Complete CV available upon request.
Professor of English & Writing Program Administrator
LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York
Areas of Expertise
Clark's work sits at the intersection of writing and technology. From her early scholarship on basic writers and digital learning environments, through her nationally recognized ePortfolio work, to her current leadership in AI literacy and pedagogy, writing remains central: as a subject, as a practice, and as a lens for understanding how students learn. Her creative work extends that commitment into poetry, fiction, children's literature, science writing.
Academic & Pedagogical: Project-Based Learning, Curriculum Design, Faculty Professional Development, ePortfolio Pedagogy, AI Literacy & Ethics, Writing Program Administration, High-Impact Practices, Integrative Learning, Composition Studies, Growth Mindset Pedagogy
Creative & Professional Writing: Poetry, KidLit, Science Writing for kids
Selected Awards & Recognition
CUNY Celebrating Excellence in Teaching Award (2025)
Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology, International Conference on Teaching and Learning(2008)
Selected National & External Affiliations
Institute Faculty, WPI Project-Based Learning Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (2016–present) National institute supporting faculty in designing and implementing project-based learning curriculum
Institute Faculty, Institute on Experiential Learning and Engaged Dialogue, American Association of Colleges and Universities (2009–present) National institute supporting faculty implementing experiential and integrative learning design
Co-Team Lead, AAC&U Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum (2024–present) National faculty cohort exploring ethical and pedagogically sound approaches to AI in higher education
Humanities Disciplinary Lead, CUNY Building Bridges of Knowledge AI Project, Lumina Foundation (2024)CUNY-wide initiative creating open educational resources on AI, funded by the Lumina Foundation
English Faculty Learning Community Lead, Corequisite Meauxtivators Project, Motivate Labs, Louisiana (2025–2026) Led online faculty learning community on learning mindsets and corequisite pedagogy
CUNY Learning Mindsets Fellow, Associate, & Ambassador (2021–2024) System-wide faculty leadership role supporting growth mindset pedagogy across CUNY campuses
Associate Editor, International Journal of ePortfolio (2018–present)
Selected LaGuardia Leadership
Writing Program Administrator, Department of English (2022–present)
Co-Lead, AI, Pedagogy & Curriculum Initiative (2025–2026) College-wide faculty initiative coordinating AI integration across curriculum and professional development
Co-Founder and Co-Lead, AI Advisory Council (2025–present)
High-Impact Practices Fellow, Academic Affairs (2024–2026) Led college-wide HIPs initiative; and developed Learning that Lasts, LaGuardia's public-facing HIPs resource*
Curriculum Development Team Lead, LIN 150: Introduction to Integrative Research Methods (2022–2023) Led a year-long interdisciplinary curriculum development process with ten Liberal Arts faculty to design and build LaGuardia's new Liberal Arts milestone course
Faculty Professional Development, LaGuardia Community College (2002–present) Designed and led year-long seminars, workshops, and learning communities on ePortfolio, capstone, integrative learning, curriculum design, incorporating technology across the curriculum, liberal arts, high-impact practices
Selected Grants & Funding
$25,000, LaGuardia Community College, to support development of institutional AI framework and faculty professional development seminar (2025)
Lumina Foundation, CUNY Building Bridges of Knowledge AI Project — Humanities Disciplinary Lead (2024)
Community College Collaborative Incentive Research Grant ($30,000), "High Stakes Testing: Redefining Composition Studies," co-authored with Marisa A. Klages (2005)
National Endowment for the Humanities Institute, "Medicine, Literature and Culture," Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania — Participant (2002)
Selected Initiatives & Curriculum Development
Team Lead, LaGuardia's inaugural AI Institute: Navigating AI At LaGuardia: Shared Map, Different Lines (January 2026)
Co-Edited LaGuardia's First Year Seminar GenAI Literacy Modules and built accompanying faculty-facing website (2025–2026)
Led college-wide High-Impact Practices initiative, developed and built Learning That Lasts, LaGuardia's public-facing HIPs website (2024–2026)
Co-authored Periodic Program Review for the Writing Program, LaGuardia Community College (2025)
Textual Transformations: An Introduction to AI for Composition 101. Nine-unit open educational resource created for the CUNY Building Bridges of Knowledge Program. Released under CC BY NC 4.0. Freely available for full or partial adoption. (2024) Access the curriculum
Selected Publications
"Assessment," curated entry in Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: Concepts, Models, and Experiments. Modern Language Association (2020)
"What, Exactly, Are We Amplifying? A Decade of AAC&U's ePortfolio Forum." International Journal of ePortfolio9.1 (2019)
"From Selfies to Self-Representation in Electronically Mediated Reflection," in Kathleen Blake Yancey, ed. A Rhetoric of Reflection. University Press of Colorado (2016)
"A High-Stakes Essay Says Nothing About a Student's Writing Ability." The New York Times, Room for Debate (2014)
"Measuring Progress with Student ePortfolios," with Bret Eynon. Peer Review 13.4/14.1 (2011/2012)
"Effective Pedagogy" in General Education and Liberal Learning: Principles of Effective Practice by Paul L. Gaston. AAC&U (2010)
"The Digital Imperative." Computers and Composition 27.1 (2010)
"New Worlds of Error and Expectation: Basic Writers and Digital Assumptions," with Marisa A. Klages. Journal of Basic Writing 28.1 (2009). Reprinted in Teaching Developmental Writing, 4e (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2013)
"ePortfolios @ 2.0: Surveying the Field," with Bret Eynon. Peer Review 11.1 (2009)
"The Bartlet Administration and Contemporary Populism in NBC’s The West Wing,” The Contemporary Television Series. Ed. Michael Hammond and Lucy Mazdon. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2005.
