First-Year Writing Faculty - Spring 2009

The first-year writing faculty are a diverse group of writers, educators, and artists, many of whom are committed to their communities as well as the first-year students at Montclair State University. 

The faculty listed below are joined by colleagues in the English Department who teach first-year writing every few years. 

By day, she's an insurance geek but at night Mary Allen, a graduate of the MSU English MA program, follows her heart by teaching part-time in the first-year writing program.  Mary is active in her church and the women's rights movement, and is a supporter and former president of the board of St. Peter's Haven (a homeless shelter and food pantry located in Clifton).  She has also tutored Adult Basic Literacy through the LVA program sponsored by the Jersey City Public Library, and has taught Intro to Lit at William Paterson University.

Jennifer Bartlett has an MFA from Vermont College and an MA from Brooklyn College. Her first collection of poetry is Derivative of the Moving Image (UNM Press, 2007). Most recently, Bartlett curated This Condensary: Poets on Mentorship for How2.  She has poems forthcoming in New American Writing.

Lynn Benediktsson is a former independent school teacher who currently teaches first-year writing courses at MSU.

Joy L. Blom is the English Supervisor at Wallkill Valley Regional High School in Hamburg, New Jersey. Along with her supervisory duties, she is teaches two AP courses and a HSPA course. She is pursuing her doctorate degree in Administration and Supervision at Walden University. In her free time, Ms. Blom enjoys spending time with her three poodles and one cow located in upstate New York.

Jessica Brandt is a part-time teacher in the first-year writing program.

Kathy Brantley is a literacy supervisor in the Newark Public School System and a part-time instructor in the first-year writing program.

Paul Caruso is pleased to return  to MSU this sesester, teaching College Writing and Writing: Drama.  Paul’s specializations include Creative Writing and Educational Theatre and Dramatic Writing.  He is affiliated with several community organizations, including NJ School of Dramatic Arts (staff instructor, writer, director), and 12 Miles West Theatre (company member since 1998, new play reading series facilitator, writer, director)and PaperMill Playhouse (Teaching Artist - "Creative Dramatics" 2007-08 Season; "Storytime Theatre" 2008-09 Season)  and hopes to link the community  with MSU in new and exciting ways.

Kim Chen is an adjunct with an MA in ESL.

Catherine de Laurentis has been teaching at MSU for three years and also teaches Business and Technical Writing at Rutgers.  She is currently writing a set of short stories and lives in Somerset with her daughter and a bird named Pizzacato.

Linda deFabio holds an MA in English with a concentration in writing.  She has been teaching first-year writing at MSU since 2006.

Christina Dilkes is a New Jersey native who has taught at MSU since 2007.  She received her BA (concentration writing) from William Paterson University and her MA in English and American Literature from NYU.  Her professional interests focus on the connections between minority literature and disability studies with her personal interests include knitting lopsided scarves for family members. 

Bonnie Dowd, a full-time lecturer in the Program, is a graduate of the MSU English MA program where she concentrated on British Literature and developed an interest in rhetorical studies, specifically in the area of analysis in student papers. A former GA in the Writing Center, Bonnie has worked as an adjunct professor for the first-year writing program at MSU and also at Essex CC.

Megan Dreisbach, a full-time lecturer in the first-year writing program, holds a MFA in Creative Writing and is currently pursuing a second MA in Creative NonFiction at Bennington College. She is working on a book of personal essays about tending bar.

Monica Duchnowski, an adjunct in the first-year writing program at MSU, earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature at The Graduate Center (CUNY) in Manhattan. Her doctoral work explored modernist poetics and visual art. She has expertise in literature and visual art from various European and American cultures, especially English, French and Italian. She received her B.A. from Hampshire College in Massachusetts after beginning her undergraduate work at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In addition, she has experience as a high school teacher, including teaching English in Lyon, France. During the summer she teaches French translation at The Graduate Center (CUNY).

Ann Evans has an M.A. in English from New York University, and an M.A. in Linguistics from MSU.  She taught ESL for seven years in Athens, Greece, and speaks six languages.  Essays and nonfiction have been published in the literary press.  Her writing attention at the moment is on her memoir and an article which outlines information she would like her students to know by the time they reach her class. 

Mia Fiore is a spoken word artist who has studied with Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe founder Miguel Algarin. She is also a Ph.D. candidate at Drew University where she will be working on a dissertation focused on the importance of spoken word in documenting social issues unique to our inner cities.

