College of Communication & Creative Arts - Writing Arts
Writing Arts Faculty
Jeffrey Maxson, Chair
maxson@rowan.edu
856-256-4106
E-mail: maxson [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Yale University
M.A. University of California at Berkeley
Ph.D. University of California at Berkeley
Dr. Maxson teaches Integrated College Composition I and II, and The Writer’s Mind.
His research interests include computer-mediated composition, writing of linguistic minorities, and alternative discourses.
Ronald Block
B.A. University of Nebraska-Lincoln
M.A. Syracuse University
M.S. Syracuse University
Ron Block teaches undergraduate and graduate-level creative writing, focusing on poetry and the short story. His books include The Dirty Shame Hotel and Other Stories and a collection of poetry Dismal River. His work has been published in numerous journals, including Epoch, Prairie Schooner, Iowa Review, Midwest Review, Southern Review, and Ploughshares, as well as the anthologies A Different Plain, The Big Empty, Nebraska Presence, and many others. His radio interview program Writers’ Roundtable is broad- and podcasted from WGLS-FM.
In addition to being a two-time winner in the Minnesota Voices Project, he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Nebraska Arts Council in 2000. In 2002, he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fiction Fellowship. He has an MA in Creative Writing and an MS in Television-Radio-Film, both from Syracuse University.
Meaghan Brewer
E-mail: brewerme [at] rowan [dot] edu
M.A. Temple University
Meaghan Brewer received her Master of Arts from Temple University in 2009. She currently teaches Composition I and II and Evaluating Writing. She is completing her doctorate at Temple University on the conceptions of literacy that graduate instructors bring with them to their first semester of teaching composition. Her research interests include mentoring and training programs for writing instructors and tutors, feminism and composition, and the rhetoric of Nineteenth-Century America.
Julia Chang
E-mail: chang [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Stonehill College
M.S. Columbia University
M.A. Temple
Julia MacDonnell Chang teaches creative writing courses in both the undergraduate and graduate programs at Rowan, including CWI and II, Writing Fiction, Writing the Novel and Writing the Memoir. Her second novel, Mimi Malloy by Herself will be published by Picador in May 2014. Her first, A Year of Favor was published by William Morrow & Co. She is also the nonfiction editor of Philadelphia Stories, a quarterly journal of literature and art in both print and online formats.
MacDonnell Chang’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in American Literary Review, Happy, Mangrove, Briar Cliff Review, Paper Street, North Dakota Quarterly, The Larcom Review, Heart Quarterly and Many Mountains Moving. Her story collection, Plight of the Piping Plover, was named a finalist in the 2012 Spokane Prize for Fiction. Her articles and book reviews have appeared in the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia and the New York Daily News, and the Philadelphia City paper.
MacDonnell holds a master’s in journalism from Columbia University and one in English and Creative Writing from Temple. Before coming to Rowan, then Glassboro State College, she taught at both Columbia and Temple. She is also the recipient of two fiction fellowships from the N. J. State Council on the Arts, two Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation fellowships for residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, a Pulitzer Traveling fellowship, an excellence in journalism fellowship from the John L. and James S. Knight Foundation and numerous other awards for her journalism and fiction. Her office is 215 Hawthorn.
Lindsay Chudzik
B.A. Temple University
M.A. Virginia Commonwealth University
M.F.A. Virginia Commonwealth University
Professor Chudzik teaches Composition I and Writing for the Workplace.
Her current creative projects include playwriting, screenwriting, fiction, and memoir. Her plays have appeared in a number of festivals. Her current research interests include community literacy and activist rhetoric.
Jennifer Courtney
E-mail: courtneyj [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Duquesne University
M.A. Western Michigan University
Ph.D. Purdue University
Jennifer Courtney is the Graduate Coordinator for the Master of Arts in Writing program. In addition to teaching Seminar I and II at the graduate level, she regularly teaches Introduction to Writing Arts, Evaluating Writing, and Sophomore Engineering Clinic I.
Her research interests are curriculum development in stand-alone writing majors, writing program administration, and cultural studies; her work has been published in several books and journals including Rhetoric Review, Design Principles and Practices, and Composition Forum.
