Biography
Faculty Advisor to undergraduate literary magazine, The Abington Review
Fields of Specialization
Rhetoric and Composition (focusing on critical writing and critical thinking), Creative Writing (fiction, nonfiction, journalism); Business Writing, Romantic Poetry; Victorian Poetry; American Realism (with a concentration in Mid-Western writers of the early 20th Century); Modern American and British Fiction; Contemporary American Fiction.
Teaching Experience
Advanced Expository Writing (Eng. 421)
Advanced Creative Non-Fiction Writing (Eng. 415)
Advanced Fiction Writing (Eng. 412)
Article Writing (Eng. 215)
Writing for the Social Sciences (Eng. 202A)
Business Writing (Eng. 202D)
Creative Writing (Eng. 050)
Rhetoric and Composition (Eng. 015)
Free Writing Time (Eng. 006)
Basic Writing Skills (Eng. 004)
Professional Organizations
Member, Associated Writing Programs since 1992.
Member, Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society
Member, The Sinclair Lewis Society
Honors
Lionheart Award—Highest Honor Bestowed on a Faculty/Staff Member
of Penn State Abington by Graduating Class, 2019
Chief Ogontz Award—Highest Honor Bestowed on a Faculty/Staff Member
of Penn State Abington by Student Body, 2018.
Honorable Mention, Abington College Undergraduate Research Activities Poster Fair,
April 16-18, 2018; Faculty Advisor and co-writer with Kelsey Pursel
"Help! I'm So Defenseless: Women Characters In Atomic Pulp Fiction."
Directors' Prize For Content, Association Of Writers And Writing Program, (AWP),
The Abington Review—Faculty Advisor, 2016
Semi-Finalist for The Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize 2015
First Place Winner, Abington College Undergraduate Research Activities Poster Fair,
April 13-14, 2015; Faculty Advisor and co-writer with Thomas W. Van Osten IV
"The Actual and Imagined Communities of Cold War Paranoia."
First Place Winner, Abington College Undergraduate Research Activities Poster Fair,
April 7-8, 2014; Faculty Advisor and co-writer with Thomas W. Van Osten IV
"The Uncollected Short Stories Of J.D. Salinger."
Special Recognition Award 2013, Penn State.
Outstanding Teacher (Instructor) 2011, Penn State.
Honorable Mention: Mainstream/Literary Short Story Category,
Writer's Digest Short Story Competition, 2010.
Honorable Mention: Mainstream/Literary Short Story Category,
Writer's Digest Short Story Competition, 2009.
Second Place, Sports Photo of the Year, Keystone Award, 2009,
The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
First Place, Best Standard Ad Design, 2009,
The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
Nominated for Outstanding Teacher 2009, Penn State.
Second Place, Ad Campaign or Series, 2008,
The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
Nominated for Outstanding Teacher 2008, Penn State.
Five Design Awards (2 First Place, 2 Second Place, 1 Third Place) 2007,
The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
First Place for Series, Keystone Award, Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, 2006
Hiller Revisits America.
Nominated for Outstanding Teacher 2006, Penn State.
Nominated for Outstanding Teacher 2005, Penn State.
Nominated for Outstanding Teacher 2004, Penn State.
Nominated for Outstanding Teacher 2003, Penn State.
Honored as an Outstanding Teacher, Temple University, Spring 2001.
Teaching Excellence Certificate, Temple University, Fall 2000.
First Place Winner in Short Story Contest, Just a Moment magazine, Spring 1995
Conferences, Readings, Seminars
Abington College Undergraduate Research Activities Poster Fair,
April 13-14, 2017; Faculty Advisor and co-writer with William Connor
“A Public Trial... In The Matter Of J. Robert Oppenheimer.”
Abington College Undergraduate Research Activities Poster Fair,
April 13-14, 2017; Faculty Advisor and co-writer with Samuel Santiago
“The End of Irony in Post 9/11 Zombie Cinema.”
Abington College Undergraduate Research Activities Poster Fair,
April 13-14, 2015; Faculty Advisor and co-writer with Thomas W. Van Osten IV
“The Actual and Imagined Communities of Cold War Paranoia.”
Penn State Abington Student Government Association; January 21, 2015
Panelist for “Media Reality.”
Abington College Undergraduate Research Activities Poster Fair; April 7-8, 2014
Faculty Advisor and co-writer with Thomas W. Van Osten IV
“The Uncollected Short Stories of J.D. Salinger.”
Penn State Abington Student Government Association; April 1, 2013
Keynote Speaker—“Pop-Culture Maturity.”
Penn State Undergraduate English Conference; March 27, 2004
Texts, Media, & Cultural Literacy in the 21st Century
Moderator— “A Path of Feminist Consciousness: Narrative Essays.”
Central Connecticut State University; November 11, 2003
Lecturer — “I Could Write a Book.”
Reading at Temple Gallery, Philadelphia, PA; November 2, 2000.
Research Interests
Creative Writing (fiction, nonfiction, journalism); Cold War: Paranoia, Civil Defense, the Atomic Bomb & the Threat of Nuclear War; American Roads: Route 66, The Lincoln Highway.
