Ellsworth is Assistant Professor of Intermedia in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Her research crosses disciplines of drawing, performance and installation.

She is a founding director of Art Intersection and Two Little Wishbones. For information on the walking, writing, and drawing workshop, Topography of Memory, please visit workshops at the Two Little Wishbones website. Topography of Memory takes place in Italy at Castello di Spannocchia each Summer.

Ellsworth has taught at the Art Institute of Florence-Lorenzo de Medici in Florence, Italy with Rose Shakinovsky and Claire Gavronsky. As a founding member of Metropolitan Arts Institute in Phoenix, Arizona she chaired the Visual Arts Department. She has taught performance and visual art workshops throughout the United States as well as in Iceland and Italy.