First-Year Writing Directory

Daniel Alexander is a first-year Master of Fine Arts student studying fiction. Alexander received his Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona.

Samantha Atkins is a writer and teacher from southern Indiana. Her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry can be found in Beecher’s Magazine, Booth, Tahoma Review, Bayou Magazine, Appalachian Heritage, Peatsmoke Journal, Rind, and Humanize Magazine. She received her MFA from Purdue University and is a current Ph.D. candidate at Western Michigan University in fiction writing.

Latifa Ayad-Hall is a PhD student studying Fiction. Latifa received her MFA in Fiction from Florida State University. She is a MacDowell fellow, and her work is anthologized in Best American Non-Required Reading 2019. Latifa is a winner of the Indiana Review 1/2K Prize and the Master's Review/PEN America Flash Fiction prize.

Jeanette Barry is a first-year PhD student studying English Education. Jeanette received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Hillsdale College and her Master of Arts in English from Grand Valley State University. Jeanette has 29 years of teaching experience in both the public and private sectors of secondary English.

Kyle Battle is an MFA candidate in Fiction with a focus in Literary Fiction, Slipstream, and Fantasy. Kyle brings a lifetime of adventure to his writing and the classroom; he toured the U.S. in a band as a teenager, worked as a nuclear technician on submarines, and has served as Lead Instructor and Publications Editor for internationally recognized non-profits and institutions such as Acton Academy and the Telling Room. He does not like olives.

Jamie Bollweg is a second-year Master’s of English student studying English Literature. Bollweg received their Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in English Literature and Language from Western Michigan University. In addition to their commitment to school, Jamie enjoys watching movies and making ambient music.

Alex Bowman is a part-time instructor with the English department. He obtained his Master of Arts in medieval studies from Western Michigan University in Spring 2023. His research interests include queerness, monstrosity, and gender performance in medieval literature and gender expression through space and objects during the early Italian renaissance.

Emily Brown is a second-year PhD student PhD student in the English Department with a focus on Medieval Literature. She received her BA in English from Bowdoin College and her MA in English from NYU. Her particular research interests are in medieval interpretations and adaptations of Greek and Roman mythology. She has been teaching at WMU since Fall 2022.

Emily Daniel is a first-year MFA Candidate in Poetry. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in University Studies with a concentration in Creative Writing at WMU. Her poems have appeared in The Penn Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Bangalore Review, and elsewhere. Emily also loves to sing while driving and occasionally for others upon request.

Ronald De Young is a part-time instructor at Western Michigan University. He received his Master of Arts in English Language and Literature from Western Michigan University in 2023. When he’s not teaching, he spends his time writing, reading, and watching hockey.

David Dinkins is a part-time instructor. Dinkins has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University and has been teaching in the program since Fall 2019.

Kate Elder is a part-time instructor in the English department. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in English from WMU in 2015 and her Master’s in Medieval Literature from WMU in the Spring of 2019. She has been teaching in the English Department since 2017. Kate’s research interests include the morality of fairy magic in medieval romance, as well as analyzing young adult fiction through a medieval lens.

Isaac Grimaldi is an MFA student in Fiction with a particular interest in Queer Horror and Contemporary Folklore. Isaac received his Bachelor of Science in English Education from Ferris State University.

Cody Harrison is a PhD student studying fiction. He received his MFA at Sam Houston State University.

Tristan Heibel is a second-year Master’s of English student with a focus on twelfth-century medieval romance poems and contemporaneous gender dynamics in aristocratic marriage. Tristan also serves as one of the Assistant Directors for First-Year Writing. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in English with a focus on medieval and early modern studies from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Emilie Helmbold is a Master of Fine Arts candidate with a concentration in fiction with a focus on mystery, thriller, and horror. Helmbold received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan in 2020 with distinction and honors in Political Science, Drama, and Creative Writing. She also serves as an Assistant Director of First-Year Writing. She has been teaching at Western Michigan University since Fall of 2022.

