About
I've been teaching in Sweetland since 2012, and I became the Director of the Lloyd Scholars for Writing and the Arts (LSWA) in 2022. While I've taught many courses for Sweetland over the years, all my current courses take place in LSWA, on subjects including first-year writing, surrealism, poetry, fantasy worldbuilding, and race and ethnicity. In Fall 2025 I piloted LSWA's first community-engaged writing course with Garrett's Space, a local organization dedicated to suicide prevention and mental health support for young adults ages 18-28.
My second book of poems, Stegosaurus Moon, was published in June 2026 by Dzanc Books. I am also the author of Wait 'Til You Have Real Problems (Dzanc Books, 2014); two chapbooks: The Octopus (Gertrude Press, 2016) and Two Shakespearean Madwomen Vs. the Detroit Red Wings (White Eagle Coffee Store Press, 1998); and co-authored books with Jeff Kass, Aracelis Girmay, and Rachel Camacho (formerly McKibbens). My poems have appeared in many journals, and were awarded a Pushcart Prize in 2013 and two Hopwood Awards in the 1990s. I also write songs and perform fairly regularly at the Ypsi Alehouse in Ypsilanti.
Fields of Study/Research Interests
Writing, Poetry, Songwriting, Fantasy Worldbuilding, Surrealism, Race & Ethnicity, Gender
Courses/Teaching Assignments
LSWA 125: Writing and Seeing
LSWA 125: Writing About Arts and Resistance
LSWA 125: Writing in the Surreal World
LSWA 126: Community-Engaged Writing with Garrett's Space
LSWA 130: Extravagant Nonsense
LSWA 230: Poetry, Magic, and Science
LSWA 230: Poetry and Justice
LSWA 230: Antiracist Fantasy Worldbuilding
Writing 100: Transition to College Writing
Writing 120: College Writing for Multilingual Writers
Writing 201: The Rhetoric of Blogging
Writing 201: The Rhetoric of Online Dating
Writing 201: Fake News
Writing 200: Conspiracies, Hoaxes, Parodies, & Lies: Confronting Fake News in All its Guises
Writing 302: Global Communication
Writing Workshop
English 125: Writing and Academic Inquiry
Award(s)
Lecturer Excellence in Inclusive Teaching Award, 2026
Finalist, Best of the Net (2022)
Inducted into the Charles Crupi Memorial Society for Excellence in the Teaching of Poetry, Albion College, 2019
Honorable Mention, Crosswinds Poetry Contest (2019)
Finalist for the 2017-18 Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Book Prize, Pleiades Press
Second Prize, Naugatuck River Review 9th Annual Narrative Poetry Contest (2017)
2017 Helen Zell Writing Fellowship for a Vermont Studio Center Residency
Semifinalist for the 2017 Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor's Choice Award, Persea Books
Winner of the 2015 Gertrude Press Poetry Chapbook Competition
Finalist for the 2015 Baltic Writing Residency Chapbook Contest
2014 Pushcart Prize, Pushcart Press
Finalist for the 2013 David Blair Memorial Chapbook Prize, Organic Weapon Arts
Finalist for the 2012 ABZ Poetry Prize, ABZ Press
Finalist for the 2011-12 Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Book Prize, Pleiades Press
Winner of White Eagle Coffee Store Press Fall 1998 Poetry Chapbook Contest
1996 Hopwood Major Poetry Award, University of Michigan
1994 Hopwood Minor Poetry Award, University of Michigan
1993 Michael R. Gutterman Prize in Poetry, University of Michigan
1992 Bain-Swigget Prize in Poetry, University of Michigan
