(+) About Info

Education:

PhD Communication Rhetoric and Digital Media

North Carolina State University, 2024

M.A. English Literature

North Carolina State University, 2020

B.A. English: Secondary Teacher Education

North Carolina State University, 2018

summa cum laude

Teaching:

American Literature, ENG 266

North Carolina State University

First Year Writing, ENG 101

North Carolina State University

12th Grade English and Creative Writing

Cary High School, Wake County, North Carolina

Research Interests:

Digital humanities & media studies: Multimodality and Learning
20th century American authorship
Madness & disability studies
Accessibility
English education/pedagogy
Public humanities

Awards & Fellowships

( 01 )

Current Research Projects:

Designer and Logistical Lead

“Beyond the Fierce Flames: Sylvia Plath at Dorothea Dix Park,” Raleigh, NC, 2020.

Exhibit Curator

“When MLK and the KKK met in Raleigh” Gallery, North Carolina State University, 2019-2020.

Project Coordinator / Research Assistant

Juntos Hispanic Literacy Group and the Literacy and Community Initiative College of Education, North Carolina State University, 2018-2020.

Content Contributor and Analyst

The Don Welch Digital Archive, @donwelch.net, 2019.

Content Creator and Designer

Julian of Norwich VR Anchorhold, Omeka and Unity, 2019.

Content Creator and Designer

Langston Hughes Artistic Archive, North Carolina State University, 2018.

Education

( 02 )

Conferences

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, 2021.

Dream Reading: Don Welch and Paul Otero. Don Welch Teachers Conference. Kearney, NE. [canceled due to COVID-19]

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.

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, 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]

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, and Kelsey Dufresne. 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.

Langston Hughes: Artistic Archive - Tracing Visual Culture in Poetry, Prose, and Art. American Literature Association Conference: Langston Hughes Society. Boston, MA, 2019.

Langston Hughes and an Artistic Archive. AGES Conference. North Carolina State University, 2019.

Womanhood, Witches, and Wonder: Utilizing Visual Media to Deconstruct Shakespeare’s Leading Women of Macbeth. NCSU Gender Symposium, 2019.

Teaching

( 03 )

Publications

Book Chapters:

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, 2020, Routledge/Taylor & Francis. under-review

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.

Articles:

Dufresne, Kelsey. Tracing Multimodal Mediation of the Sublime in Wilkinson and under review Wordsworth’s Guide to the Lakes (1810). Digital Scholarship in the Humanities. under-review.

Lee, Crystal, Kelsey Dufresne, and Jackie Relyea. "They are Doers": Writing to Advocate with Immigrant Youth. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. under review.

Dufresne, Kelsey. Buried and Stifled History: The Dorothea Dix Hospital Cemetery as a Space of Marginalization. Markers. under-review.

Cervantes, Andrea, Briza Cruz, Kelsey Dufresne, Kevin Garcia-Galindo, Aldo Galvan Hernandez, Crystal Lee, Nina Schoonover, and Luis Zavala. Poets as Proponents: Creating Safe Spaces for Minorities. Fringes, under-production.

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. 2020 [Education Brief]. https://www.fi.ncsu.edu/resources/the-power-of-youth-voices-bringing-a-publishing-curriculum-to-your-classroom/

Dufresne, Kelsey. Holding on to Hope and A List: Collages from COVID-19. Dispatch from Quarantine, A Remote Zine, 2020.

https://indd.adobe.com/view/f0c67507-f7a3-466c-83ee-a19fb70155d6

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.

Books:

Marrero, Angelique, Desiree McClarnon, Kelsey Dufresne, and Crystal Lee. (Eds.) A Leg Up with CORRAL Riding Academy. Raleigh, NC: Literacy and Community Initiative, 2020.

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, 2019.

Publication

( 04 )

Presentations & Invited Talks:

Sylvia Plath, Dorothea Dix Hospital Cemetery, and Mental Health and Wellness. Mental Health Advocacy Showcase, Raleigh, NC, April 2020. [canceled due to COVID-19]

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]

A Collaborative Found Poem: The Visions of Juntos. Juntos Convening, NC State University, Raleigh, NC, March, 2020. [canceled due to COVID-19]

Southern Contemporary Literature: Salvage the Bones. ENG 410. Guest Teacher Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, November 2019.

Lee, Crystal, Kelsey Dufresne, and Nina Schoonover. Dessert with Democracy: Youth Empowerment and Advocacy through Writing. The Friday Institute, Raleigh, NC, November 2019.

Arts Integration in the English Classroom. ENG 400. North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, November 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.

Dufresne, Kelsey, and Nina Schoonover. We Are: Finding and Expressing the Self with Blackout Poetry. Juntos Summer Academy, July 2019.

Dufresne, Kelsey and the Hispanic Literacy Group. The Voices of Our People: Family Celebration. NC State University, June 2019.

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.

Dufresne, Kelsey and the Hispanic Literacy Group. The Roots of Our People. The Raleigh School, Raleigh, NC, April 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.

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.

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.

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.

Blackout Poetry: Securing a Buy-In for Creative Writing Lessons. ECI 307, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, October 2018.

Stoof

( 05 )

DH Products:

Langston Hughes Artistic Archive:

https://kvdowns.wixsite.com/website

The Langston Hughes Artistic Archive brings art and literature together to explore the multimodality of Langston Hughes's work. This Archive is created specifically for secondary education teachers and students, but can be implemented and used for a variety of educational settings.

Don Welch 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.

In the Anchorhold: Creating VR Spaces to Embody Julian of Norwich’s Writing and Positionality:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tPUOt6-sfGoyN98hcjDWvCxX6zOkZT4097kVcpUVPAE/edit?usp=sharing

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.