Patricia Egbert
E-mail: Egbert [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Rutgers University
M.S. Texas A&M University
Ed.D. Rowan University
Trisha Egbert has taught a variety of composition, rhetoric, and communications courses at several institutions including Rowan University, Drexel University, The University of the Sciences, and Rosemont College. Trisha has experience teaching both traditional face-to-face courses as well as hybrid and online writing classes. She completed her doctorate in 2011 from Rowan University. Her dissertation examined the impact of learning communities on female, minority, and low-income students.
Egbert's research interests include learning communities, action research and assessment, and the use of technology in the classroom. She teaches College Composition I & II and Sophomore Engineering Clinic.
Loriann Fell
Loriann Fell teaches College Composition I and II. She earned an M.A. in English-Creative Writing from Rutgers University in Camden, and a B.A. in Journalism from Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
She works as a writer and editor; The Newark Star Ledger and The New York Times are among the publications in which her work has appeared. She writes plays, essays, and fiction and is currently at work on a screenplay.
Marie Haughton Flocco
E-mail: flocco [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Saint Joseph’s University
M.A. Carnegie Mellon University
Professor Flocco earned her M.A. in Rhetoric and Composition from Carnegie Mellon University and has been teaching first-year writing and public speaking since 2001. She joined the Rowan’s Writing Arts faculty in 2010. She teaches Intensive College Composition I and College Composition II. Her recent conference presentations focus on the Studio component of ICC1 and its pedagogical influence on the classroom/writing center relationship.
Amanda Frederick
E-mail: frederick [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.S. Northern Michigan University
M.A. Western Washington University
M.F.A. Eastern Washington University - Inland Northwest Center for Writers
Manda Frederick holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers, as well as an MA in literary studies, with an emphasis in theory and composition/rhetoric, from Western Washington University. Her interests include genre theory, rhetoric, poetry, and creative nonfiction. She has published poetry, nonfiction, and author interviews in a number of magazines and anthologies. She currently serves as the Editor in Chief for Glassworks—the Master of Arts in Writing graduate literary magazine—and she volunteers teaching at Mighty Writers of Philadelphia, a nonprofit organization that teaches writing to local youth.
Joseph Giampalmi
E-mail: Giampalmi [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Widener University
M.Ed. Widener University
Ed.D. Temple University
Dr. Joseph Giampalmi has been teaching at Rowan since 1998. He teaches CCI Honors Sports Concentration, CCII Honors Technology and Publication, Honors Business Writing, and Writing As Managers. His research interests include brain-friendly learning, writing-to-learn, and Common Core Standards.
Dr. Giampalmi has published three sports books and dozens of articles for national publications. Since 1985, he has been writing a semi-monthly education column ("Conversations in Education") for Town Talk Newspapers (Media, Pa.) and has published more than 700 columns. In addition to consulting with schools and businesses, he has presented to local, regional, and national audiences.
Ai Guo Han
E-mail: han [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Xi’an International Studies University
M.A. Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Ai Guo Han has been a member of the department since 1993. He teaches College Comp I, College Comp. II and Chinese language courses. His research interests are social cognitive learning and rhetorical traditions of philosophical Daoism.
Erin Herberg
B.S. Western Carolina University
M.A. Western Carolina University
Ph.D. Georgia State University
Dr. Herberg teaches College Composition I and II, Writing for the Workplace, Writing, Research and Technology, and Contemporary Rhetoric.
Her research interests are the history of rhetoric, women and rhetoric, and assessment.
Martin Itzkowitz
B.A. Brooklyn College
M.A. New York University
Ph.D. New York University
Dr. Itzkowitz teaches College Composition, Writing with Style, Assessment of Writing, Creative Writing, and Special Topics Honors. He is also an Associate Editor of New Jersey Journal of Communication.
His research interests are general composition, stylistics, and creative writing.
Lisa Jahn-Clough
E-mail: jahn-clough [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Hampshire College
M.F.A. Emerson College
Lisa Jahn-Clough received an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in 1994, the same year her first book, Alicia Has a Bad Day was published. Alicia is still in print and was recently developed into an ITunes app. To date Lisa has written and illustrated twelve picture books, including My Friend and I, Little Dog, and A Tale of Two Bunnies, and has written three young adult novels, Country Girl/City Girl, Me, Penelope and most recently, Nothing But Blue (all published with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). Her books have received awards and exemplary reviews from Bank Street College, Child Magazine, Parent’s Choice, Raising Readers, and EW.com. Her current book project is a series of Early Readers, illustrated by her husband, author/illustrator/professor, Ed Briant.