Susan Fisher has worked in publishing in New York City at Random House, Ballantine, and Bantam Books for several years as Publicity and Communications Director as well as on editorial projects.  She has worked with Toni Morrison, Tom Wolfe, Joseph Heller, Anne Rice, and Madeline L’Engle, among others.  After retiring from publishing, she has written articles for magazines and newspapers and has taught College Writing and Literature courses for the last seven years.

Joli Furnari earned her MA in English at Rutgers University in Newark where she studied creative writing under John A. Williams.  Joli came to MSU as an adjunct three years ago after a lengthy career as a copywriter in the pharmaceutical advertising industry.

Elisa Gaeta is a full-time English/Drama teacher at Henry P. Becton Regional High School.  She earned her BA in English at LeHigh University and her MAT at MSU.  Elisa is currently working toward a MA in English at MSU while teaching College Writing II as an adjunct.

Noreen Gallo is a GA in the English MA program at MSU.

Maria Giura, a half-time assistant professor, received her PhD from SUNY Binghamton and teaches College Writing and Creative Nonfiction at MSU.  Her poetry has been published in The Paterson Literary Review (PLR) and in Voices in Italian Americana and her poem “Earthy Father” won first place in the Allen Ginsberg Contest sponsored by PLR. She has presented scholarly work on Mario Puzo’s novel The Fortunate Pilgirm and on the subject of female characters in Italian American narratives. Her commercial writing has appeared on Godspy.com, in Spirituality & Health Magazine as well as for the television production, New Morning, on the Hallmark Channel. Finally—and closest to her heart—is the project of finishing her memoir and finding an agent. Dr. Giura also serves as assistant director to the Program. 

Ena Harris, a full-time lecturer in the Program, received her PhD in American Studies from SUNY Buffalo in 2005, completing a dissertation entitled, “The (Un)Clear Race: Configurations of Whiteness in Anglophone Literature of the Caribbean Diaspora.” She has taught at a number of colleges, most recently in the MAT and High School Early College Programs at Bard College. Ena is also a published poet.

Don Hymans is a graduate of Lafayette College (BA,1992) and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop (MFA, 1994), where he was a Teaching-Writing-Fellow in creative writing.  His poetry has appeared in American Literary Review, The Best American Poetry Series, Black Warrior Review, The Boston Review, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, Northeast Corridor, and Verse.  He is the recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship in literature and his first collection of poetry has been a perennial finalist in the Yales Series of Younger Poets competition, the Associated Writing Programs Award Series, and the National Poetry Series. 

Emily Isaacs received her doctorate in English with an emphasis in composition from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst.  Since 2000 she has directed the first-year writing program while teaching first-year writing.  Her teaching, research and administrative work is primarily focused on teaching and supporting current and future teachers in the challenging and important work of teaching expository writing. 

Alystyre Julian is a part-time teacher in the first-year writing program, a poet, and a yoga instructor.

Lisa Kasper is an MSU alum (Class of ‘94) and has been employed by MSU since 2002 as the Associate Director of Admissions.  Lisa is responsible for the recruitment, admission and credit evaluation for the University’s transfer population.  Prior to returning to her alma mater, Lisa worked at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY as the Manager of Enrollment and Fairleigh Dickinson University as the Associate Director of Enrollment Communication and Processing.  Lisa earned her M.A. in English and Comparative Literature at FDU in 1997.

Catherine (Katie) Keeran, a full-time lecturer in the first-year writing program, received her BA from Rutgers University and her MA in English from MSU.  While working toward her MA, she tutored and taught writing as a graduate assistant.

Catherine Keohane, a full-time lecturer in the Writing Program, earned her Ph.D. in Literature from Rutgers University. She has taught at MSU since 2001. In addition to teaching in the first-year writing program, she has taught the Art of Fiction, the Art of Drama, Women Prose Writers, Creative Nonfiction, English Literature I: Beginnings to 1660, World Literature: Voices of Tradition and Challenge, and Shakespeare: Tragedies and Romances.

Thomas Kitchen, a full-time lecturer in the Program, is a doctoral student in the English Education program at NYU, having completed a ME in Latin in 1999. After teaching Latin in North Carolina for several years, Tom moved to New York where he taught various writing courses and worked as a writing center consultant at NYU. His research interests focus on coherence in student writing, discourse analysis, and writing centers. Tom is also an assistant director to the Program.

Sarah Kolbasowski is a poet who teaches half time at MSU and also at Kean University.  She earned her M.F.A. in creative writing from Long Island University and her B.A. in English from Rutgers University.  Her poems have been published in several literary journals, such as Shouted Whisper, Downtown Brooklyn and The Alchemy Review and work is forthcoming in the Edison Literary Review.

