Virginia Schwarz

Virginia “Gin” Schwarz earned her Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric and M.S. in Education Leadership and Policy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. An alum of San Diego State and Cal State Long Beach, Virginia is a first-generation college student who loves California and is thrilled to be working at San Francisco State. Virginia’s research has focused on assessment, evaluation, and the social and rhetorical construction of merit. Virginia remains curious about the different ways writing teachers engage (or don’t engage) various classroom practices depending on their beliefs, values, identities, and contexts. Her most recent projects explore graduate education and mentoring, specifically in the context of preparing faculty to teach at community colleges. Her work appears in several edited collections and journals such as Teaching English in the Two Year College, Composition Forum, Composition Studies, Journal of Writing Assessment, and College Composition and Communication. Beyond that, Virginia often collaborates with graduate students to write articles, present at conferences, and ensure they have the tools and skills necessary to participate in an increasingly difficult job market. Before coming to SF State, Virginia taught technical and general education writing courses for 12 years at community colleges in California, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. Virginia enjoys geeking out about all things teaching and cares deeply about supporting both undergraduate and graduate students. She's excited to work with you! Outside of school hours, she loves skateboarding, vegetarian food, Pokémon GO, Hawaiian reggae, volunteering at the Humane Society and her cats: Mama Cleo, Tiger, Nermal, Dude, Pepper, and Olaf.