Since 2002, Clarissa (Rissa) Sorensen-Unruh has been full-time Chemistry faculty at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) in Albuquerque, NM. After earning her M.S. in Statistics from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in May 2020, she focused for five more years on her Ph.D. In Learning Sciences before finally divorcing the people and process in October 2025 and becoming permanently ABD. Rissa’s STEM educational research, which uses quantitative and qualitative methodologies, blends practitioner, researcher, & evaluator roles & focuses on grief, belonging, socially just assessment & evaluation – specifically ungrading – and the theoretical and ethical frameworks that foundationally support DEIJ learning environments, including intersectionality and asset framing.
Rissa publishes regularly in both journals and books. Her latest paper, The Ungrading Learning Theory We Have Is Not the Ungrading Learning Theory We Need, was published open access in CBE: Life Sciences Education and her latest chapter, Reflections from pandemic teaching and beyond: mitigating the tension between student and faculty intersectionalities, was published in the ACS Symposium Series and was cowritten with Sushilla Knottenbelt. One of her first major contributions to the ungrading literature was a chapter on her experiences with ungrading in the classroom in Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) originally published by West Virginia University Press and now at The University of Oklahoma Press. Her first book, Communicating Chemistry through Social Media, in which she’s both the main editor and a chapter writer, was published as part of the ACS Symposium Series in 2018.
Rissa regularly gives national and international talks on grief, belonging, and ungrading, including at the recent alternative grading meeting of the SCIENCE Collaborative, MYFest, and on the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. She serves in several committee roles in the American Chemical Society, including as a Councilor for the Division of Chemical Education and as co-program chair for the 2028 BCCE in San Diego, CA. Her BlueSky handle is @csoren1, her Instagram handle is @rissachem, and her web page is: https://clarissasorensenunruh.com/.
Super Short Social Media Bio: Since 2002, Clarissa (Rissa) Sorensen-Unruh has been full-time Chemistry faculty @CNMsuncats in Albuquerque, NM. She is also currently earning her Learning Sciences Ph.D. @UNM. Her #STEMEd research blends practitioner, researcher, & evaluator roles & focuses on assessment & evaluation, specifically #Ungrading & ethics in #EdTech & assessment, using quant and qual methodologies. She regularly serves in several roles in the @AmerChemSociety.