Kimberly Drake

Kimberly Drake serves as Professor of Writing and Chair of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric at Scripps College, where she also directs the Writing Program, advises Environmental Analysis Non-Science Tracks, and liaises with the Scripps College Academy.

Her education includes a Ph.D. in English from UC Berkeley with graduate work in Composition Theory and a B.A. with High Honors in English from the same institution.

Dr. Drake's research critically examines protest writing, disability literature, and prison narratives through feminist, queer, disability, and critical race frameworks. She investigates how marginalized communities use writing to resist oppression across American literature and subcultures like punk rock, with recurring themes of identity, trauma, and social justice in works ranging from slave narratives to contemporary movements.

Her publications reveal consistent engagement with intersections of race, gender, and class in American protest literature, particularly through edited volumes on fear, terror, and slave narratives that highlight marginalized voices and resistance strategies.

She has received four Scripps Research Grants (2009-2018), two Mary W. Johnson Teaching Awards (2012-13, 2014-15), a Scholarship Award (2010-11), and the Alliance to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges Grant for Critical Disability Studies. Student recognition as Professor of the Year (2012-13) underscores her pedagogical impact.

As an adviser and program director, she mentors students in environmental analysis and writing pedagogy while judging international writing competitions and consulting for AP English Composition. Her leadership extends to curriculum development through the Scripps College Academy outreach program for high school students.