About the Contributors
Lauren Brentnell is an Instructor of English at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. They are a managing editor of constellations: a cultural rhetorics publishing space and the current secretary of the CCCC Queer Caucus. They are the author of “Crybabies in the Writing Center: Storying Affect and Emotion,” in Affect and Emotion in the Writing Center, co-authored with Elise Dixon and Rachel Robinson, and “Living Oklahoma: A Memoir About Trauma and Rebuilding in Academia,” in Pixelating the Self: Digital Feminist Memoirs. Their dissertation, “Responding to Sexual Violence Through Care-Based Practices in Writing Programs,” argues for the incorporation of trauma-informed work into writing program administration.
Sarah Brown is a recent graduate of The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where she received a Master’s degree in Literature. During her time at UNCC, she was a graduate student tutor in the Writing Resources Center, where she developed a scholarly interest in writing center practice and tutor training. Sarah is author of “The Ideal Gothic Romance: Landscapes, Heroines, and Villains in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale” in the December 2016 issue of Aeternum: The Journal of Contemporary Gothic Studies, and her research interests focus on contemporary horror fiction and film, animal studies, and more recently—tutor education. Due to her personal experiences as a writing center tutor, she feels strongly about transforming the writing center session into a positive, safe, and self-motivating experience for all students.
Kristi Murray Costello is the Associate Chair of Writing Studies and General Education and an Associate Professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. She is the four-year university president of the CWPA regional affiliate Writing Across Virginia (WAVA) and co-editor of the Utah State University Press collection The Things We Carry: Strategies for Recognizing and Negotiating Emotional Labor in Writing Program Administration. Her recent article, “From Combat Zones to Contact Zones: The Value of Listening in Writing Center Administration,” can be found in The Peer Review and her co-written chapter “Naming What We Feel: Self-Dialogue as a Strategy for Negotiating Emotional Labor in WPA Work” is forthcoming in Leigh Graziano et. al’s Making Administrative Work Visible: Data-Driven Approaches to Understanding the Labor of Writing Program Administration. In her spare time, Kristi enjoys yoga, hiking, live music, and spending time with her partner and their adorable dog, Rafa.
Elise Dixon is an Assistant Professor of English and writing center director at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She is a past historian of the IWCA-GO and served as a guest speaker for the IWCA LGBTQ Special Interest Group in 2019. She is co-editor of the Special Issue of The Peer Review: (Re)Defining Welcome, with Rachel Robinson; author of “Uncomfortably Queer: Everyday Moments in the Writing Center” in The Peer Review Journal and “Strategy-Centered or Student-Centered?: A Meditation on Conflation” in Writing Lab Newsletter. She’s currently navigating her first year on the tenure track and as a Writing Center director.
Genie Nicole Giaimo is Assistant Professor and Director of the Writing Center at Middlebury College in Vermont. She has served as editor for special issues published by WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship and Praxis. She is also the author of over ten peer reviewed publications and half a dozen book chapters. An active member of her College’s AAUP chapter, Genie’s research connects wellness with issues of workplace safety, labor advocacy, and anti-racism. This is her first book-length project.
Yanar Hashlamon is a PhD Student at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. He is a Graduate Co-editor of The Peer Review and has individually and co-authored work published in Praxis: A Writing Center Journal and Computers and Composition, respectively. His research interests lie in critical and anti-capitalist pedagogy, disability studies, and writing center studies.
Claire Helakoski is a Writing Instructor at Walden University and the Director of the Writing Center at Kendall College of Art & Design. Claire is a dedicated writing instructor, researcher, and creative writer who is active in her local community of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Claire is the producer and co-host of WriteCast, Walden’s academic writing podcast, and author of many posts on their blog. She believes that emotional intelligence is the key to a strong workplace, effective teaching, and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Christina Lundberg is a Writing Instructor and Coordinator for the Walden University Writing Center, and she teaches composition and creative writing courses at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Upon being awarded an M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 2007, Christina embarked on a writing and teaching career, which has served as her guiding light. Her poems have appeared in the Naropa Summer Writing Program journal Guilty as Charged, the Naperville Writers Group publication Rivulets, and the journal dedicated to all things farmer with a literary and educational slant Farmer-ish. As a person devoted to helping people meet their writing goals, Christina studies the art of meaningful connection and believes that writers thrive when they feel plugged into a healthy and supportive community.
Miranda Mattingly is a Manager of Writing Instructional Services at Walden University’s Writing Center. Miranda holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Missouri and is currently working on projects dedicated to creating more inclusive pathways for students and tutors to connect through writing instruction.
Nicole Pollack is a senior at Middlebury College majoring in environmental policy and minoring in food studies. She is a Head Tutor at the Middlebury Writing Center. Her work has been published in the Journal of Student Research, Cleveland Magazine, and InsideClimate News. She was a 2018 Middlebury Fellow in Narrative Journalism, studied environmental communication during a SEA Semester in the fall of 2019, and serves as a news editor and environmental reporter for the Middlebury Campus. She is currently an editorial fellow at Sierra Magazine and is completing a senior thesis on Ohio’s energy future.
Rachel Robinson is a PhD candidate at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. She is a past-president of the IWCA-GO. She is co-editor of the Special Issue of The Peer Review: (Re)Defining Welcome, with Elise Dixon; co-author of “Crybabies in the Writing Center: Storying Affect and Emotion” in Affect and Emotion in the Writing Center with Elise Dixon and Lauren Brentnell; and “Empowering the Process: Redefining Tutor Training Toward Restorative Justice,” co-authored with Floyd Pouncil and Shelby Leclair. She’s currently finishing her dissertation on embodiment, emotion, and imposter syndrome among Writing Program Administrators.
Benjamin J. Villarreal is an Assistant Professor of English at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico. In addition to being the Director of Undergraduate Studies in English, he studies, teaches, and designs games for learning. He is the author of “Truth, Justice, and the Victorian Way: How Comics and Superheroes Might Subvert Student Reading of Classic Literature” in the book With Great Power Comes Great Pedagogy: Teaching, Learning, and Comics and is currently designing a card game for beginning conversations about mental health with writing center staff. And while not currently managing a writing center, he leads professional development for faculty on student writing and mental health.
Kacy Walz is a Writing Instructor at Walden University, and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Missouri. Kacy has been teaching and tutoring writing since 2007 and, with Claire Helakoski, cohosts WriteCast. Along with emotional intelligence, she is interested in research concerning mindfulness and combating impostor syndrome, particularly as they refer to writing.