Kirsten Lagatree received her M.A. in Humanities from the University of Chicago.  She was a public radio reporter and producer for over a decade before becoming a free-lance writer and is the author of six books, some of which have been on the best-seller list.  She loves her new career as a writing teacher at Montclair State University.

Tracey Lander is a writer who teaches half time at MSU as well as at Brooklyn College, where she has taught composition, creative writing, and Core literature courses since 2003. She received her M.F.A. in Poetry from Brooklyn College, and her B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Connecticut.  She has published poems and other writing in such publications as Brooklyn Review, The Mid-America Poetry Review, Metropolitan Universities, and SMOOTH Magazine. Lander is a fan of cats, avocados, Dungeons & Dragons, and vampires.  In April of 2009, she will present her paper, "Dying to Grow Up: Coming of Age Via Vampirism in The Lost Boys, Twilight, 'Cherry,' and Others" at the National Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Conference in New Orleans, and she's pretty excited about that.

Elizabeth Lapin, half-time instructor in the first-year writing program, received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with an emphasis in poetry from Columbia University, and studied with Richard Howard.  Also, she received her Masters in English with a Concentration in Creative Writing. She has taught creative writing at New York University and composition and remedial English at City University of New York (College of Technology). Her poems have appeared in various magazines, including The Western Humanities Review and the New York Times. Her poetry manuscript has been a finalist for various contests, including the Walt Whitman award. She has been teaching at Montclair State University for the last two years, and has found it to be a rich and fulfilling experience.

Jina Lee is a full-time lecturer in the first-year writing program. After many years of searching for her proverbial self, she landed in academia and decided never to leave. She has several years of experience teaching at various colleges and universities in the tri-state area.  Herinterests are in Critical Race Theory and Cultural Studies.  She suffers from wanderlust, a perpetual creative itch that can’t be scratched, and paper-cuts.

Daniel Levine lives in Montclair, where he is attempting to finish a novel when he is not attending to the reasonable demands of his students.  He received MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Florida and has found himself somewhat unexpectedly back in the state where he was born and went to high school.   In his free time he enjoys taking strolls in the South Mountain Reservation, replying heatedly to mass departmental emails, and dining out in restaurants, of which, incidentally, Fascino in Montclair is his local favorite, when the modest budget of an adjunct permits him.

Lorraine Lewis has a BA in English from Wm Paterson and an MA in theatre from MSU.  She has been teaching writing for the past twenty years at Rutherford High School.  In addition she has taught theatre workshop for New Jersey City University.

Gerrie Logan, an adjunct in the first-year writing program, received her MA degree in English Literature from William Paterson University where she concentrated on psychology and its interpretative powers in literary analysis.  She lives in the hills of northwest New Jersey with her husband and four children.

Lauralee Lubrano,a full-time lecturer in the first-year writing program, received her BA fromRutgers College with a double major in English and History and her MA in English from MSU with a focus in Writing Studies. While pursuing her MA, she was a graduate assistant for the Writing Program. Lauralee has also worked as an adjunct at MSU and a high school English teacher. 

Dave Malter is a graduate of the MSU English MA program where he concentrated in Writing Studies and developed an interest in teaching writing. A former GA in the Writing Center, Dave has worked as an adjunct professor for the first-year writing program at MSU, the Communications Department at Mercer CC and now works for the American Camp Association developing professional education opportunities.

Tony Mancus received his MFA in poetry from the University of Arizona, where he first started teaching composition. He currently teaches writing at MSU and Hunter College and has taught at Queensborough Community College and the University of Scranton. He is co-founder of Flying Guillotine Press, a small press focused on producing quality handmade books. His poetry has appeared in a number of journals and he is currently working on a book length manuscript.

Peggy McGlone McCrea earned her Ph.D. in English from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York in 2001.  She is an award-winning reporter for The Star-Ledger, where she has spent 21 years covering various beats, including cultural affairs, philanthropy and family life.

Cathy McMahon graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio in the late eighties with a degree in English.  She did some graduate work at New York University and came to Montclair State to study English Education.  At NYU she explored American Modernism, and at Montclair State, she explored many subjects including writing studies.  She intends to pursue both interests.

