Congratulations, Dr. Ken Martin!

Ken MartinAssociate Director of the Maine Writing Project Ken Martin successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, Learning to Discuss Literature Online: Where Technology Design and Instruction Intersect. Ken’s dissertation committee included Julie Cheville, Associate Professor of English Education at Illinois State University (Chair); Richard Ackerman, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at UMaine; Susan Bennett-Armistead, Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at UMaine; Richard Kent, Associate Professor of Literacy Education and director of the Maine Writing Project at UMaine; and Troy Hicks, Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature at Central Michigan University.

Joining Ken’s committee for the open defense were Jan Kristo, Associate Dean of Instruction at UMaine’s College of Education and Human Development; Janet Martin, Ken’s wife; Dr. Cynthia Dean, co-director of the Maine Writing Project and Assistant Professor of Education & Coordinator of Teaching Certification at the University of Maine at Augusta; and Maureen Montgomery, co-director of the Maine Writing Project and University Coach (7-12), Maine Partnerships in Comprehensive Literacy at the University of Maine.

A native of South Weymouth, Massachusetts, Ken grew up in Norton, Massachusetts and graduated from Mount Hermon School (Gill, Massachusetts). A cum laude graduate of Harvard College (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Ken holds a B.A. in English.  Following 25 years employment in banking and retail, Ken worked in eastern Maine for ten years as a high school English teacher and for three years as a technology integration coach. He earned a Master’s degree in Literacy Education from the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine in 2003 and is now a UMaine Instructor of Literacy and associate director of the Maine Writing Project.