I have taught in the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing Program since 1991; I’ve been a visiting writer at the University of Missouri and at Mankato College in Minnesota; I’ve taught in continuing education programs in Park City, Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Rochester, Minnesota; and I’ve led many private workshops. In 1999, I was awarded the Louise Crowley and Roger Weingarten Award for Excellence in Teaching at Vermont College.

I enjoy the low-residency format at the VCFA where, sitting in the quiet of my office after the two-week residency in Vermont, I can become involved with a student’s writing in an even more intimate way than in a regular academic setting–examining line by line, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, as well as finding the big picture and looking for the long shot. It is one of my greatest pleasures to get to know another writer’s work and help that writer create the best possible manuscript according to his or her vision of what s/he wants to say.

I strongly believe in keeping this unique vision uppermost in consideration as I work with my students. We all have our own stories to tell in the way we have to tell them. There is no one way to tell a story or to write a book. That is the beauty of writing. And of teaching writing. Every new piece of prose has its own particular demands and challenges.