Rate My Professor Stephanie Dunson

Stephanie Dunson is an Assistant Professor in Residence in Literature at the University of Connecticut's Stamford campus within the Department of English. Her academic background includes a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in English/American Studies (2004), an M.A. from the same institution (1990), and a B.A. in English and American Literature from Ohio University (1985). Throughout her extensive career, she has held key positions such as Director of Writing Programs at Williams College (2010-2019), Assistant Professor of African-American Literature and American Culture at the University of Rhode Island (2004-2010), Lecturer and Writing Center Director at Mount Holyoke College (1993-1998), and Teaching Associate at the University of Massachusetts (1988-1990 and 1998-2004). She has also taught at Wesleyan University as a Guest Lecturer since 1997 and serves as a Lecturer in Management at the Yale School of Management.

Dunson's scholarly work centers on nineteenth-century American culture and historic race representation, with a focus on blackface minstrelsy, sheet music illustration, and domestic identity. Notable publications include “Black Representation in Nineteenth-Century Sheet Music Illustration,” chapter in Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Advent of American Mass Culture, edited by W. Fitzhugh Brundage (University of North Carolina Press, 2011); “‘For One Night Only!’: Blackface Minstrelsy in Nineteenth-Century Northampton, Massachusetts,” in 2003 Proceedings of the Dublin Seminar (2003); and “The Minstrel in the Parlor: Nineteenth-Century Sheet Music, Race, and American Domestic Identity,” ATQ: The American Transcendental Quarterly 16.4 (2002). She has been honored with the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship for Minority Scholars (2003-2004), an enrollment grant for the Mellon Seminar in African-American Studies (2000), and a University Fellowship for Graduate Study at UMass (1988-1989). As a leading expert in reflective writing practice and academic writing, Dunson has delivered workshops and talks at institutions including Yale, George Washington University, Amherst College, University of London, and Bard College. She hosts the podcast "100 Mistakes Academic Writers Make…and How to Fix Them" and is authoring the book manuscript "Immersive Thinking: How a Simple Technology Can Transform How Work Teams Ideate, Collaborate, and Communicate," reflecting her impact bridging academia and professional development.