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 Rachel hails from northern Louisiana and is currently pursuing her MA of English in Cultural Studies at GMU. She received her BA in History and Gender Studies from Centenary College in 2008. Before moving to the east coast for graduate school, Rachel taught high school English for two years in Louisiana. Her academic interests reside at the intersection of visual culture, activism and gender. In her spare time she enjoys long-distance running, riding her bike, playing frisbee with her dog "Ludo" or watching Glee with her adorable cat "Littlefoot."
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 Ben is an MA candidate in the Linguistics program at GMU. In 2010 he graduated summa cum laude from Liberty University with a degree in Advertising and Public Relations. His favorite word is communication - which gives him a passion for helping students write well, and also drives his work in graphic design, copy writing, and social media marketing. Ben has always lived around Virginia, but he's been to the Philippines and Romania and aspires with his fiancee to live abroad. He is a fan of peanut butter, morning trail runs, taking big whiffs of the air, and musing about stuff with a cup of coffee in hand. He also likes good photographs and really bad puns. |
 Erin is a native Marylander who graduated from Towson University in 2010 with a BA in English. During her undergraduate career, Erin was a staff member of and contributor to Towson’s literary and arts magazine, tutored adult English language-learners at a local community college, and completed an independent study in linguistics under the auspices of TU’s Honors College. Erin worked in the educational publishing industry in Baltimore for a year before moving “south” to begin her first year as a fiction candidate in George Mason’s MFA program. Born with five wisdom teeth, Erin has two half-marathons under her shoelaces and delights in the discovery of new (to her) grocery stores. |
 Eiman (ESL Specialist) has been a part of the George Mason community for eleven years, as a student, ESL Specialist at the Writing Center, and English and Writing instructor with ELI and GSE. She has a B.A. in International Studies and an M.A. in Linguistics. She also teaches English for Academic Purposes at The George Washington University.
Eiman is currently working with Dr. Terry Zawacki, Anna Habib, Sarah Baker, and Shamama Moosvi on the Diversity Project, researching non-native students' experiences as writers in the American academy as compared to their native country. The research team has published this research in a monograph titled Valuing Written Accents and presented the research at several conferences, including the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). The description of the project and the findings are available on an interactive website: http://writtenaccents.gmu.edu. |
 Darby is a native of Slidell, Louisiana, a place she often describes as "New Orleans." Darby graduated from Florida State University with a BA in English in 2006. After completing an editorial internship with a magazine in Orlando, Darby moved to Los Angeles in 2007, where she lived on a friend's couch for a minute and found employment as a closed caption editor, a cocktail server, a legal assistant, and a website copywriter (to name just a few). Darby has been involved with WriteGirl, a nonprofit creative writing organization that benefits teen girls in Los Angeles, since 2008. In 2011, she decided to leave the beach to pursue an MFA in Poetry at George Mason, where she is looking forward to experiencing snow for the first time.
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 Alex comes from Carrboro/Chapel Hill, the place that proved to him that North Carolina could be cool. He graduated in 2008 from UNC-Chapel Hill with a BA in Journalism and a minor in Creative Writing (and another minor in Russian he swears that he earned, much to the chagrin of the foreign language department). He then moved to Prague, Czech Republic, and lived there for a year, holding such various positions as magazine editor, book-store clerk, English teacher and coffee roasting assistant. Alex has been creating fiction since as long as he's been able to talk about superheroes, and he's been writing it down since college. Wait around long enough and he might just make you laugh. |
 Kate is a second-year poet in the MFA program at Mason. She grew up in Mechanicsville, VA, which local lore holds was the place where covered wagons broke down east of Richmond. She used to drive a very suave minivan with the same problem. Kate graduated from Denison University with a BA in English in 2010. Last year, she worked at a fair housing organization. Kate spends her spare time drinking coffee, playing rec. league field hockey, and visiting unusual historical sites. She has recently taken up vegetable gardening and would appreciate any tips you have. |