Carrie Hess is a fourth-year PhD student in Literature studying Romantic and Victorian British Literature, with a special interest in their film adaptations in general and the evolution of the mystery genre in particular. Hess received her Bachelor of Arts in English from Andrews University and her Master of Science in Education from Walden University. Prior to joining the WMU English Department PhD program, she taught high school English for 21 years.

Andrew Joyce carries a Master’s in English from Western Michigan University with an emphasis in writing creative fiction. He has tutored, lead a creative fiction workshop, and taught English as a Foreign Language in Arequipa, Peru. He currently teachers first-year college writing.

Kathryn Karoly is a first-year PhD student studying creative writing with a focus on poetry. She graduated with her MFA in poetry from the University of Maryland in 2023. During her undergraduate years at Saginaw Valley State University, she was chosen to jump-start SVSU’s creative writing curriculum for Writing from the Inside Out in the Saginaw Prison. Her focal interests are in women’s literature, novels in verse, and lyric essay.

Sophia Khan is a second-year PhD student in Creative Writing - Fiction. She received her BA from Haverford College and her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. Before returning to graduate school, Sophia lived in Islamabad, where she taught high school English and wrote Dear Yasmeen (HarperCollins, 2016) and The Flight of the Arconaut (Red Panda, 2020). She is an assistant director of First-Year Writing at WMU and an assistant fiction editor for Third Coast.

Hawa Krampah (she/her) is a second-year master's student studying English Education. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Education with a major in English from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Hawa teaches first-year college writing.

Sofía Méndez Ramírez is a second-year MFA student in Playwriting. Méndez received her Bachelor of Communication and Journalism from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She has collaborated as a guest speaker in two main book fairs in Mexico City: FILIJ and FIL Minería. Sofía received an Honorable Mention at The Gwen Frostic Award in Playwriting for her play “That Song of Us” (2023). She started to teach as a teaching assistant at WMU in 2022.

Hunter Morgan is a first-year MA English student with an interest in Arthurian texts as borderlands literature between Welsh and English traditions and culture. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English with a Secondary Education minor from the University of Southern Indiana.

Nicole L.V. Mullis earned her MFA from Western Michigan University and her Journalism BA from Michigan State University. She is a produced playwright, a published author, a longtime columnist, and a freelance journalist. Nicole has been teaching in the program since 2019.

Joseph Niduaza is a second-year Ph.D. student studying Creative Writing with a concentration in Fiction. He received his MFA in Creative Writing and Poetics from the University of Washington Bothell and his BA in English from Cal Poly Humboldt.

Jon Riccio is a part-time instructor who holds a PhD from the University of Southern Mississippi’s Center for Writers. He is the author of two chapbooks, Prodigal Cocktail Umbrella and Eye, Romanov, and the full-length collection Agoreography. A third chapbook, The Orchid in Lieu of a Horse, is forthcoming from Seven Kitchens Press. He serves as the poetry editor at Fairy Tale Review.

Syeda Rizvi (she/her) is PhD English Literature student. Her area of interest is gender representations in the early nineteenth century American Literature with particular focus on Gothic Genre. Rizvi received her MA English and Master of Liberal Studies from Indiana University. She is teaching first-year writing classes in the Department of English at Western Michigan University.

Phil Savage graduated from WMU in 2015 and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Washington’s English Language and Literature program in 2020. His research focuses on the influence of science and urbanization on late 19th and early 20th century American literature.

Charli Spier is a Master of Fine Arts student studying Fiction with particular interest in Autofiction and the narrativization of memory. Spier received her Bachelor of Arts in History and German from the University of Michigan and her Master of Arts in History at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been teaching in the the program since 2021.

Alyssa McIntire Start is a first year MFA student studying poetry. She received her Bachelor of Science in English Education from Central Michigan University.

Savannah Xaver is a fifth-year PhD student studying Shakespeare and his contemporaries with a particular interest in gender and sexuality studies. Savannah received her BA and MA from The University of Toledo. She has been teaching at WMU since 2018.

David Yarnall is a second-year Master’s of Fine Arts student studying Creative Writing with a focus in Fiction. Yarnall received his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Morehouse College. He is an Assistant Fiction Editor for Third Coast magazine.