2024 PhD Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media, North Carolina State University
2020 M.A. English Literature, North Carolina State University
2018 B.A. English with a concentration in Secondary Teacher Education, North Carolina State University, summa cum laude
Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate, North Carolina State University - in process
- Digital humanities and media studies: Multimodality and learning
- 20th Century American authorship
- Design and mediation production and theory
- Madness and disability
- Accessibility
- Pedagogy
2020-present Graduate Teaching Assistant (Instructor of Record) for First Year Writing (ENG 101), Department of English and the First Year Writing Program, North Carolina State University
2019-2020 Graduate Teaching Assistant (Instructor of Record) for American Literature (ENG 266), Department of English, North Carolina State University
1/2017-12/2018 Undergraduate and Graduate Tutor, University Tutorial Center - Academic Success Center, North Carolina State University
2020-2021 Programmer and Content Contributor, FrankenProject, North Carolina State University.
FrankenProject is a Python-Arduino-Blender experience-based device that facilitates user-generated distant readings of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. When a user touches the Arduino: (1) the human body “pulls” energy from the object, (2) the object registers the amount of voltage lost to transduction, (3) the Python program performs a mediated reading of Frankenstein based on that loss, and (4) a new, glitchy reading appears on a screen. In this way, FrankenProject literally connects users to Shelley’s novel, especially to Victor’s journey from creator to spectator as his assemblage acts in/on the world. With this project, I work with Python, Natural Language Processing, and GPT2 to develop and create unique poems and textual analysis to support textual glitching and distant reading.
2020 Designer and Logistical Lead, “Follow the Bees: Sylvia Plath and Dorothea Dix Park,” Raleigh, NC.
This event I am planning at the Dorothea Dix’s Flower Cottage will raise awareness about the mental health community in Raleigh, then and now, by illuminating the issues of the city’s treatment of the Hospital Cemetery. The event will invite the public to create flower arrangements to place across the graves of the at least 900 people that are buried at the cemetery. All the more, this event will explore Sylvia Plath’s depictions of mental illness, community, and bees to situate her works in the local community.
2019-2020 Exhibit Curator, “When MLK and the KKK met in Raleigh” Gallery at the African American Cultural Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
The “When MLK and the KKK met in Raleigh” featured never-before seen archival research conducted by Dr. Jason Miller, as seen on WUNC News and Spectrum News. I designed and curated the gallery exhibit as housed at the African American Cultural Center to best showcase the cultural artifacts collected by Dr. Miller, capturing the history that led up to Dr. King at Reynolds Coliseum, and focused the gallery on reframing history. This gallery will become a permanent digital installation on display at NC State University’s Hunt Library.
2019-2020 Content Analyst and Contributor, The Don Welch Digital Archive, @donwelch.net.
With the Don Welch Digital Archive, I produced ekphrastic readings of Paul Otero’s surrealist illustrations and explored their relationship to Don Welch’s poetry. I also produced digital copies of Welch’s personal letters that he sent to his wife, Marcia, and wrote the introductory content material for the archive. Lastly, I created a walking tour of Don Welch in Kearney, NE.
2019 Content Creator and Designer, Julian of Norwich VR Anchorhold, Omeka and Unity.
To make Julian of Norwich’s writings and realities as an anchoress more accessible, I created a virtual reality system modeled after her anchorhold utilizing Oculus and Unity applications. Fascinatingly numerous parallels arose between VR creation, implementation, and utilization as the experience of the anchorhold, including the roles of barriers, isolation, sensory deprivation, and wear on the body. Thus, VR technology can allow us to perhaps discover and evaluate how the restriction of place and space are evident and relevant factors presented in her written works as well as help users to embody her own positionality, even if only marginally.
2018-2020 Graduate Research Assistant and Project Coordinator, Literacy and Community Initiative, College of Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
The Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI) works with community-based organizations to amplify and empower the voices of historically under-served and under-represented North Carolina youth through a publishing curriculum. Following the publication of their stories, the LCI employs a qualitative coding process to evaluate the topics and themes that the student-authors illuminated in their writing. With the LCI, I created and implemented different curriculums with the Juntos Hispanic Literacy Group, taught writing, editing, and performance lessons, worked with the students to publish their stories, and hand-coded their writings.
