Where are they Now?
Jennifer Bouchard
is the mother of a two-year-old and teaches literature and writing
at Enfield High School in Enfield, Connecticut. Her writing work
continues with published essays, "At Peace in the Garden," in
the Christian Science Monitor and "My Zen Garden" and "Searching
for Dali, but Not Really" both featured in the anthology
Press Pause Moments: Essays about Life Transitions by Women Writers,
edited by fellow MFA graduate Anne Witkavitch.
Fletcher Dean
is Director of Executive Communications and Chief Speechwriter for
the CEO at The Dow Chemical Company. He joined Dow in 2007 after
working in a similar position at Eastman Chemical Company. He was
honored by the Cicero Speechwriting Awards with two gold medals plus
the Grand Prize, recognizing the best speech of 2008. He also was
awarded a third place award in the inaugural Theodore. C. Sorenson
Speechwriting Awards for 2008. He's currently working on a book on
leadership communication and lives in Midland, Michigan with his
wife, Jane, and three kids.
Kim Dorfman
is currently teaching in the English Dept. at CCSU in a temporary
full-time appointment. She is teaching two writing classes and
two sections of World Lit from 1650--present. She believes
that without having learned to meet the demands of John Briggs's
course, she'd not have survived this very demanding semester.
Last fall, she taught two courses at Tunxis and two at CCSU, in
addition to appearing in a very small role in Aaliyah Miller's short
film, After The Headlines. She is looking forward to the
summer which will bring a little more free time to finish the novel
version of her thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the MFA
degree. She is hell-bent on completing it THIS YEAR!!!!!!! Then, she
will submit it for publication, institute strategies that will place
it on the bestseller list, make millions of dollars and whip through
all the other screenplay, YA, non-fiction projects, and novels she
has got planned, back-burnered and ready to go!
Natalia Fiore,
an MFA graduate from the first cohort, has been working as a Writing
Center Tutor and Academic Tech at Hillsborough Community College in
Brandon, Florida, from the fall of 2007 to the present. On
April 17th, 2009, she delivered a well-received presentation on "The
Value and Importance of the Writing Center Experience to Become a
Better Teacher" at the Florida Regional Writing Center Conference at
the University of South Florida in Tampa. Natalia also has
served as a Writing Adjunct on the faculty of Nova Southeastern
University Tampa campus since January of 2008. During
her time at Nova, she has taught Basic Writing, College Writing, and
Advanced College Writing classes in which she uses her knowledge
of film and music to inspire her students to appreciate writing as a
transcendent form of expression. This summer, Natalia will
attend the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, to spend time developing two of her short
stories for publication. Natalia continues her close writing
relationship with her mentors, Don Snyder and Jack Dennis, who
guided her through her thesis screenplay, Sonata, which she
is hoping to adapt into a TV movie. She aspires to write and
publish a novel and to continue her teaching of college writing.
Kirstin Genthner,
an MFA graduate from the first cohort, has been very busy
procrastinating on sending her novel to an agent. It's so much more
pleasant to think one might not get rejected than to get that
dreaded email or letter. Meanwhile, she has managed to get an essay
published in Miranda Literary
Magazine and an article in
Michigan in Touch; she has also become copy editor for
Miranda Literary Magazine
and completed another novel while inebriated by the heady
camaraderie of November's National Novel Writing Month.
Finally, she adds to her blog--as inspiration illuminates her
cranial bulb--which can be found at
wrinkledpage.blogspot.com.
Gwen Jones ‘09, is mentoring in the MFA program, and is an adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Mercer County Community College, in West Windsor, NJ. Writing as Trudy Doyle, she is the author of four books for Ravenous Romance, one of which, The Lady’s Choice, was featured on the Home Shopping Network’s (HSN) “Escape with Romance” promotion. Writing women’s fiction under her own name, her fabulousness is now enduring the submission process, as she has finally found representation by a literary agent who enthusiastically recognizes her true genius. Experience it for yourself at her blog: trudydoyle.wordpress.com
Ron Samul
is an Instructor and Writing Specialist at Mitchell College in New
London, Connecticut. He is the publisher of the international
quarterly Miranda Literary Magazine and the director of
Skinny Toe Press. He is a writing mentor at WCSU MFA in Creative
and Professional Writing. Ron has written articles, book reviews,
and fiction for Library Journal, Inquiring News,
SNReview and other electronic journals. He continues to write
fiction and works on an adventure dive boat in the summer.
Don Stitt: In August 2010, Don premiered a comedy, A Crisis of Biblical Proportions, at the Student Center Theatre on campus. A new production of his family musical, A Kid's Summer Night's Dream, is being prepared in Minnesota. He recently finished a small comic role in Peace, Love and Misunderstanding, which stars Jane Fonda and is directed by Academy Award winner Bruce Beresford. His episode of HBO's Boardwalk Empire was aired November 14th, 2010. Don is an adjunct lecturer at WCSU in the Writing Department, "so I get to see my wife more often," he says. She is the scenic design professor in the theater department.
Brian Thiem's
MFA thesis was approved December 2013. He signed with a literary
agent a month later. In July 2014, Brian signed a contract with
Crooked Lane Books for a three-book series, the first of which was a
revised version of his thesis. The first novel, Red Line, was
published in 2015, the second, Thrill Kill, in 2016, and the
third novel, Shallow Grave, is scheduled for release in July
2017. Brian is currently working on a fourth novel in the series,
and his agent is negotiating a new contract with the publisher.
Brian moved to Hilton Head, SC, in the summer of 2016, and is a
Writing Mentor in the MFA Program at WCSU
Rachel Wofford,
another graduate from the first cohort, is teaching English at TC
Roberson High School in Asheville, North Carolina, and loving it,
but considering a change to the alternative high school. After
having been informed by her agent that memoirs only sell if you're
already famous, she is currently working on two fiction books.
One is about an extended family who must deal the death of a sixteen
year old. In Rachel's words, "...It gets kind of racy and
trashy. I like it." The other is about three strong and,
to varying degrees, insane women who all love the same child; the
birth mother, another family member, and the paternal grandmother
who is a voodoo witch from Jamaica. She reports that she has
not given up on the memoir!
Colleen Wright
is the editor of Literacy Lines and Hope Stone,
organizational newsletters for Literacy Volunteers and Bridgeport
Youth Lacrosse. Her articles have been published in magazines
including AAA’s Journeys, Byline, Kansas City Parent
and Baltimore’s Child. She teaches English as a Second
Language, and writes about breaking into the national magazine
market on her blog,
awritingcareer.blogspot.com
