Mya Poe

Professor Mya Poe’s research focuses on writing assessment and writing development with particular attention to justice and fairness. For more than 20 years, she has been an advocate for justice-oriented writing assessment research and practice. Through her research on disparate impact in placement testing to recent work on antiracist validity in large-scale testing, Mya and her colleagues have sought to change harmful assessment practices. That work has led to numerous articles and books, such as Race and Writing Assessment (CCCC 2014 Outstanding Book of the Year), Writing Assessment, Social Justice, and the Advancement of Opportunity, and Writing Placement in Two-Year Colleges: The Pursuit of Equity in Postsecondary Education. Mya spent the first 10 years of her career at MIT as Director of Technical Communication where she worked with faculty across the Institute to develop one of the leading WAC programs in the U.S. At MIT she learned about the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration in STEM education and provided the inspiration for her first book, Learning to Communicate in Science and Engineering (CCCC 2012 Advancement of Knowledge Award), and the Oxford Brief Guides to Writing. As series co-editor of the new Oxford Brief Guides to Writing in the Disciplines, she works with faculty in the disciplines to develop accessible, savvy writing guides in subjects such as Biology, Engineering, Nursing, Political Science, Anthropology, Music, and Sociology. Her recent work in scientific communication looks at publishing ethics and explores the potential of a decolonial option in the teaching of scientific communication. Her scholarship has appeared in journals such as College Composition and Communication, Educational Assessment, and Assessing Writing. She also has guest-edited special issues of Research in the Teaching of English and College English dedicated to issues of social justice, diversity, and writing assessment. She is co-editor of the international writing research journal Written Communication. Mya’s research has received funding from the Northeastern College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College Composition and Communication, MIT School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Penn State Institute for the Arts and Humanities. Her teaching and service have been recognized with the Northeastern University Teaching Excellence Award, the Northeastern College of Social Sciences and Humanities Outstanding Teaching Award, and the MIT Infinite Mile Award for Continued Outstanding Service and Innovative Teaching. Currently, as a faculty member in the Northeastern University English department, she teaches writing studies research methods and scientific writing to graduate and undergraduate students.