🎉 ALUMNI 🎉

Amelia Brewers recently began working as the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for The Children’s TherAplay Foundation, Inc. a nonprofit in Carmel, IN that utilizes the movement of a horse as a treatment tool in physical, occupational, and speech therapies. Amelia graduated in 2023 with a BA and MA in Literature, thanks to our new Accelerated Masters Program in English (AMP). You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Jessie Ferree (MA Creative Writing 2021) just started a new position as a Grant Coordinator at Indiana Wesleyan University. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Ainsley Holloman Hess (MA Rhet Comp 2019) just started a new position as a Registrar Systems Administrator at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Congratulations to Grace Beckham (BA English 2023) who will be working as a copywriter at GMO Tech Management in Crown Point, IN. This company provides management services to small businesses and non-profits. Connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Jared Brown (BA Creative Writing 2023) was recently hired at Peoples Bank in Schererville, IN, near Chicago. You can connect with him on LinkedIn. 

Sarah Hollowell (BA Creative Writing 2015) recently published her second young adult novel, What Stalks Among Us (Harper Collins 2023), which was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and earned a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. Learn more about this corn-maze thriller on her website. 

Gina Klaff (BA Creative Writing 2020) recently embarked on a master’s degree in management and marketing at University College Cork, Ireland. Since graduating, she’s been working in a hybrid role (working from home and onsite) as a communication specialist for Blick Art Materials in Chicago. Connect with Gina on LinkedIn. 

Brittany Means (BA Creative Writing 2015) has also just published a book, a memoir entitled Hell if We Don’t Change Our Ways (Zibby Books, 2023). The book was a PEOPLE magazine pick and earned a starred review from Kirkus, who said, “This book is an outstanding debut…A harrowing and soulful memoir to be read, savored, and reread.” Brittany earned her MFA in Nonfiction at the University of Iowa and currently works as a technical writer and editor for Akima Infrastructure Services. Learn how to connect with her on her website. 

Haley Muench (BA Creative Writing 2014) recently accepted a position working as a legislative assistant for the Indiana House Democratic Caucus. Connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Sarah O’Meara (BA Creative Writing 2012) was recently hired as Head of Professional Services at LumApps, a software company in Huntsville, AL. Connect with her on LinkedIn. 

After many years of working as a freelance writer and editor, Gretchen Stelter (BA Literature 2003) just accepted a position as Editor at Sourcebooks, an independent, women-led publisher in Naperville, IL. Connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Attention Alumni: Please follow the English department’s LinkedIn page.

🎉 FACULTY 🎉

Dr. Darolyn “Lyn” Jones presented “Provocation Instead of Prescription — Write for Change!” at the Conference on Community Writing, Coalition for Community Writing, Denver, CO, Friday, October 13, 2023

Lyn also wrote:

  • “Meet Dr. Courtney Jarrett: Pioneering Disability Services at Ball State University” for Indy Special Needs Living’s August 2023 Issue
  • “The Gregory S. Ferhibach Center: Turning Dreams into Reality” for the Indy Special Needs Living’s September 2023 Issue
  • “Meet Mayor Hodges: Changing Accessibility One Act at a Time” for Indy Special Needs Living’s October 2023 Issue
  • And with Tendra Duff, Guardian Care Parent Liaison, Lyn co-wrote, “Indiana Waiver Changes are Coming” for the Indy Special Needs Living’s December 2023 Issue

Kathryn S. Gardiner’s feature-length script, The Art of Yielding, advanced to the 2nd round (top 20%) of the 2023 Austin Film Festival Script Competition. The script is a fictionalized account of Kathryn’s time as an amateur mixed martial arts cage fighter.

Jill Christman’s essay collection, If This Were Fiction, won The Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year in the “Traditional Nonfiction” category. 

  • “Notable Essay” listing in Best American Essays 2023 (eds. Robert Atwan & Vivian Gornick) for “The Lucky Ones” (The Rumpus, August 2022).
  • “The Truest Story You Can Tell: Featuring Jill Christman.” Interview with Ronit Plank. Let’s Talk Memoir (October 2023): online.
  • “Happy Book Birthday to If This Were Fiction.” Blog. University of Nebraska Press (September 2023): online.
  • Featured Reading with Alison Stine (followed by a conversation with Jen Knox). LitYoungstown Fall Festival. Youngstown, OH. 21 October 2023.
  • “Seeing Beyond the I: Using Multiple Points of View in Creative Nonfiction”: a 60-
    minute workshop. LitYoungstown Fall Festival. Youngstown, OH. 21 October 2023.
  • Publishing Creative Nonfiction Round Table. LitYoungstown Fall Festival. Youngstown, OH. 21 October 2023.

Rani Deighe Crowe’s experimental short film, Trying to Remember, was an official selection for the Mykonos Biennale as digital graffiti screened on the buildings in Mykonos, Greece in October 2023. Rani’s short screenplay for The Trouble with Jenny, about a 9 year old girl who develops breasts that are inappropriate for her 3rd grade class, was an official selection and awarded Best short screenplay for CKF International Film Festival, August 2023 edition. Rani’s short screenplay, Church Ladies, a comedy about casserole judgment and repressed lesbian desire at a church potluck, was an official selection for The Women’s Independent Film & Television Festival, October 2023.

Molly Ferguson gave the keynote speech, “Going ‘Astray’: The Stray Sod and Buried Trauma in Contemporary Irish Texts,” at the Southern American Conference for Irish Studies on October 27th.

Charlotte Kupsh presented “An Environmental Approach to Tutoring: Centering Material Composing Processes” at the International Writing Center Association Conference on October 13th.  

Kathryn Ludwig wrote a book review of Imagine Your Life Like This by Sarah Layden for Indiana Authors Awards/Indiana Humanities, 5 Dec. 2023, www.indianaauthorsawards.org/book-reviews/ .  

Kathryn Ludwig and Laura Romano presented “Writing for Change: Composing in Partner Spaces” at the Engagement Scholarship Consortium International Conference: Mobilizing Change through Engaged Scholarship, East Lansing, MI, October 4-5, 2023.  ​

Katy Didden was featured on the Poetry for All Podcast for her poem “The Priest Questions the Lava,” from Ore Choir: the Lava on Iceland. 

Joyce Huff

  • secured a contract for her current book project on representations of fatness in Victorian Britain.
  • published an article entitled “Fat” in the Victorian Keywords Redux issue of Victorian Literature and Culture.
  • presented ““Reforming Corpulence: William Banting and the Gospel of Slimming.” at the North American Victorian Studies Association.

🎉 STUDENTS 🎉

Courtney Crisp, a Rhetoric and Composition PhD Student received the 2023-2024 Excellence in Teaching Award for the Doctoral Level