2020 Lee, Crystal, Kelsey Dufresne, and Laura Jacobs. “Writing Girlhood: Narratives of Healing Among Adolescent Girls in a Community-Based Organization.” Genders, Cultures and Literacies: Understanding Intersecting Identities, Routledge/Taylor & Francis. (under production)
2020 Lee, Crystal, Jose Picart, Nina Schoonover, and Kelsey Dufresne. “Partnering and Writing with Youth in Community Organizations.” Literacy Across the Community: A Handbook of Research and Praxis. (under production)
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey and Bryce Stout. “In the Anchorhold: Invitational Rhetoric Embedded in VR Systems.” Computers and Composition. (under production)
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Reframing Art with Nature: Flowers, People, and Art in Bloom.” AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, Special Issue: “Acoustic and Visual Ecology of Damaged Planet.” (under review)
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Tracing Multimodal Mediation of the Sublime in Wilkinson and under review Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes (1810).” The Wordsworth Circle. (under review)
2020 Lee, Crystal, Kelsey Dufresne, and Jackie Relyea. “Dreamers and Doers: Writing to Advocate with Immigrant Youth in Community-based Organizations. ” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. DOI:10.1002/jaal.1131
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey. "Buried and Stifled History: The Dorothea Dix Hospital Cemetery as a Space of Marginalization." Markers, 2021 volume. (under review)
2020 Cervantes, Andrea , Briza Cruz, Kelsey Dufresne, Kevin Garcia-Galindo, Aldo Galvan Hernandez, Crystal Chen Lee, Nina Schoonover, and Luis Zavala. “Poets as Proponents: Creating Safe Spaces for Minorities.” Fringes.
2020 Lee, Crystal, Jose Picart, Nina Schoonover, and Kelsey Dufresne. “The Power of Youth Voices: Bringing a Publishing Curriculum to Your Classroom.” Friday Institute of Educational Innovation, North Carolina State University. (Education Brief).
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey. “You’re Hurting Me: Disability and Disabling Experiences with Property and A Land More Kind Than Home.“ North Carolina Folklore Journal, vol. 67.
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Holding on to Hope and A List: Collages from COVID-19.” Dispatch from Quarantine, A Remote Zine.
2020 Marrero, Angelique, Desiree McClarnon, Kelsey Dufresne, and Crystal Lee. (Eds.) A Leg Up with CORRAL Riding Academy. Raleigh, NC: Literacy and Community Initiative.
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey, Crystal Lee, Nina Schoonover and Jose Picart. (Eds.) The Voices of Our People: Nuestras Verdades. Raleigh, NC: Literacy and Community Initiative.
2019 Lee, Crystal, Nina Schoonover and Kelsey Dufresne. (Eds.) Strong and Unbroken. Raleigh, NC: Literacy and Community Initiative.
2021 Dufresne, Kelsey, Micah Vandegrift, and Scott Bailey. “‘Tally Tracker Explorer’: Communicated Scholarship and Digital Humanities on Public Surveillance.” Global Digital Humanities Symposium. Virtual. (under review)
2021 Lee, Crystal, Kelsey Dufresne, and Jackie Relyea. “Dreamers and Doers: Writing to Advocate with Immigrant Youth in Community-based Organizations.” American Educational Research Association. Orlando, FL.
2021 “Critical Making in the Literature Classroom: Utilizing VR Technology to study Authorial Affect.” Northeast Modern Language Association, Digital Humanities in Language and Literature Classrooms. Philadelphia, PA.
2021 “Anchorholds, VR Technology, and the English Student on an Engineering Campus.” Modern Language Association, Borrowed Tools for Digital Scholarship and Pedagogy. Toronto, Canada.
2021 Dufresne, Kelsey and Crystal Lee. “‘I Still Believe in Myself’: Amplifying the Voices of Marginalized and Underserved Youth.” Modern Language Association, #OwnVoices in Children’s and Adolescent Literature. Toronto, Canada.
2020 Olsen, Calvin, Kelsey Dufresne, and David Rieder. “FrankenProject.” Digital Humanities Collaborative of North Carolina, Digital Humanities in Extraordinary Times. Virtual conference.
