Center for Creative Writing Board of Advisors

Dr. Phillip Allen: Professor Emeritus, Frostburg State University

Phillip Allen graduated Summa at Swarthmore, and has a Ph.D. in The Liberal Arts from Emory. He was Foreign Service Officer in Germany, Madagascar, Washington 1956-66; African American Institute director of development programs 1966-70. He was at Vermont State Colleges (and goat-raising) 1970 to 1987 and has had Three Fulbright lectureships in Africa. He has published four books on the Indian Ocean, plus one called The Traveler's Africa, and numerous articles. Also, he was Dean of Arts and Humanities at Vermont State Colleges 1987-99, then undocumented laborer at that same institution 2000-2005 (chaired Foreign Languages, taught PHIL, FREN, Honors seminars, coordinated Liberal Studies). He is on several boards and councils, and is a consultant on international higher education.

Elizabeth Arnold: Poet/Professor of Creative Writing, UMD

Elizabeth Arnold grew up in northeast Florida and attended Oberlin College, the University of Chicago, and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She has taught at the University of Chicago, the University of Montana, Warren Wilson College's MFA program, and the University of Maryland, where she is now an assistant professor of English. Arnold has received many awards, including a Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation Writer’s Award in 2002, and fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Studies at Radcliffe and the Fine Arts Work Center at Provincetown. Her poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Slate, TriQuarterly, Pequod, Conjunctions, Chicago Review, Antioch Review, Kalliope, Sagetrieb, Tikkun, Carolina Quarterly, Smartish Pace, and The American Journal of Nursing. While researching her Ph.D. dissertation on the British poet, Mina Loy, Arnold discovered a complete, unpublished manuscript of Loy’s novel, Insel, which she edited for Black Sparrow Press in 1991. Arnold’s first book of poems, The Reef, appeared in 1999 from the University of Chicago Press. Her second, Civilization, will be published by Flood Editions in 2006.

Linda Burkey: Allegany County Libraries

A lifelong resident of Allegany County, Linda Burkey graduated from Bishop Walsh High School in 1967 and Frostburg State College in 1972, with a B.S in Biology. Following graduation, she worked at Frostburg State's Library, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Cytology/Histology, and since 1976 with the Allegany County Library System, currently as Community Outreach Coordinator. Tinkering in the garden, doing mixed-media art, writing, and reading take up a lot of her free time.
"I strongly believe that encouraging children to practice writing and speaking help develop their skills as readers. For this reason, I'm glad to have this opportunity to work with the Creative Writing Center, to bring more writing activities to our area, especially to our local libraries."

Jeff Collen: Director, Cumberland YMCA

Jeff is the President and CEO of the Cumberland YMCA; he's also worked as the CEO, CFO, and COO for YMCAs in Illinois, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Texas. Prior to joining the business world, Jeff coached swimming. He was the assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin and at the University of Nebraska and the head coach for both Men and Women at New Mexico State University. He coached many national champions, world record holders, and Olympians.
Jeff holds a Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin, and has been part of the teaching faculties at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas and St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Jeff also founded Soaring Eagle Consulting, where unleashing human potential ignites organizational excellence. Team building, leadership, communication skills, problem solving, collaboration, strategic planning, cycle time reduction, executive coaching and organizational learning were some of his transformational strategies.
Jeff recently completed a book about success, The Person at the Top of the Mountain Didn't Just Fall There. He has dedicated himself to providing individuals with opportunities to achieve their full potential

Jack DuBose: Garrett College

Jack DuBose is a Garrett County, Maryland, poet who teaches English and runs the Writing Center at Garrett College in McHenry. His poems have been published in Ginseng, Function at the Junction, and Grease and Tears, among others. He lives with his family in Grantsville, Maryland.

Stephen Dunn: Poet/Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, Richard Stockton College

The author of fourteen books of poetry, and winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Different Hours, he is Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at Richard Stockton College of NJ, but spends most of his time these days in Frostburg, where he lives with his wife Barbara Hurd.

Dr. Joseph Hoffman: Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, FSU

B.S. Physics, 1969, Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University
M.S., Ph.D. Plasma Physics, 1977, Department of Astro-Geophysics, University of Colorado

Dr. Hoffman's professional interests include
Physics education reform; applications of constructivist pedagogy and collaborative learning in science education; applications of technology in science education; development of collaborative engineering programs with University of Maryland-College Park.

Member of Maryland Cooperative for Teacher Preparation (MCTP)

Susan Hughes: Allegany County Board of Education

Sue Hughes is a graduate of Western Maryland College and holds a master's degree in education from Frostburg State University. She has taught English in various Allegany County high schools, and has served as an adjunct professor at FSU. In 2003, Mrs. Hughes was appointed to the position of Supervisor of English and Professional Development for the Allegany County Public School System.

Fred Powell: Proprietor, Main Street Books

Fred Powell is the owner of Main Street Books in downtown Frostburg which just celebrated its sixteenth anniversary. He regularly hosts readings and booksignings with local, regional and nationally-known authors and illustrators. Main Street Books stocks over 20,000 titles including a vast collection of literary fiction, poetry and childrens literature. Powell resides in Frostburg with his family.

Shane Riggs: Editor, Allegany Magazine

Dr. Jack Shreve: Allegany College

Dr. Jack Shreve has taught English and Spanish at Allegany College of Maryland for three decades. He received a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University and his Ph.D. in historical linguistics from the University of Pittsburgh. Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities, he has had the opportunity to study English composition at the University of Texas at Austin, translation theory at the University of California at Santa Cruz, and modern Chinese literature at the University of Chicago. In 1993 he visited China on a Fulbright Travel Grant. Dr. Shreve is an avid reviewer of books, and his book commentaries have appeared in a dozen journals and newspapers. He is a book review editor of journal Delos and is co-editor of the Allegany College of Maryland's award-winning student literary magazine Expressions.

Mary Spalding: Potomac State University

Mary Spalding, MA, MLIS, teaches writing and literature at Potomac State College of West Virginia University. She earned her BA in English at Frostburg State University, where she received departmental honors in 1994. With another student, she also shared that year's Outstanding Four-Year Honors Student award, conferred by the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council. She is currently working on a PhD in English at West Virginia University. Mary has been a member of the Western Maryland Writers Workshop since 1994. Her poetry has been published in convolvulus, a Canadian literary journal, and Calliope, literary journal of West Virginia University. Her essay "The Madness Equation" appeared in the September 2006 issue of The Sun magazine. Mary moved to Frostburg from the DC area in 1990 to raise her two sons among nature and mountains. Today, she is an avid gardener and wildcrafter. She enjoys drawing with pastels as well as designing and making purses, jewelry, and floral arrangements with Appalachian wildflowers.