Peter Smagorinsky

Peter Smagorinsky is an American educator and researcher in English education, serving as Distinguished Research Professor emeritus in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of Georgia and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Universidad de Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico. He holds a BA in English Literature from Kenyon College and an MA in Teaching and a PhD in English Education from the University of Chicago, and previously taught high school English in Illinois before beginning his career as a teacher educator at the University of Oklahoma and later joining the University of Georgia faculty.

Smagorinsky’s work focuses on sociocultural approaches to literacy education, literacy teacher education, and related social concerns, and he has authored or co‑authored numerous books and articles in these areas. His publications include co‑authoring Teaching Literacy in Troubled Times: Identity, Inquiry, and Social Action at the Heart of Instruction with Allison Skerrett, as well as works such as Learning to Teach English and Language Arts: A Vygotskian Perspective on Beginning Teachers’ Pedagogical Concept Development and edited volumes on culturally and historically sensitive teacher education and neurodiversity in educational contexts.