Sean Molloy attended Columbia University (BA 1982) and The Unversity of Denver (JD 1985). He has been a practicing commercial litigator and legal advisor for over twenty years with an emphasis on labor and employment matters. Sean has practiced law with the firm of Tratner and Molloy since 1995, with offices now at 551 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.  Sean’s feature screenplay, The Mystic was a semifinalist in HBO’s Project Greenlight competition; it is currently under development by Lightstream Pictures.  Sean has taught on the adjunct faculty at Montclair State University since 2002.  He lives with his wife Cindy and their three teenage sons in Montclair, New Jersey.

Barbara J. Morris, adjunct instructor, has taught all levels of first-year writing at MSU and at several other local four-year and two-year colleges.  She has  presented at the Two-Year College Association (TYCA) annual conference on several occasions and her article on use of the personal interview as a teaching tool in English Composition was  recently published in their quarterly journal. Morris received a BA in English from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, with a concentration in 17th-18th century British literature completed at the University of Nottingham.  She earned an MA in Journalism from New York University.

Stacey Morrison is an adjunct instructor teaching Introduction to Writing and College Writing II: Writing and Literary Study.  She is a recent graduate of MSU’s Masters program in English with a concentration in writing studies.  Her work has appeared in New York Newsday, The Village Voice, Long Island Newsday, and The Star Ledger.  Stacey is a full-time licensed real estate sales agent in Hoboken.  She lives in Bloomfield, NJ.  Her son is currently pursuing a BA in English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

West Moss is an English adjunct professor teaching writing and literature.  She writes for local publications such as the Suburban Trends Living Section and Edible Jersey.   She had an article published in the Parents League of New York 2008 Journal as well as a piece in the New York Times/Science Times in October 2008.  She recently finished writing her first novel, or thought it was finished. She hopes to attend the MacDowell Writing Colony at the end of May to really finish the novel and get started on the next one. She writes every day.

Erica Obey holds an M.A. in Creative Writing from C.C.N.Y. and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from C.U.N.Y., in addition to an undergraduate degree from Yale University.  She just published The Wunderkammer of Lady Charlotte Guest, a scholarly study of a nineteenth-century collector and folklorist, in January 2007, and is currently finishing a novel called Changeling.  Her scholarly interests include folklore, fairy tale, children’s and popular literature, and collectors and collecting.  Currently, she is working on projects about Anna Bray, a nineteenth-century folklorist, and popular women writers at the turn of the twentieth century.

Gary Pankiewicz is Supervisor of Language Arts for the South Orange/Maplewood School District.  He has an MA in English and a MA in Educational Administration and Supervision, both from MSU.  His experience as a writer includes local news reporting, local feature writing, and personal narratives on family and education.

Judy Petillo has been an educator for over 30 years.  She has taught high school and middle school English, and was adjunct in the English Department at MSU from 1976 to 1986. In addition to teaching English, she is a specialist in Gifted Education, contributing as educator, presenter, consultant and advocate.  In 1998, she received the Star Teacher Award, sponsored by Time Warner Cable.  For many years she served as President of the Bergen County Consortium for Teachers of the Gifted, and throughout those years she has provided professional development and support for teachers, networking opportunities, parent conferences, numerous documents on gifted issues, and convocations for gifted students throughout Bergen County.  In addition, she has taught the MSU Curriculum and Teaching graduate course entitled, “Education of the Gifted and Talented.”  Her philosophy of gifted education has been published in the NJEA REVIEW, as well as PROMISE, a publication of the New Jersey Association for Gifted Children.  She is also the recipient of the 2006 NJAGC Educator of the Year Award and served as their Educator Chair.  Recently she has been included in the WHO’S WHO AMONGST AMERICAN TEACHERS.  Presently, she is teaching composition courses at Bergen Community College, but most importantly, Judy’s dream to return to her “roots” to teaching college writing courses at MSU has come true.

Amy Pollack has a MS in teaching English as well as a specialist certificate in Reading from University of Penna and a certificate as a teacher of the handicapped from New Jersey City University.  She has taught at Bloomfield College, as well as at the high school, middle school, and elementary school levels, and had her own business for several years helping high school seniors with their college essays, as well as adults with writing of all sorts with which they needed help.  In addition, she has tutored for many years both privately, and at the CADA center at Montclair State.   Mrs. Pollack does a lot of writing of her own, and has also taken many writing courses at the New School for Social Research (in NYC).  She and her husband have lived locally for many years, which is where they raised three children – all of whom now live in New York City.