“(In/Out)side AIDS Activism: Searching for a Critically Engaged Politics,” Journal of Medical Humanities, 25.4 (Winter 2004).
“Interview with Rachel Hadas” and “Interview with Tory Dent,” the minnesota review (Fall 2002).
Selected Keynote & Featured Addresses
"Designed to Matter: What Project-Based Learning Makes Possible." Keynote Address, WPI PBL Institute (June 2026)
“At the Edge of the Map: Project-Based Learning in Times of Uncertainty.” Keynote Address, WPI PBL Institute (June 2025)
"Projects are People." Keynote Address, WPI PBL Collaborative (January 2023)
"The Future of Liberal Education in the New Learning Ecosystem." Featured Session with Randy Bass, José Antonio Bowen, and Gardner Campbell, AAC&U Centennial Meeting (January 2015)
"Digital Yesterdays, Digital Tomorrows: The Social Life of Information and the Shape of Writing Instruction," CUNY Mina Shaughnessy Lecture with Kathleen Blake Yancey (December 2013).
"The Fragile Dream: ePortfolio, At-Risk Students, and College Success." Keynote Address, AAC&U ePortfolio Forum, San Francisco (January 2011)
"Make It Real: Learning, Assessment & ePortfolio at an Urban Community College." Keynote with Bret Eynon, AAC&U ePortfolio Symposium, Washington, DC (January 2010)
"Assessment, in a Word, is Good: Taking the Next Steps in Student-Centered Assessment." Keynote Address, Basic Skills Conference, Fresno City College (April 2009)
Selected Interviews
Learning Mindsets and Academic Achievement on Edcast: Does what we believe about learning affect how we learn? Dr. Linda Hirsch speaks with Dr. Mari Watanabe-Rose and Dr. J. Elizabeth Clark of the CUNY Initiative on Learning Mindsets about the various mindsets and motivations that promote learning and well-being.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7ZDv9Jo6jU
Digication Scholars Conversations: Ethics in ePortfolio Technology: ETHICS IN EPORTFOLIO TECHNOLOGY: Members of The Association for Authentic, Experiential, & Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) Digital Ethics Taskforce discuss digital ethics in ePortfolio use. Featuring host Jeffrey Yan, and Task Force Members J. Elizabeth Clark, Megan Mize, Peter McLellan, Sarah Zurhellen
Selected Presentations
“Growth Mindset Meets Generative AI: Reimagining AI Use Through Student-Centered, Ethical Practice,” with Casandra Silva Sibilin and Mari Watanabe-Rose. AAC&U Annual Meeting (January 2026).
“Shared Equity, Shared Impact: Using HIPs and Assessment to Tell a New Institutional Story,” with Reem Jaafar, Milena Cuellar and Ellen Quish. AAC&U Annual Meeting (January 2026).
“A New Framework for Project-Based Learning: Reclaiming Higher Education’s Purpose in a Time of Change” with Kimberly LeChasseur, Ryan Madan, Geoff Pfeifer, and Sarah Stanlick. AAC&U Annual Meeting (January 2026).
"Quantum Adventures: How STEM Fiction Warps Minds and Bends Reality, Making Young Readers Believers." International Year of Quantum Science and Technology Conference, LaGuardia Community College (April 2025)
"Building Bridges of Knowledge: Supporting, Elevating, and Leading Through Example," with BBK Disciplinary Leads and Humanities Faculty. CUNY Teaching and Learning Conference (April 2025)
"Supporting Students' Ethical Use of AI: Ideas and Practices in Humanities and STEM Fields," with Karan M. Puri. CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy Teaching Matters Series on Generative AI (November 2024)
"Growing with AI: How AI Can Support Growth Mindsets," with Casandra Silva Sibilin. CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy Teaching Matters Series on Generative AI (2024)
"Motivating Learners and the CUNY Mindset Initiative." Queens College Pedagogy of Kindness Seminar (April 2022)
Selected Editorial & Reviewing
Associate Editor, International Journal of ePortfolio (2018–present)
Reviewer, International Journal of ePortfolio (2011–present)
Reviewer, Teaching English in the Two-Year College (2014–present)
Consulting Editor, Change magazine (2018–2021)
Editorial Board, Basic Writing eJournal (2009–2020)
Editorial Board, College Composition and Communication (2010–2013)
Editorial Board, Radical Teacher (1998–2008); Managing Editor (2001–2008)
Selected Academic Service
Co-Chair, Senate Ad-Hoc Online Learning Committee, LaGuardia Community College (2022–2023)
AAEEBL Digital Ethics Task Force (2021–2022)
Council on Basic Writing, Board Member and past Co-Chair (2008–2020)
MLA Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession, Member and Co-Chair (2005–2008)
MLA Delegate Assembly Representative for Community Colleges (2004–2007)
Education
Ph.D., English & American Literature, Binghamton University Dissertation: Miles of Poems/Culture of Blame: Advocacy, Activism and the Poetry of AIDS
Field Exam Areas: American Poetry and Poetic Theory; Latino/Latina Literature; 20th Century American Literature
Additional Certifications: Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies; College Teaching in English
M.A., English Literature & Creative Writing, Binghamton University Thesis: Boxes in the Attic (original poetry)
B.A., Creative Writing & History, Lycoming College
Selected Community Engagement
New York Aquarium Dive Team (2012–2026)
Veriditas Trained Labyrinth Facilitator