2020 “Bees and the Necessity for the Swarm: VR Mediations of our Human Destruction on Bee Populations.” Research Cafe. Raleigh, NC.
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey, Paul Watts-Offret, Crystal Lee, and Jose Picart. “‘I am Part of This Dream’: Publishing Student Narratives to Promote Equity in North Carolina.” NC State University Gender & Equity Research Symposium. Raleigh, NC.
2020 “In the Anchorhold: Creating VR Spaces to Embody Julian of Norwich’s Writing and Positionality.” NC State University 15th Annual Graduate Research Symposium. Raleigh, NC. (canceled due to COVID-19)
2020 “Live: The Don Welch Digital Archive.” Don Welch Teacher’s Conference, Kearney, NE, University of Nebraska at Kearney, March 20, 2020. (conference postponed due to COVID-19).
2020 “The Edges of My Mother: Teaching Frieda Hughes and Sylvia Plath.” Northeast Modern Language Association, Sylvia Plath is Perfected: Recent Directions in Plath Studies. Boston, MA.
2019 Schoonover, Nina, Kelsey Dufresne, and Crystal Lee. “Empowering Student Exploration in Community-Based Organizations: Guiding Youth in Advocating, Writing, and Sharing their Journeys through a Publishing Curriculum.” National Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference. Baltimore, MD.
2019 Schoonover, Nina, Kelsey Dufresne, and Crystal Lee. “Bringing a Publishing Curriculum to your Classroom with The Literacy and Community Initiative.” American Education Week, Raleigh, NC.
2019 International Whitman Week, The Transatlantic Walt Whitman Association, New York City, May 26th - June 2nd, 2019.
2019 “Langston Hughes: Tracing Visual Culture in Poetry, Prose, and Art.” American Literature Association Conference, Langston Hughes Society. Boston, MA.
2019 “Langston Hughes: An Artistic Archive” AGES Conference at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
2019 “Womanhood, Witches, and Wonder: Utilizing Visual Media to Deconstruct Shakespeare’s Leading Women of Macbeth.” NCSU Gender & Equity Research Symposium.
2021 Chair for “Digital Humanities in Language and Literature Classrooms.” Northeast Modern Language Association. Virtual.
2020 Lead Organizer for Don Welch Annual Conference. Nebraska, March 20, 2020. (postponed due to COVID-19)
2019-present Conference Developer and Director for NC State University English Department's Graduate Research Cafe Series.
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Graduate Writing Center Consultant Panel Presentation.” University Tutorial Center’s Graduate Writing Center, NC State University, September 2020.
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Sylvia Plath, Dorothea Dix Hospital Cemetery, and Mental Health and Wellness.” Mental Health Advocacy Showcase, Raleigh, NC, April 2020. (canceled due to COVID-19)
2020 Lee, Crystal, Jose Picart, Kelsey Dufresne, and Paul Watts-Offret. “The Literacy and Community Initiative.” Outreach and Engagement: Spotlights on Engagement, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, April, 2020. [canceled due to COVID-19]
2020 Dufresne, Kelsey and Paul Watts-Offret. “A Collaborative Found Poem: The Visions of Juntos.” Juntos Convening, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, March, 2020. (canceled due to COVID-19)
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Southern Contemporary Literature: Salvage the Bones.” ENG 410. Guest Teacher Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, November 2019.
2019 Lee, Crystal, Kelsey Dufresne, and Nina Schoonover. “Dessert with Democracy: Youth Empowerment and Advocacy through Writing.” The Friday Institute, Raleigh, NC, November 2019.
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Arts Integration in the English Classroom.” ENG 400. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, November 2019.
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey, Nina Schoonover, and the students of the LCI. “The Literacy and Community Initiative Presents: Celebrating the Voices of Our People.” NC State University Libraries, October 2019.
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey, and Nina Schoonover. “We Are: Finding and Expressing the Self with Blackout Poetry.” Juntos Summer Academy, July 2019.
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey and the Hispanic Literacy Group. “The Voices of Our People: Family Celebration.” NC State University, June 2019.
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey. Digital Products and their Processes: “Langston Hughes: Artistic Archive - Tracing Visual Culture in Poetry, Prose, and Art.” NC State University Libraries Faculty and Staff, May 2019.