Rick Reid is a writer and conceptual artist currently living in Brooklyn, New York where he is developing a number of works that combine public space, poetics, handwriting, photography, paint and the body.  He holds a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California where his dissertation focused upon the relationships of poetry, performance, video and architecture in the work of Vito Acconci.  He is currently working on a book of critical analysis of experimental and intermedial poetry and its relationships to forgetting entitled "Lapse" and has an 88 page serial poem of his own forthcoming Spring 2009 from Black Goat / Akashic Books entitled "To Be Hung from the Ceiling by Strings of Varying Length."  Rick is a full-time lecturer at in the first-year writing program.

Elizabeth Rodriguez, a Montclair State University alumnae and former English major, teaches part-time in the first-year writing program.

Anastasia Rubis (Stacy) is a GA in the English department.  She was a senior vp in advertising and public relations before focusing on writing and teaching.  She has been published in the New York Times, New York Post, and New York Observer and has written numerous screenplays, poems and novels, as yet unpublished.  She has also created and directed a short film on Greek diners.  She holds a BA from Brown University and is finishing her MA in English at Montclair State this spring.

Suzan Russell holds a Ph.D. from New York University in 19th century American and British Literature with a minor in prosody and linguistics. She has a poetry collection entitled Trimming which is now at Wesleyan University Press for review. She has published poetry herself in several journals and magazines. She won two NEH grants from 2006-2007 and was a presenter and talked about Whitman and the civil war and Whitman and Phrenology. These grant session were held at CUNY campuses and scholarly participants included David Reynolds, renown Whitman scholar and Andrew DelBanco, cultural critic from Columbia University. In addition to Montclair State, Suzan Russell has also taught at the University of Texas, New York University, and was for the past two years, the director of the graduate English program at the City University of New York (Lehman College). She just completed an article on “Melville and His Quarrel with God the Father and Father the God.”

Josmary Sanoval-Thorne is an adjunct English instructor at Montclair State University and Seton Hall University.  Mrs. Sandoval-Thorne earned a BA in English Literature from Andrew University, a MA in International Relations and Diplomacy, and a Med from Teacher’s College at Columbia University.   She works for the Paterson Board of Education as an elementary bilingual teacher.

Alexander Schultz is a GA in the English MA program at MSU.

Peter Selgin's first book of short stories, Drowning Lessons, won the 2008 Flannery O'Connor Award and will be available from  the University of Georgia Press this October. His book on fiction writing, By Cunning & Craft: Sound Advice and Practical Wisdom for Fiction Writers, was published by Writer's Digest Books, 2007. Another, The Secret Life of Fiction: 199 Meditations on Works-in-Progress, is forthcoming from the same press. His autobiographical work, Life Goes to the Movies, was twice a finalist for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship and second place winner of the the AWP Award for the Novel and will be published by Dzanc Books in April 2009. His stories and essays have appeared in over 50 publications, including Salon.com, The Sun, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, Missouri Review, Boulevard, Poets & Writers, Colorado Review, and Alaska Quarterly Review, as well as in the anthologies Our Roots Are Deep With Passion (Other Books, 2006), Writing Fiction (Bloomsbury, 2003), Writers and Their Notebooks, foreword by Philip Lopate (forthcoming from University of South Carolina Press, Summer 2009) and Best American Essays 2006. He edits the journal Alimentum: The Literature of Food, and leads his own annual writing workshop in Vitorchiano, Italy. He recently returned from a fellowship residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, where he worked on The Man in Blue, a new novel set in a dying New England hat factory town the year John Glenn circled the globe. He lives in Spuyten Duyvil, the Bronx, New York.

Fran Shultz comes from a diverse educational and professional background. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from Ohio State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Ohio University. Fran has worked as a social worker, actress and business professional in the telecommunications industry. She has taught writing and communication skills in both the public and private sector. Fran also taught acting while a graduate student at Ohio University. She enjoys theater, reading, writing, music and travel.

Rochelle Sullivan received her MA and PhD from the Graduate Center CUNY.  She was a tutor and an adjunct in English at La Guardia Community College (CUNY) for seven years and worked as an adjunct at Marymount College, New York City, and Baruch College for one year each.  Rochelle has been teaching at MSU as a half-time assistant professor for five years.  Included in the courses she has taught at MSU are College Writing I and II, World Literature: Coming of Age (post-colonial literature), and Women Prose Writers.  In 1995 Rochelle presented a paper at the MLA entitled “Wrestling with God:  Emily Dickinson’s Modern Vision of Transcendence.”  She is currently putting the finishing touches on a book on Charlotte Bronte, which she hopes to finish in the coming year. 

