Professor Kathleen Doty has been called by many of her students “the most influential professor they had during their college education.” Doty, who hopes to “inspire in students a passion for understanding both the power and beauty of language,” teaches the politics of language and its impact on everyday life. She can often be found participating in thought-provoking extracurricular activities like Humboldt State’s International Education Week.

Most recently, Doty published a chapter, "Courtroom Discourse," in the Handbook of Pragmatics: Historical Pragmatics, a multi-volume reference work that surveys the field of pragmatics. Doty brings her scholarly research into her classes whenever possible, especially her work on the language of the Salem witchcraft trials, the linguistic analysis of literary texts, and the changing nature of English across the globe.

Doty’s commitment to and talent for presenting difficult material in linguistics and rhetoric contributed to Humboldt State University bestowing upon her the Excellence in Teaching Award for the 2012-2013 academic year.