Harriett Virginia-Ann Jernigan

Bio

Harriett Jernigan is a lecturer in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric (PWR) and the Coordinator for the Notation in Cultural Rhetorics. She earned her B.A.in German and Creative Writing at New College at the University of Alabama and her Ph.D. in German Studies at Stanford University. She specializes in writing across the disciplines; second-language acquisition; project-based instruction; social geography; German languages, literatures and cultures; and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). In her PWR courses, she focuses on the roles that racial and ethnic identity play in informing public and private discourse. She also participated in the English-to-German translation of the Say Their Names / No More Names online exhibit created by Felicia Smith for the Stanford Libraries.

Dr. Jernigan led the design team that developed Stanford’s first standardized language placement test for the Language Center in 1999 and assisted in placing it online. She served as the first official translator for internationalization at the Bauhaus-University Weimar, worked as an educational consultant for Springer Nature, and revised and expanded the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and intercultural communication curricula at the Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences. She has published fiction, non-fiction and academic articles, is an avid live storyteller and is currently engaged in a project to create a large language model (LLM) for Black Englishes.

Dr. Jernigan has received the St. Clair Drake Teaching Excellence Award and was nominated for Teacher of the Year in the state of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany.

Academic Appointments

• Lecturer, Writing and Rhetoric Studies

Honors & Awards

• Creative in Residence, The Ruby (2024-2025)
• St. Clair Drake Teaching Excellence Award, Black Community Services Center (2021)
• SIIS Fellow, Brandeis University (2015)
• Most Influential Instructor in an Undergraduate’s Career, San Francisco State University (2002-2004)
• Wheeler Fellow, Stanford University (1997-1998)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Member, Editorial Board, Unterrichtspraxis (2024 - Present)
• Member, Steering Committee, Coalition of Women in German (2024 - Present)
• Member, Coalition of Women in German (2022 - Present)
• Member, National Council of Teachers of English (2020 - Present)
• Member, German Studies Association (2008 - Present)
• Member, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (2008 - Present)
• Member, American Association of Teachers of German (2000 - Present)
• Member, Modern Language Association (1996 - Present)

Professional Education

• Ph.D., Stanford University, German Studies (1998)
• B.A., University of Alabama, German Studies and Creative Writing (1993)