Students in the Program

Jenny Goransson is a PhD candidate in the Writing and Rhetoric program. At GMU, she has served as an instructor for English 101, and worked as the Graduate Writing Coordinator at the Writing Center from 2021-2024. Her recent research focuses on writing centers expanding into learning centers or merging with learning centers, and her dissertation focuses on mindfulness practices to support teachers as they offer written feedback on student writing. Due to her interest in supporting, mentoring, and learning from future and current K-12 teachers, she often collaborates with faculty in the Secondary Education (SEED) program in the College of Education and Human Development at Mason, and has worked as a clinical coach for preservice teachers since 2023. She also served as an adjunct instructor in the MA in Teaching Writing program at Johns Hopkins University, teaching a course focused on Peer Response and Writing Center theory.

Before coming to Mason, Jenny worked for eleven years as a high school English teacher at West Springfield High School (WSHS) in Springfield, VA. In 2009 she earned her Masters in Secondary Education from the George Washington University and in 2015 became a National Board Certified Teacher. At WSHS she founded and directed the writing center for eight years, and has played an active role in the secondary school writing center movement. She currently serves as the vice president of the Secondary Schools Writing Center Association (SSWCA) and the Editorial Board of the Journal for Peer Tutoring in Secondary Schools (JPTSS). 

Jenny is also a mother, distance runner, musical theatre nerd, and lover of podcasts and Billy Collins poetry.