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey and the Hispanic Literacy Group. “The Roots of Our People.” The Raleigh School, Raleigh, NC, April 2019.
2019 Lee, Crystal, Kelsey Dufresne, Nina Schoonover, Jose Picart and the students of the LCI. “Literacy and Community Initiative’s Inaugural Reading Celebration.” The Friday Institute, Raleigh, NC, March 2019.
2019 Dufresne, Kelsey and the Hispanic Literacy Group. “A Reading from ‘The Roots of Our People: From One World to Another, Juntos.’" Quail Ridge Bookstore, Raleigh, NC, January 2019.
2018 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Reading a Piece of Art: Incorporating Visual Literacy Into the Classroom.” ENG 400. Guest Teacher Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, November 2018.
2018 Dufresne, Kelsey and the Hispanic Literacy Group. . “Young Author Reading: The Roots of Our People: From one World to Another, Juntos.” NC State University Libraries, October 2018.
2018 Dufresne, Kelsey. “Blackout Poetry: Securing a Buy-In for Creative Writing Lessons.” ECI 307, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, October 2018.
2019 Archivist, The Don Welch Digital Archive @donwelch.net Wrote the headnote and organized and digitized 80 pages of original letters from the 1950s; Contextualized poems that appeared with illustrations by Paul Otero
2018 Creator and Director, Langston Hughes Artistic Archive, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, North Carolina State University. Created the archive by organizing original artwork from over thirty different artists that have been, could be, and still are affiliated with the written work of Langston Hughes
2020 “In the Anchorhold: Creating Virtual Reality Spaces to Embody Julian of Norwich’s Writing and Positionality.” Biodata as Material Workshop. NordiCHI 2020.
Fall 2020-present Digital Scholarship Consultant, Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center, NC State University Libraries
Fall 2020 Data Science Consultant, Data & Visualization, NC State University Libraries
Spring 2017-Fall 2018 Undergraduate and Graduate Writing Tutor, Academic Success Center, NC State University
Spring 2021 Modern Language Association Convention Travel Grant
Fall 2020-Spring 2021 University Graduate Fellowship
Fall 2020-Spring 2021 NC State Teaching Assistantship, ENG 101
Spring 2020 Distinguished Capstone Award, English Department, NC State University
Spring 2020 Award in Excellence in Classroom Teaching, NC State University
Spring 2020 Graduate Research Symposium Funding Award
Spring 2020 NC State English Department Travel Award
Fall 2019 NC State English Department Travel Award
Summer 2019 NC State English Department Travel Award
Spring 2019 DReAM Lab Scholarship, University of Pennsylvania
Fall 2018-Spring 2020 NC State Teaching Assistantship, ENG 266
Spring 2018 North Carolina State University Valedictorian
Spring 2018 Lucinda MacKethan Award
Spring 2017 Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society
2020 Contributed 4 annotations of scholarly articles to CompPile
2020-2021 Mentor, NC State University English Department, Raleigh, North Carolina
2019-present Research Cafe Development: English Graduate Student Fast Talk Series, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
2018-present Faculty Advisor, NCSU Student Organizations: DanceLife, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
North Carolina State Teaching License: Secondary English Education
Cary High School, Wake County, North Carolina: 12th Grade English (Academic and AP) and Creative Writing (1 and 2)
- Activism/Social Justice/CER Cluster
- Art/Creative Media/Literature Cluster
- Critical Theory/Cultural Studies Cluster
- Digital Humanities/Critical Making Cluster
- Digital Rhetorics/Rhetorics of Space and Place Cluster
- Feminism/Intersectionality/Gender Studies/Diversity/Inclusivity/CRT/Disability Studies Cluster
- Game Studies Cluster
- Langston Hughes Society
- Literacy/Pedagogy/First Year Writing/Writing Program Admin/Composition Cluster
- Media Studies/Media Circulation Cluster
- Methods Research Cluster
- Modern Language Association
- National Council of Teachers of English
- NCTE at North Carolina State University
- NeMLA Graduate Caucus
- North Carolina Association of Educators
- Northeast Modern Language Association
- Phi Beta Kappa
- Pop Culture/Film/Television/Animation/Fandom Studies Cluster