Lisa came to Rowan in 2010 and teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in creative writing, writing children’s stories, and writing the graphic novel. Prior to Rowan, she taught at Emerson College, Maine College of Art, Vermont College of Fine Arts and Hamline University. She has helped to develop numerous students’ careers as published authors, editors and agents in the children’s literature field. In addition, Lisa is a frequent speaker in elementary, middle, and high schools and libraries, promoting literacy and writing to children. She is on the board of the PEN Children’s Book Caucus. You can find more about Lisa and her books on her website: www.lisajahnclough.com
Andrew Kopp
E-mail: kopp [at] rowan [dot] edu
Ph.D. University of Arizona
Drew Kopp received his Ph.D in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English from the University of Arizona in 2009. Both his scholarship and teaching focus on the practice and theory of rhetorical inquiry in a variety of contexts: he currently teaches Evaluating Writing, The Writer's Mind, and Writing, Research, and Technology.
Dr. Kopp has published articles in Rhetoric Review (2013), JAC: A Journal of Rhetoric, Culture, and Politics (2012), and in Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy (2010).
Cynthia Kopp
E-mail: koppc [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.S. University of Florida
M.A. University of Arizona
Cindy Kopp primarily teaches First Year Composition, including Foundations for College Writing, and Composition for TESOL students. She has also taught the Technologies & the Future of Writing module for Introduction to Writing Arts, and brings her interest in New Media to all of her classes. Cindy is ABD (all but dissertation) in the interdisciplinary doctoral program in Second Language Acquisition & Teaching from the University of Arizona. Her research interests cross the divide between linguistic anthropology and rhetoric and composition, focusing on study abroad narratives.
Sharada Krishnamurthy
E-mail: krishnamurthy [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. University of Madras, India
M.A. Ohio State University
M.A. Rowan University
Sharada Krishnamurthy directs the Rowan University Writing Center. She also teaches Integrated College Composition I, College Composition I and Tutoring Writing. Her research interests are writing center theory and practice, and tutoring and pedagogy relating to English Language Learners and other diverse student populations.
Laura Mangini
http://www.lauramangini.com/contact-me.html
B.A. Indiana University of Pennsylvania
M.A. West Virginia University
Ph.D Candidate, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Laura Mangini has been teaching first-year writing courses since 2005, and has taught a variety of composition and rhetoric courses at West Virginia University, Kent State University, Rosemont College, and Westmoreland County Community College. Her dissertation examines the dynamics of collaboration at the dissertation level, while studying resistance to collaborative dissertations within the field of composition through a feminist lens. Laura’s research interests include rhetoric, collaboration, feminist/critical theory, multimodal composition, and writing in the disciplines. Currently, she is writing a piece for publication for the Sustainable Literacy Project entitled "Writing in Eco-trauma" that explored the ways in which the field of composition will adjust to teaching in an age of global warming and ecological trauma. Here at Rowan, Laura teaches Writing, Research & Technology, Professions in Writing Arts, Foundations for College Writing, College Composition II and Sophomore Engineering Clinic I.
Deb Martin
E-mail: martind [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.S. Western Michigan University
M.A. Texas Woman's University
Ph.D. Texas Woman's University
Deb Martin is an associate professor. She joined the department in 2003. She teaches Tutoring Writing and Perspectives in Assessment. Her research areas include writing assessment and writing pedagogy. Her work has been published in various books and journals including Middle School Journal, Writing Program Administration, Disability Studies Quarterly, and Assessing Writing. Dr. Martin directed the Rowan Writing Center from 2009 to 2011 and is now director of the University’s Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Kimberlee Peters
E-mail: peters [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Bryn Mawr College
M.A. Bryn Mawr College.
Kim Peters holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a master's degree in history of art. She teaches Foundations for College Writing, Intensive College Composition I, and College Composition II, and is the department liaison to Rowan's Camden campus. Kim especially enjoys working with freshmen and helping all of her students succeed in meeting their educational and career goals.