 Christine (ESL Specialist), a native Arlingtonian, is pursuing an MA in Linguistics and a certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language. She received her BA in French from the College of William & Mary in 2008 and has taught English in Bosnia and France. She speaks French fluently and has spent 15% of her life (so far) in Paris. She aspires to increase that percentage, but also to live in other places and learn other languages. Christine is also interested in politics, current events, science, indie rock, and board games. |
 Liz is a first-year fiction candidate in Mason's MFA program. She grew up in the 'burbs of Nashville, TN, and Nashville is still basically her favorite place in the world. Liz graduated from the University of Chicago with an English degree in 2007, which is also when she started bartending. But thankfully that didn't last too long, and since then she's worked in DC as an administrative assistant, in North Carolina as a small-town beat reporter and writing tutor at a community college, and in Lancaster, PA, as an administrator for a gifted kids' summer camp. When Liz isn't in Fairfax, she's in Annapolis, where her charming husband, a dashing active duty Marine, teaches English at the Naval Academy. |
 Alicia is eager to begin her first year as a fiction candidate in Mason's MFA program. She grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota but has since lived in New York, California, Spain, Vietnam and Massachusetts. She received her BA in English and Spanish from Colgate University in 2008. After earning her TESOL Certificate, she moved to Hanoi, Vietnam where she taught English to students aged 4-40. For the past two years, she has worked as a Writing, Biology, and Greek History teacher for teenagers at a therapeutic day school in Boston, MA. Alicia is in constant pursuit of the perfect brownie recipe, has a fear of open refrigerators, and savors the 13 minutes of walking (and the fresh air) at the front end of her commute. |
 Chrissy is in her second year studying creative nonfiction in George Mason's MFA program. A Michigan native, Chrissy is constantly experiencing Great-Lake-withdrawal and has actually begun to miss snowstorms. She received her BA in Political Science from Kalamazoo College in 2009, where she also studied abroad in Quito, Ecuador. She has since worked as a video editor, a production assistant, a standardized test scorer, and a teacher. She spends her free time obsessing over all things Harry Potter, pondering ways to outsmart velociraptors, and learning tarot. |
 RJ is a second-year poet in George Mason's MFA program. He graduated from The University of North Carolina Greensboro with a BA in English in 2010. RJ spent the last year teaching grammar and writing skills to other human beings with a moderate amount of success. He also roamed around Fairfax/DC, wrote approximately 3 billion poems, learned guitar and mandolin(mostly), and developed the proper beard-to-face ratio that constitutes manliness. RJ is tremendously excited about working in the writing center. He plans to continue referring to himself in the 3rd person after writing this bio. |
 Amber is a first-year MFA poetry candidate who hails from Long Valley, New Jersey, a place that few have heard of. She graduated from Susquehanna University in the Spring of 2011 with a BA in creative writing and an English 7-12 teaching certification. Undergrad allotted her the opportunity to teach 8th grade English, to defend herself in order to receive departmental honors, to be credited with her first publications, to tutor in writing and SAT prep, and to edit and publish for on-campus magazines. Having experienced and savored both teaching and tutoring, editing and publishing, she is eager to get back in the saddle. She can often be found giving way to the lure of an open window, cooking an array of cuisines, or enjoying the quiet. |
 Kim is a first-year MFA nonfiction candidate from the "City of Brotherly Love." She received her self-designed undergraduate degree from GMU in the Summer 2011 semester. Her Bachelor's of Individualized Study concentration is Applied Music Cognition: Rhetoric & Writing. In her undergraduate studies, she worked closely with GMU's writing center as a Peer Tutor, was accepted into the Undergraduate Apprenticeship Program as a Writing Fellow, conducted HSRB approved research focused on the writing experience of GMU students, and published a personal essay with the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Other experiences include hoagie and cheesesteak engineering, running covert missions as an enlisted member of the USAF, and spokesmom of four future leaders. The perspective her kids offer her on day-to-day happenings remind her to keep an open mind to new ways of thinking and to never lose touch with your inner-child. |
 Kyle is a first-year Creative Nonfiction MFA candidate. Among other professions he has pursued carpentry, coaching, plumbing, pool maintenance, masonry, editing, and writing, and must acknowledge the last of these to be the most challenging, but also the most rewarding. He received his BA in English from Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts, where one of his most fulfilling endeavors was serving as an editor for BSU’s undergraduate literary arts journal, an experience that continually reinforced his belief in the limitless potential of student writing. |