Sasha Troyan was born in America but raised and educated in Paris, France. She attended NYU, earning a Masters with a Concentration in Creative Writing in 1990. Thirteen years later, after writing four novels and working as an adjunct instructor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Queens College, Long Island University and New York School of Technology, her first novel, Angels in the Morning, was finally published. In March 2003, Angels in the Morning was published to critical acclaim. Of the novel, Kirkus said, “Troyan’s fine debut features a spunky ten-year-old forced to grow up before her time. The charm and innocence of the storytelling makes a substantial contribution to a moving, beautifully crafted novel.” It was a Book Sense selection. One year later, Sasha Troyan’s second novel, The Forgotten Island, was published.  Elle recommended it: “The Forgotten Island, like her mesmerizing first novel, Angels in the Morning, pulses with dark undercurrents of familial love and betrayal, sisterly mysteries and rites, louche neighbors and secretive houseguests—here assembled in plenary summer on a lush island off the Italian coast, where the sisters’ youthful games set the stage for potent dangers and unspeakable deeds.” The Forgotten Island was published in England, Holland, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. Her short story, Hidden Works, was accepted by Ploughshares and will appear in the Spring 2009 issue, guest-edited by the poet Eleanor Wilner. 

Susan Vervaet is a journalist and memoirist, a professional jazz singer and saxophonist, and an Army veteran, having served for nine years at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the Army Forces Command, Ft. McPherson, GA.  She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Crane School for Music, an MA in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University.  A current advocate for military veterans, particularly in higher education, she is proud of her Marskman qualification for the M-16 rifle and hand grenade, earned one sweaty summer during Basic Combat training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey.

Christa Setteducati Verem received her MA in English from Seton Hall University and MFA in Poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. She has worked in journalism and public relations, and also teaches English courses for Kean University and (online) Northampton Community College. 

Julia Wagner received her MFA from Brooklyn College with a specialty in poetry. She has published in various academic/college reviews and journals.  While pursuing her MFA, Julia worked in publishing for several Architecture and Design magazines like Metropolis, Elle Decor, and Metropolitan Home magazines. As Regional Director for them she has over 10 years of experience in advertising and media, writing for merchandising and sales, and business writing/communications.

Rachael Warmington earned her B.A. in English from Montclair State University and M.A. in English from Seton Hall University.  She has been published in multiple literary magazines for her short stories and poetry.  Rachael has participated in many poetry readings including CCNY’s Annual Spring Poetry Festival.  She will be included in CCNY’s latest issue of Poetry in Performance, which will be printed in November of ’08.  She is currently working on a collection of poems that honors the lives of her grandparents.  In addition, Rachael is expanding her thesis, The Culture of Beards in Shakespeare into a book. 

Tim Wenzell is a part-time instructor in the first-year writing program at MSU.

Derrick Williams, a full-time lecturer in the Program, has several years of experience as an educator including teaching Upper School English at a Quaker School in Rhode Island to serving as a writing instructor at the University of Pennsylvania.   His interests in schools and schooling have brought him to various projects: with students from San Francisco State University he has traveled to Cuba to provide relief goods and art supplies to school children; with other faculty he has worked on applying Critical Race Theory to further multicultural education in California community colleges; and with an ecumenical ministry group he has traveled to Jordan and Israel to promote Arab and Israeli integrated schools.

Susan D. Wright. Born 19?? – Currently buried under a pile of student papers.  Sue Wright find working with all types and kinds of writing rewarding. Whether it’s her own or a student’s writing, Sue always finds it thrilling to see what comes out when paper and pen connect.  She Wright has been teaching at MSU for over five years and finds that every semester there’s something new to discover both on campus and with the students.  Sue is also a specialist in online teaching and distance learning, finding that students are having a great time sharing ideas and developing their writing at a phenomenal rate as they rely on writing as their only means of communication.

Jonathan Yukich earned his MFA in Dramatic Writing from Indiana University.  He is a published and produced playwright.  His work has been seen across the U.S. as well as in Europe, Canada and Australia.

 

First-Year Writing Committee

The First-Year Writing Program at MSU is supported by the English Department, chaired by Daniel Bronson, and also the First-Year Writing Committee:

• Emily Isaacs, English Department Faculty and Director of First-Year Writing
• Melinda Knight, English Department Faculty and Director of the Center for Writing Excellence
• Sharon Lewis, English Department Faculty
• Jessica Restaino, English Department Faculty and Coordinator of the MAT English Graduate Program
• Greg Waters, English Department Faculty and Director of the Honors Program
• Bob Whitney, English Department Faculty

 

February 2009