Stacia Rigney, Assistant Professor and Affiliated Graduate Faculty in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, has been appointed Director of the College of Arts & Letters Citizen Scholars program, effective August 16, 2020.
“I’m excited to work in the Citizen Scholars Program. One of the university’s main responsibilities is to prepare students to be informed, equitable, inclusive, and active citizens. This program is a thoughtfully designed effort to increase student awareness in community initiatives and in social justice issues,” Rigney said. “It’s a pleasure to work with MSU’s students, and I look forward to getting to spend more time with them in a co-curricular program.”
Rigney came to Michigan State University in fall 2019. She previously worked at Lipscomb University, Shandong University in China, and Middle Tennessee State University. While at Lipscomb University, she served as Director of General Education, the Writing Center, the service learning program, and the intercultural competency programs.
She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Middle Tennessee State University. Her research interests include writing center theory, higher ed administration, general education as social justice, prison education, writing program administration, composition pedagogy, and pop-cultural studies. Her articles have been published by Writing Lab Newsletter, Southern Discourse in the Center: A Journal of Multiliteracy and Innovation, and Southern Discourse.
Rigney is on the board of the International Writing Center Association and is the Co-Chair of the Writing Lab Newsletter Mentor Matching program. She is the Immediate Past-President of the Southeastern Writing Center Association.
As the Citizen Scholars Director, Rigney will provide administrative oversight of this unique program and will implement and promote curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular opportunities for Citizen Scholars. She also will recruit students to the program and will recruit and coordinate faculty teaching and mentoring associated with the Citizen Scholars’ curriculum.
I’m excited to work in the Citizen Scholars Program. One of the university’s main responsibilities is to prepare students to be informed, equitable, inclusive, and active citizens. This program is a thoughtfully designed effort to increase student awareness in community initiatives and in social justice issues.
Dr. Stacia Rigney
“Professor Rigney brings a wealth of experience to her new role as Director of the Citizen Scholars Program,” said Christopher P. Long, Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. “She has served as Director of General Education in the Office of the Provost at Lipscomb University where she also led their LIGHT Program on global and intercultural competency. She has lived out a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in her administrative service and will put this commitment into practice in her leadership of the Citizen Scholars Program. I look forward to working with her as she takes on this important leadership role in the College of Arts & Letters.”
The Citizen Scholars program empowers students to embrace difference, deliberate publicly, think critically, and engage global and local partners to effect sustainable positive change. It is designed to prepare the next generation of diverse, high-achieving, and engaged citizen leaders. Students in the program are encouraged to succeed academically while gaining experience in high-impact learning environments.