 Jay is a second-year MFA fiction candidate from Atlanta, GA. He graduated from the University of Georgia in the spring of 2010 with a BA in English, a BA in Latin, and a minor in Japanese. As an instructor for Tutor.com, he discovered the bizarre pros and cons of online teaching; as a tutor with the AVID program at TC Williams High School in Alexandria, he taught writing and brainwashed his students into wanting to go to college; and as an instructor for Fairfax Collegiate Summer Program, he taught fifth graders how to write topic sentences and ninth graders how to build sweet robots for five-on-five capture-the-flag. When his time is his own, he tends to waste it doodling on his guitar, playing story-driven video games, and teaching his cat to fetch while navigating obstacle courses. |
 Michele is a first-year MFA poetry candidate from just an hour away in central Maryland. She graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 20ll with a BA in English and two minors: one in Philosophy, and one in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Don't be mistaken, however, she is neither a great thinker nor an unshaven raging feminist, just a little bit of a grammar nerd. She first discovered she liked working with other students on their writing projects while guest teaching a creative writing class of freshmen and sophomores, where they explored and discussed the quintessential "bad poem." Outside of her writing interests, she has a fondness for Ancient MesoAmerican art, singing loudly in the car with the windows down, and her roommate's cat. |
 Phineas was born and raised, which he is still trying to get over. He received a BA in English from Longwood University with minors in Philosophy and Creative Writing. After several years in the "real" world, he is currently working on a Master's in English Literature, hoping to hide in academia forever. |
 Spencer is a first-year MFA fiction candidate hailing from Long Beach, California, a place known for its awful inclement weather. He graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 2008 and subsequently worked as a peon at Trader Joe's, a Development and Outreach Coordinator at Red Hen Press, and a referee for a pee-wee flag football league. He has a cat named Nugget who, in keeping with stereotypical cat behavior, enjoys baths, foot rubs, and playing fetch. He has recently discovered that he has a small obsession with rollercoasters and in his spare time, which graduate school seems intent on making scarce, enjoys cooking, trying to bike on Fairfax's incredibly narrow roads, and marveling at the unbelievable amount of very green trees in Virginia. |
 Steph is a DC native and a first-year nonfiction student in Mason's MFA program. Steph earned her BA in English and Journalism at Penn State, where she also played lacrosse, wrote for her school newspaper, and attended every home football game. Since then, she's moved back to the DC area and has worked as a writer and editor for a local nonprofit. She's also taught Creative Writing and Journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder—a place she swears she'll move back to some day. Steph is thrilled to be back in the classroom and working with students again. When she's not at The Writing Center or in class, she can be found running, eating, traveling out west, or planning her upcoming wedding. |
 Alisha is an M.A. student in the Linguistics and the TESL Certificate Program at GMU. Her undergraduate studies lead her to a B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing (Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry) and a Minor in Business. She grew up all around the country and spent sometime living in Morocco during her tween years, which later ignited a passion for language, writing, literature, and culture. Alisha speaks fluent French, some Moroccan Arabic, and dabbles in Japanese. She loves anime, Japanese food, coffee, books, hanging out with her best bud, and collects cultural clothing and jewelry. |
 Heather is a student in the Master’s of English in Teaching Writing and Literature program. She is a native of Fairfax and graduated in 2010 from George Mason with degrees in English and Spanish with a minor in psychology. During college, she studied Spanish language and culture in Madrid, Spain and English literature at Oxford University. She is looking for her next great adventure, but for now enjoys staying home with a good book or a delightfully awful movie. |  Danielle is a first-year MFA candidate with a focus in creative nonfiction. Having grown up in Wisconsin and graduated from Minnesota's Gustavus Adolphus College, she is a proud Midwesterner and Scandinavian enthusiast. She has spent the last two years teaching English overseas. Danielle got her feet wet teaching in one of South Korea's many academies, followed by a drastic change of pace in a Hungarian village. From wriggling octopus appetizers to communist kitchen appliances, she has enjoyed the many experiences living abroad has offered but is happy to be back in the United States and at George Mason University. In her free time, Danielle likes to squat in cafes, experiment in the kitchen, and explore all this area has to offer.
