Approaching writing as a series of ongoing discoveries, one of my favorite quotes is, “No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader” (Robert Frost).  Since coming to Houghton in 2000, I have taught Writing in the Liberal Arts, Literary Non-Fiction, Narrative and Personal Essay, Writing about Spiritual Experience, and special topics courses such as Feature and Opinion Writing.

As the Director of the Writing Center, I train and oversee the Writing Center student consultants, have hosted the Penn-York Undergraduate Research Conference as well as a regional writing center research conference, and serve as the liaison to area high schools offering dual high school- and college-credit literature and writing courses.  I  have a three-year grant that allows me to work on multiple independent studies with students who travel with me and present their work at the National Undergraduate Research Conference.

My publications include biographical entries on Maya Angelou, Henri M. Nouwen, and Richard J. Foster, which have been published in The Encyclopedia of Women’s Autobiography and The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature, respectively.  Additionally, I write feature articles for The Cuba Patriot, a regional newspaper, covering places and news such as The Farmers’ Market, Addie’s Ice Cream, The Csehy Summer School of Music, and Wellspring Ministries.

I enjoy baking, walking, swimming, photography, reading and writing poetry, and wordplay.  My family and I reside in Caneadea, NY, at Rushford Lake.