MENU
Sky View Through an Archway on Campus

Editing Help

Please reference the Faculty Profile Editing Guide if you have any questions or issues updating your profile. If you receive any error notices please contact webservices@fit.edu.

Natalie Dorfeld

Associate Professor | College of Psych. and Liberal Arts - School of Arts and Communication

Contact Information

ndorfeld@fit.edu
(321) 674-7605
Frederick C. Crawford Bldg, 513

Personal Overview

Dr. Natalie M. Dorfeld was born and raised in Greenville, Pennsylvania, home of the parachute.  

In her spare time, she enjoys getting lost in national parks, rescuing all types of animals, collecting two-dollar bills, watching documentaries, and venturesome sports (downhill skiing,  marathons, open water swimming, and bodybuilding).

She resides in the Space Coast with her wonderful husband and four-legged children.

Educational Background

Ph.D., English: Composition & TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2007

M.A., English, Slippery Rock University, 2002

B.S., English: Writing, Slippery Rock University, 1998

B.A., Philosophy, Slippery Rock University, 1998

Professional Experience

Prior to joining Florida Tech in 2012, she taught at several schools in northwestern Pennsylvania, including Pennsylvania State University (Shenango), Thiel College, and Clarion University (Venango).

She is currently an associate professor of English in the School of Arts and Communication at Florida Institute of Technology and an adjunct professor for Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide in the summer.

Freshman English (COM 1101 and 1102) is her forte, but she often branches out to Scientific & Technical Communication, Speech, and Environmental Literature & Society, which is her all-time favorite.

Additionally, she works as a freelance writer for Salem Press and serves as an advisory board member for Wadsworth Publishing and Pearson Allyn & Bacon Publishing.

Current Courses

ASC 1000 / University Experience

COM 1000 / First Year Writing

COM 1101 / Composition & Rhetoric

COM 1102 / Writing About Literature

COM 2223 / Scientific & Technical Communication

COM 2224 / Business and Professional Writing

COM 2370 / Speech

COM 3210 and 5530 / Editing

HUM 1001 / Environmental Writing

HUM 3273 / Environmental Literature & Society

HUM 3285 / Environmental Literature

Selected Publications

Curriculum vitae available upon request. 

Recognition & Awards

Strongest Female, Florida Tech's Bench Pressing Contest, 2023  

iTeachER Certification, Rothwell Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, 2022

Tenure, School of Arts and Communication, 2020

Professor of the Year: College of Psychology and Liberal Arts, 2019-2020

Best in Section, 50th Annual College English Association Conference, 2019

Keynote, Contingent Faculty Caucus │ College English Association, 2018

Editorial Board, Forum: Issues about Part-Time and Contingent Faculty, 2017-2021

Travel Grant, Academic Information Technology Committee, 2015

East-West Center Asian Studies Development Program Grant, Summer Institute, 2015

Safe Zone Facilitator, Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education, 2011-2012

New Directions Grant, TLC (The Learning Commons), 2010-2011

Longfellow Grant, CLA (Center for Learning & Advising), 2009-2010

Distinguished Alumni, SRU's Philosophy Department, 2007

Academic Scholarship, The Borders Group Foundation, 2003

Outstanding Graduate Student Award, SRU's English Department, 2002-2003  

Research

The bulk of her research focuses on contingent labor issues.  It examines the growing and detrimental reliance on adjunct professors in the humanities, first-year composition classes in particular.

Her latest edited collection can be found here.  

Further interests include L2 pedagogies, writing studies, multiple intelligences in the classroom, vegetarianism in the media, and the mental health effects of COVID-19 on college campuses.

She also dabbles in poetry, which is often dark and sarcastic, much like her soul.

Additional Duties

Volunteer, Writers’ Den

Creative Writing Institute

Advanced Placement Reader, ETS

FITAST Committee (Asian Studies)

Academic Information Technology Committee (AITC)

Thesis, Dissertation, and DRP Committees (Outside Reader)

Advisor, Rainbow Alliance, Swing Dance Club, and Sigma Tau Gamma 

COPLA Mentoring Program and COPLA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council

Edit Page