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 Erica, originally from Pennsylvania, moved to Northern Virginia to begin work towards her MFA in nonfiction writing this fall. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova University, where she majored in Communication, minored in French, and studied writing and rhetoric through the University's English department. In college, she also served as a committee member for the annual Special Olympics Fall Festival and gave campus tours to prospective students and their families. After graduating, she worked as a newspaper reporter, primarily covering education, but also having the chance to write features, columns, and contribute to the newspaper's education blog. When she is not in class, she can be found reading, writing, or running. |  Hannah Hannah is an undergraduate peer tutor in her junior year, pursuing a global affairs degree in hopes to travel the world and help others. Hannah grew up in Gloucester, VA, a small town that lies on the Chesapeake Bay. So far as an undergrad, Hannah has enjoyed learning Arabic and joining every campus organization she can. In her spare time, Hannah likes to watch cheesy TV shows and play with her two Jack Russell Terriers "Pete" and "Ella"
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 Rachel is an undergraduate senior in GMU’s Visual Arts program. Her concentration is Graphic Design so she can often be found deliberating over serif or sans serif typefaces. Her goal is to someday become a teacher of secondary-school art. She was born and raised in Falls Church, Virginia, and loves exploring the shops and parks that the small-ish town has to offer. When she is not at school, Rachel likes to read, hike, draw comics, and cook, all of which is done in great excess. She also buys a lot of pens to draw with and would be more than happy to tell you about her favorite ones.
|  Nick is a Senior and a double major in Philosophy and Government, and is the president of the George Mason Chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha (the national Political Science Honor Society). Outside of the cocoon of academia he enjoys reading and writing, video games, hockey, loud music, and long walks on the beach at sunset. He is very excited to tutor here at the Writing Center and to help impart his love of writing to others.
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 Kate is currently a senior at George Mason University, and will graduate with a Business Management major in the spring. She realized her love for writing while taking English 302, a business writing course. During the course she completed numerous research papers, thoroughly enjoying the extensive research on business related topics. Along with her interest in writing, she is currently interning at Carahsoft Technology Corporation, a government contractor whose focus is primarily on selling software. She is also a member of Alpha Xi Delta, a social sorority that participates in numerous philanthropy events supporting Autism Speaks. |
 Olivia is in the middle of receiving her BFA in Dance, with a minor in Business. She comes from a family of writers, although none are famous authors; she also has some aspirations to become an English Teacher in the future. The love of her life weighs 16lbs and has a white stripe running down her nose. This loved one has many skills, such as Sit, Stay, Roll Over, Crawl, High Five, Shake, and has almost caught the hang of Fetch. If Olivia isn't in a dance studio, you can find her in a library or in her mother's kitchen, chopping tomatoes. Her vice is her addiction to Bruschetta and Gnocchi and her virtue is the ability to Cartwheel across a stage.
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 Alex is a first-year graduate student pursuing a Masters degree in Literature. Raised as a small-town Florida boy, he spent nineteen years of his life living in Sarasota before moving to Miami to pursue college, completing his Bachelor’s degree in English at Florida International University in 2011. As an avid gamer and hockey fanatic, he also splits his free time reading low-brow detective novels and riding his bicycle.
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Dawn FelsDirector, University Writing CenterDawn brings extensive writing center and teaching experience at both the secondary and post-secondary levels to her position of Writing Center Director. Her early career work as a high school English teacher and writing center director led her to research the effects of federal and state curricular policies on teaching and learning. Her dissertation, The Vernacular Architecture of Composition Instruction: What the Voices of Writing Center Tutors Reveal About the Influence of Standardized Instruction and Assessment, brought tutor's and students' voices to a conversation traditionally dominated by scholars and faculty. Outside of her academic life, Dawn likes to run, cook, gaze at old buildings, photograph the moon, and travel with her children. She is a lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers and St. Louis Cardinals. You can contact Dawn via email or call 703-993-8359. |
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Josh AmbroseAssistant Director, University Writing CenterJosh Ambrose is a second year candidate in creative nonfiction, entering Mason's MFA program with a degree in English from Penn State University. In addition to helping at the Writing Center, Josh enjoys teaching composition and literature, and serving as both the nonfiction and web editor for Phoebe. A lover of all things international, Josh has spent time abroad in Peru, India, England, Turkey, and Jordan and is incredibly honored to engage with the diversity of Mason's academic community. He lives in Fairfax with his wife and dog and enjoys traveling with them throughout the US whenever he has the slightest excuse. |
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