My Story

I have been at SUNY New Paltz since I was a junior majoring in English. I loved the school and area so much that I decided to stay for my graduate education, and am fortunate enough to work on the very campus that fostered me as a student. I began considering a career in education once I started as an undergraduate Supplemental Writing Workshop tutor. (I also tutored generally at the campus learning center). During my graduate work, I went on to become a Teaching Assistant as the primary instructor of first-year writing courses. Now I mentor our TAs as part of my professional work.

Student & Faculty Support

I’m proud to say that we’ve recently piloted a TA SWW tutoring program that I proposed. This allows for select TAs to begin as professional tutors, not as full course instructors, learning about our courses and supporting students by shadowing expert writing instructors. With the hard work of our Coordinator, Nikki Wilson Clasby, and SWW Program Director, Rachel Rigolino, tutor training modules via Hawksites are being further developed through a SURE grant. Here is a video about the project.

As the Writing & Rhetoric Program Staff Assistant, my work varies. Often, I’m writing memos, creating and reviewing curricular materials for our faculty, or coordinating professional development trainings and student events. This entails a lot of writing and editing, as well as pedagogical application of program objectives, General Education/SUNY-wide student learning outcomes in required assignments, or even reserving rooms and ordering catering, creating exam room schedules, and maintaining our CAS grant budget.

To learn more about how my education and English background are integral to my current work, check out my alumni profile.

Writing Events & Initiatives

We’ve had some fabulous writers and speakers come to campus, and I am glad to have helped make this possible for our students–from author  Tobias Wolff  to graphic novelist Jessica Abel, and poets like the wildly incisive Andrea Cohen, the political powerhouse Martín Espada, and the ever astonishing Ocean Vuong .

One highlight of my job includes editing our first-year student writing collection, New Voices, New Visions with my colleague Rachel Rigolino. Here is the 2022 edition now housed in Pressbooks! We love seeing the strong work our students create each year.

I help coordinate and collect submissions for our University Writing Board’s annual Celebration of Writing Day, a contest that culminates in a reading each May. Anyone who submits their writing is welcome to share an excerpt at the event! It’s wonderful to hear writing of all genres by all levels of students, undergraduate and graduate, from various disciplines.