Angela Kohnen

Angela M. Kohnen describes her career path as somewhat unconventional. After beginning her undergraduate years as an engineering major, she graduated with a degree in English and American Literature from Washington University in St. Louis and spent the next few years working in restaurants and as a freelance copywriter for website developers and advertising agencies. These varied experiences helped her learn to see the world from a variety of perspectives and were excellent training for a future in education. Eventually she went back to college to earn a teaching credential and master’s degree from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). She taught secondary Language Arts in the St. Louis area before returning to UMSL to pursue her PhD in Education, under the direction of Wendy Saul. Currently she works as an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Florida. 

She has always considered herself a generalist, someone whose curiosity can be piqued by nearly anything, and loves pursuing questions that cross curricular and disciplinary silos. Currently she is working with an interdisciplinary group of middle school teachers to enact a generalist curriculum embedded in the core content areas. She is inspired by the passion and enthusiasm of these eighth graders. Outside of work, she spends time with her husband and their two daughters, both generalists-in-training.