Catherine Cheng Stahl

About

Catherine Cheng Stahl is pursuing her doctorate in Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. She received her B.A. in Biological Chemistry and Art History from Wellesley College, and studied German language and Art History at the University of Vienna in Austria. Her research at Teachers College explores youth identity constructions and lived experiences within, through, and across those alternative or in-between spaces of belonging outside of official learning spaces like schools. She engages in multimodal, ethnographic, and participatory methodologies to elevate youth digital identities and literacies through exploring the complex and nuanced ways young people come to know and (per)form themselves in technology-mediated, connective worlds—all while expanding “otherwise” identities that interrupt dominant narratives. This research interest stems from both her own lived experiences as a t(w)een immersed in virtual worlds in the early 2000s and her seven years of hanging out with high school and college students as a science teacher and a writing instructor, respectively.

At Marymount Manhattan College, Catherine teaches introductory writing classes with a focus on the different ways of authoring selves into our world, particularly with the use of digital tools and various social and participatory media platforms. She enjoys thinking together with her students about voice and identity in writing and about ways to expand reading and writing practices. As a perpetual “border-crosser,” she is inspired to find ways of merging the arts and sciences, of blurring disciplines, and of weaving together her varied interests into a lifelong endeavor. You can catch a glimpse of Catherine’s own becoming process through her personal blog “Book Smart Street Smart” (https://www.booksmartstreetsmart.com/).