Roberta Reavey
B.A. Westfield State College
M.A.T. Westfield State College
Professor Reavey teaches Improving Personal Writing Skills, Integrated College Composition I, College Composition I and II.
Her research interests include left brain/right brain theory and learning theory.
Amy Reed
E-mail: reeda [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. & B.S. The Ohio State University
M.A. University of Dayton
Ph.D. Virginia Tech
Amy Reed joined the department in 2012. She currently teaches Writing for the Workplace and Evaluating Writing. Her teaching approaches aim to help students cultivate greater rhetorical awareness and confidence when approaching new writing situations.
Dr. Reed's research interests are in medical rhetoric, technical and professional communication, disability studies, and theories of written communication. She is currently researching the rhetorical elements of prenatal testing for Down syndrome—including how medical professionals represent testing options and disability and how pregnant women represent prenatal decision-making. In addition, she is working collaboratively with an interdisciplinary research group to study the experience and needs of individuals receiving a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis. More information about the study can be found here: http://obgyn.duke.edu/prenatalstudy.
Katherine Selfridge
E-mail: selfridge [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. La Salle University
M.A. Temple University
Kate teaches in the First-Year Writing Program, primarily Intensive College Composition I. She also serves as Assistant Director of the Rowan University Writing Center.
She is most interested in working with freshmen and helping them with their transition from high school to college. She also enjoys serving as an advisor to undergraduate Writing Arts majors and seniors in Portfolio Seminar.
Sanford Tweedie
E-mail: tweedie [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. University of Michigan
M.A. Eastern Michigan University
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Tweedie teaches in the first-year writing and undergraduate programs and in the M.A. in Writing. He has taught at the University of Erfurt in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar and received Rowan's Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award. His research interests include students in transition, classroom-based research, genre-stretching writing, and pedagogy that matters.
He is the author of In the Shadows of a Fallen Wall from University of Nebraska Press. His writing has also appeared in College Composition and Communication, English Journal, Exquisite Corpse, and Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, among others.
More information is available at www.sanfordtweedie.net
William Wolff
E-mail: wolffw [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. Union College
M.A. University of Cincinnati
Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin
Bill Wolff is an associate professor who teaches undergraduate and graduate classes that consider the intersections of new media communication technologies and writing. These classes include Writing, Research, and Technology; Writing for Electronic Communities; Visual Rhetoric and Multimodal Composition; Internet and Writing Studies; Information Architecture; and Research Methods for Writers.
His current research investigates how music fans’ use of social media spaces is expanding our understanding of how texts contribute to the creation of communities. His work has appeared in Technical Communication Quarterly, Computers & Education, and Currents in Electronic Literacy (co-authored with two Writing Arts undergraduates), and he has a forthcoming article in Computers & Composition.
He has been named a 2013 Delaware Division of the Arts Emerging Artist in Photography.
Find Dr. Wolff online at williamwolff.org, billwolffphotography.com, and @billwolff.
Amy Woodworth
Email: wood worth [at] rowan [dot] edu
B.A. New York University
M.A. Rutgers University at Newark
Ph.D. Candidate Temple University
Professor Woodworth teaches Composition II and Fiction to Film. She has published articles on the films of Sofia Coppola and on the film genre “the male weepie.” Her research interests include gender studies, film studies, film adaptation, media literacy, and genre theory.
Roberta Zehner
E-mail: zehner [at] rowan [dot] edu
A.B. Rosemont College
M.A Glassboro State College
An instructor in the department since 1990, Prof. Zehner teaches in the First Year Writing Program. Teaching College Composition I and II is the perfect place for her to help ease the transition from high school learning to college learning, one of her areas of interest. Her main goal is for students to learn to be critical thinkers, and her assignments and class discussions are geared to allow students numerous opportunities to develop this ability. Learning to read critically, producing a writing portfolio, and speaking in class are the methods by which this goal is accomplished. In her classes, students are urged to participate and soon realize that there is no such thing as a stupid question or a bad idea, just ideas that need to be explored. The emphasis is on learning: it is a rare student entering the composition classroom who has been trained to think critically. Critical thinking has to begin somewhere and Prof. Zehner's CCI and CCII classrooms are a good place to start.
