Holly Hassel

I am a teacher-scholar-researcher who specializes in writing studies--specifically writing program administration, the teaching of college writing, writing assessment, and writing pedagogy education. My two decades of experience teaching at two-year colleges has informed my research and scholarship, specifically focusing on better preparing future two-year college writing faculty. I have conducted numerous studies of college writers and teachers of writing, all of which inform my work as a writing program administrator and mentor. One of my main priorities is aligning theory and practice which is why my work takes place at both the local and national level.

I have held numerous leadership positions including chairing the Two-Year College English Association’s Research committee, chairing the Conference on College Composition and Communication (serving as program chair in 2021, the first virtual convention in the history of the organization); and co-chairing the CCCC-MLA joint Task Force on AI and Writing from 2023-2025, providing a trusted and leading voice on GenAI and writing for college writing teachers. I currently am a member of the MLA Task Force on AI in Research and Teaching. All of these leadership roles have produced articles, national organizatoinal position statements, white papers, keynote speeches appearing in proceedings, working papers and other materials.

My second (though not secondary) area of specialization is feminist studies, particularly feminist pedagogy. My feminist archival work has been published in a number of journals, particularly tracing historical feminist efforts within the field of writing and rhetoric. Likewise, I have translated feminist research into feminist service and teaching, having co-chaired the Feminist Caucus of CCCC for five years, served as a program director for Women's and Gender Studies for 6 years, and consistently teaching women's and gender studies courses, including most recently HU 3401: Gender and Culture at MTU. I am also co-author of a popular introductory women's and gender studies textbook currently in its 3rd edition.

My commitment to blending research, service, teaching and administration is illustrated throughout my professional record, including my most recent coauthored book, Reaching All Writers: A Pedagogical Guide to the Evolving College Writing Classroom (UP of Colorado/Utah State, 2024), which serves as a primer to preparing college writing teachers.

My professional ambitions are always to support effective college writing instruction, curricula, and assessment as broadly as possible and to develop resources (scholarly, pedagogical, and beyond) that advance that goal.

Recent or Forthcoming Book Publications:

• Hassel, Holly and Kate Pantelides, editors. Writing Emergencies: Composing (Ourselves) in Times of Crisis. Under contract with UP Colorado/Utah State UP, 2026. In production.
• Joanne Baird Giordano, Holly Hassel, Cassandra Phillips, and Jennifer Heinert.  ReachingAll Writers: A Pedagogical Guide for Evolving Writing Classrooms. UP Colorado/Utah State UP. February 2024.
• Cole, Kirsti, Joanne Baird Giordano, and Holly Hassel. A Faculty Guidebook for Effective Shared Governance and Service in Higher Education.  Routledge, 2023. 
• Hassel, Holly, and Cassandra Phillips. Materiality and Writing Studies: Aligning Labor,Scholarship, and Teaching. Studies in Writing and Rhetoric, National Council of Teachers of English. 2022. *Received the CWPA Best Book Award for 2024. 

 Recent or Forthcoming Articles

• Dagenais, Jordan, James Hammond, Holly Hassel, Jennifer Nish, John Sherrill, and Jack van Treese. “WPA(I) Work: Shaping Institutional and Disciplinary Responses to Generative AI at a STEM University.” Proposal accepted for special issue of Writing Program Administration. Publication expected Fall 2026. 
• Hassel, Holly, Timothy Oleksiak, Cheryl Hogue Smith, and David Green. “Changing the Table: From Complaint to Consensus in the CCCC Governance Restructuring (2021-2024).” Forthcoming in Spark Journal, special issue “CCCC at 75 Years: Engaging our Abundant Past, Present, and Future.” Guest editors Jennifer Sano-Franchini and Donnie Johnson Sackey. Forthcoming. 2026. 
• Introduction co-author and issue Co-Editor, with Dr. Kirsti Cole. Composition Studies Special Issue Summer 2026. “When Words Become Work: How Do We Collectively Turn Disciplinary Knowledge Into Institutional Action?”  
• Giordano, Joanne Baird, Holly Hassel, and Cassie Phillips. “"What We Hold On To": Doing Sustainable  Work in the Academy.” Accepted for special issue of Peitho: Journal of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition. Theme: “Academia in Crisis.”  Summer 2026 publication. 

• Bidwell, D-Jay, Jordan Dagneais, Holly Hassel, Brilynn Janckila, Jennifer Nish, Elizabeth Novotny, and Sharvaree Sawant.  “More Than [a] Rhetoric”: Custom Textbook Creation as Professional Development.”  Writing Program Administration. Accepted for publication in Spring 2026 issue.

• Giordano, Joanne Baird, Holly Hassel, Erin Lehman, Cassandra Phillips, Emily Suh, and Lizbett Tinoco. “(in)Equitable Spaces: Material and Cultural Barriers to Four-Year/Two-Year Collaboration.” Accepted for symposium in College English and Teaching English in the Two-Year College. “Equity and Material Conditions in Access-Intensive College English Programs.”  Expected Publication Date 2026.
• Pantelides, Kate and Holly Hassel. “Crying Censorship Wolf: Prefiguring Contemporary Realities Through Disciplinary History.” Forthcoming. College Composition and Communication. Feb. 2026.
• Boville, Laura, Joanne Baird Giordano, Holly Hassel, Jaclyn Hillberg and OW Petcoff. “‘Why Is It Like This?’: Graduate Student Learning Outcomes for the Future of Literacy Work in the Academy.”  Sept. 2025.  College English.
• Arnold, Lisa, Holly Hassel, and Lei Jiang. "After Implementation: Assessing Student Self-Placement in College Writing Programs." Journal of Writing Assessment, vol. 17, no. 1. 2024. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3pc0n4dz 
•  Hassel, Holly and Kate Pantelides. “Feminist Resistance, Resilience, and Concession: Historical Moments of Activism by NCTE and CCCC Feminist Groups (or, "Whatever You, Betty, and Nancy Think Ought to Be Done").Peitho Cluster Conversation, Addressing The Barriers Between Us and that Future: (Feminist) Activist Coalition Building in Writing Studies. Peitho Volume 26 Issue 1, Fall 2023
• Joanne Baird Giordano and Holly Hassel. “First-Year in the Two-Year: Preliminary Results from a Study of New Two-Year College Teacher Transitions.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College, vol. 50, no. 3, March 2023, pp. 255-277.