2001). Telecoop Distance Learning Consortium Annual Report. ,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2000). Telecoop Distance Learning Consortium Annual Report. ,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (2000). The Courtyard. Pepper,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (1999). Measures. Gateway City Brewz,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (1999). Going in Circles on the Last Day of Class. 4MAT Implementation Guide,
  • Kleinfeld, A. E. (1999). Telecoop Distance Learning Consortium Annual Report. ,

Research Interests

You can find information about my research here: https://elizabethkleinfeld.com/current-projects.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
2025 CWPA Best Book Award, Council of Writing Program Administrators, for Disruptive Stories: Amplifying Voices from the Writing Center Margin (University Press of Colorado, 2024)
Pushcart Prize nomination for "All My New Friends Are Widows," Herstry, 2023
Best Emerging Writer, Masters Review, for "Driftwood," 2024

SELECT SCHOLARLY PUBLICATIONS
Kleinfeld, E.A., Lee, S., and Prebel, J., editors. Disruptive Stories: Amplifying Voices from the Writing Center Margin. University Press of Colorado, 2024.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "The No-Policy Policy." WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, 2023.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "Teaching Toward a More Just Citation Practice." Composition and Rhetoric in Contentious Times, edited by Jennifer Juszkiewicz and Rachel McCabe, 2022.
Kleinfeld, E.A., Lee, S., and Prebel, J. "Whose Voices Are Heard?: A Demographic Comparison of Authors Published in WLN 2005-2017 and Writers Interested in Publishing." WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, vol. 45, no. 7-8, 2021.
Braziller, A.S., and Kleinfeld, E.A. The Bedford Book of Genres, 4th edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2025.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "From Great to Good Enough: Recalibrating Expectations as WPA." The Things We Carry: Strategies for Recognizing and Negotiating Emotional Labor in Writing Program Administration, edited by Courtney Adams Wooten, Jacob Babb, Kristi Murray Costello, and Kate Navickas, Utah State University Press, 2020.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "Undergraduate Research and Labor Practices in Writing Studies." The Naylor Report on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies, edited by Dominic DelliCarpini, Jenn Fishman, and Jane Greer, Parlor Press, 2020.
Kleinfeld, E.A., and Wright, A. "An Assignment Model for Teaching Students to Write from Sources." Currents in Teaching and Learning, vol. 11, no. 1, 2019.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "Growing Up Incarcerated: The Prison-Industrial Complex and Literacy as Resistance." Growing Up Postmodern: Neoliberalism and the War on the Young, edited by Ron Strickland, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.

SELECT CREATIVE PUBLICATIONS
Kleinfeld,E.A. "Tom's Left Hand." RiverTeeth Beautiful Things, 2026.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "You May Not Notice My Disability, but My Low Vision Is Not Invisible." Open Secrets Magazine, 2024.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "Grief Is Hard. Not Talking about It Makes It Even Harder." The Boston Globe, 2024.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "All My New Friends Are Widows." Herstry, 2023. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "Listening to Kendi." Hindsight: Untold Stories from 2020, 2023.
Kleinfeld, E.A. "How to Eat a Strawberry." Bright Flash Literary Review, 2022.

Teaching Interests

disability studies, writing center theory/practice, rhetoric, ethnographic research methods

My teaching philosophy is here: https://elizabethkleinfeld.com/students.

Office Hours

Spring 2026: Mondays, 12:30 to 1:30 via Teams (email me for link). To make an appointment outside my office hours, go to https://calendly.com/elizabethkleinfeld.

Additional Information

https://elizabethkleinfeld.com/