Susanna L. Benko is an associate professor of English at Ball State University, where she is also Director of the Indiana Writing Project and the Director of English Education. Much of her work at Ball State centers around teacher preparation and supporting practicing teachers. She teaches courses on writing pedagogy and young adult literature, and she also supervises student teachers. As a teacher and researcher, she is interested in the teaching of writing—in practice and in policy—at the middle and secondary level. Specifically, her research interests focus on task design, curriculum design and teachers’ uses of curriculum, and educational policies that influence English/language arts instruction. Her work has been published in journals such as English Education, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, English Teaching: Practice and Critique, and AERA Open. She holds a Ph.D. in Language, Literacy and Culture from the University of Pittsburgh. Prior to earning her Ph.D., she taught middle and high school English in Indiana and Pennsylvania.
