Kelly Simon is a doctoral student in Teaching and Learning at University of California, Santa Barbara.  She is specializing in Language, Literacy, and Composition.  Her research interests include alternatives to traditional education, literacy development, the teaching of writing and reading, literacy as a dynamic cultural phenomena, and new media and its applications in the writing classroom.  Before arriving at UCSB, Kelly earned her MFA in creative writing from California State University, Fresno, and taught secondary English in Southern California.  She received her BA in Law and Social Thought with a minor in English from the University of Toledo in Ohio.