Publications
Creative Non-Fiction:
"Hackberry General," Route Magazine, June/July 2023
"The King of Commerce," Route Magazine, Aug./Sept. 2021.
"The Legend," Route Magazine, June/July 2021.
"Steeped in History," Route Magazine, Feb./March 2021.
"Red, Gold and Open," Rosebud, 63, Fall 2017.
"The Cathedral of Denny's," Harpur Palate, 2015.
"The Wheat and Chaff of Clyde," Palo Alto Review, 2014.
"Tea Time," American Road Magazine, Spring 2014.
"Potatoes in Wonderland," American Road Magazine, Spring 2014.
"Fallingwater," American Road Magazine, Winter, 2013.
"Lincoln Highway Drinking Fountains," American Road Magazine, Winter 2013.
"Curing Acrophobia in the Twilight Zone," Rosebud, Vol. 55.
"Findin' Franklin," American Road Magazine, Vol. XI, No. 2.
"In Clyde, Where the Wheat Was," Steam Ticket, May 2013.
Route 66 Dining & Lodging Guide, Contributor, 16th Edition.
"The Frantic Fantastic Life in Oklahoma," Bluestem, 2012.
"The Ruins Between the Gates of Time," Concho River Review, 2012.
"Lincoln Highwaymen," American Road Magazine, Vol. IX, No. 3.
"Purgatory in the Tropics," Bluestem, 2011.
"Ohio, 2001: The Wait at The Reed House," The Evansville Review, Vol. XXI.
"The Dead of Winesburg," Rosebud, Issue #49, January 2011.
"Conelrad in the Wigwam Motel," Lost on Route 66, April 2009.
"Wrink Wrinkle's Memory," Route 66 Federation News, Vol. 16, No. 1.
"Route 66 in the Land of Lincoln," The Rockford Review, Winter/Spring 2009-2010.
"Remembering John's Modern Cabins," Route 66 Federation News, Vol. 15, No. 4.
"Significant Landscapes Heading to California," Amtrak's Whistle Stop, June 2007.
"Old photos, dying memories need to find rightful owners, The Chestnut Hill Local, January 18, 2007.
"Patriot Act," Philly Style Magazine, Jan./Feb. 2006.
"On the Road Again: A Trilogy, Pt.3," Route 66 Magazine, Spring 2005.
"On the Road Again: A Trilogy, Pt.2," Route 66 Magazine, Winter 2004/2005.
"On the Road Again: A Trilogy, Pt.1," Route 66 Magazine, Fall 2004.
"At McMenamin's, zombies and 9/11 both terrifying," The Chestnut Hill Local, April 8, 2004.
"Have You Slept in a Wigwam Lately?" Route 66 Federation News, Vol. 9, No. 4.
"Images of the U-Drop Inn," Route 66 Federation News, Vol. 8, No. 4.
"Dear Mr. Salinger," Letters to J.D. Salinger, Pg. 197, May 2002.
"Bush Comes to Shove," The Chestnut Hill Local, August 10, 2000.
"Letter From London: How I Learned I was an Ugly American," The Chestnut Hill Local, June 1, 2000.
Many more upon request
Fiction
"On the Edge of America," Cottonwood, Spring 2025
"In The Stillness of Remembering," Bull, August 2019.
"About Facing Freedom With A Little Fear," The Alembic, Spring 2019.
"Corroded Cotton Vines," The MacGuffin, Vol. XXXIII, 3, Fall 2017.
"A Phenomenon Of No Natural Process," Flint Hills Review, Fall 2016.
"Beautiful Music," Bull, November 2014.
"DaysInn 29, 1997," Bluestem (online version), March 2013.
"The Hu Ke Lau Break-Up," Vermont Literary Review, 2012.
"Success Like The Red Line Preacher," Taproot 24.
"The Black-Drop of the Universe," Willard & Maple, XV.
"Success For The Red Line Preacher," Pinion Journal, Spring 2011.
"The Black-Drop of Brick Apartments," Cooweescoowee, Spring 2011.
"Lily," Berkeley Fiction Review, #25.
"Love's Laugh in the Dark," Mobius, June 2001.
"Caught on Race," Pangolin Papers, Spring 2001.
"Pedestrian Traffic," Pangolin Papers, Spring 1999.
"You Don't Need a Quarter," Berkeley Fiction Review, #17.
"Always Eat the Favorites," Just a Moment, Spring 1995.
"Heaven Hide Your Eyes," The Helix, Fall 1994.
"Tomorrow's News," The Helix, Fall 1993.
Poetry:
"Jazz Man," The Helix, Fall 1994.
"Blazers," The Helix, Spring 1994.
"The Motel, Last Night," The Helix, Fall 1993.
Books:
Operation Panic: Cold War Stories of the Atomic Bomb, Woodhall Press, Nov 19, 2024
Dispatches To America, Creative Nonfiction, TBD
The Echoes
Book Reviews:
Alcohol and the Literary Imagination: A Review of Alcoholite at the Altar: The Writer and Addiction— Roger Forseth. Cassandra Csencsitz—Sinclair Lewis Society Newsletter, Fall 2017
Education
MFA, Creative Writing, Temple University
MA, Creative Writing, Temple University
BA, English, Central Connecticut State University