Professor Scannell has taught at Valparaiso University since 2002, and has taught in the English department since 2004, after first teaching at Purdue North Calumet. A distinctive feature about VU that she finds to be admirable is the first-year core program. She appreciates how core stimulates first-year students to contemplate the idea of a meaningful life while also creating a common bond.

Professor Scannell believes that the classroom should be a safe haven for discussion and discovery. She values text-related conversation and composition as avenues for thinking about  topics, developing opinions, and supporting arguments. Classes function best, in Professor Scannell's opinion, when students and  teachers strive for a sense of community that fosters the  sharing of ideas, interpretations, and reflections.

At VU, Professor Scannell has taught the first-year core, Introduction to Literary Studies, technical writing, business writing, and English methods for secondary education. Among her favorite works of literature is Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, which, she says, teaches lessons that remain relevant today. Her classroom takes into account a variety of learning styles and multiple approaches to the study of literature. Professor Scannell has published in the Illinois English Bulletin on ways to promote reading comprehension.

Professor Scannell is a runner and a triathlete. She also coaches middle school volleyball, publishes a column in northwest Indiana's Post-Tribune on the activities at Saint Paul Church and School, and enjoys spending time with her husband and five children.

Professor Scannell earned her B.A. in literature at the University of Illinois and her M.S. in education at St. Xavier in Chicago.