Formal Education

1/2 a PhD

English: Composition and Rhetoric
University of Missouri-Columbia 1991-1994

I was mostly done with coursework when my attention got diverted to more fun and interesting projects than studying for exams and grinding out dissertations: I chaired the 1994 Annual Computers and Writing Conference, helped found the MU Institute for Instructional Technology (which has now morphed into ET@MO), created CCCC Online, the Online Writery, and RhetNet, a Dialogic Publishing (Ad)Venture. Let's see, should I pursue fun, challenging, useful projects or jump through somebody else's hoops to get a degree. It was, as they say, a no-brainer.

Master's

English: Creative Writing (Fiction)
University of Missouri-Columbia
Advisor: Speer Morgan
1990

Two accomplishments came from this degree: I produced a collection of short stories to serve as my master's portfolio that will, we must all hope and pray, never again see the light of day, and I became disgruntled with the way creative writing is conventionally taught, even when I was teaching it. I'd read enough composition pedagogy to know there was some interesting stuff going on there, so I created a discussion list, my second, in October 1991 to discuss possible intersections between creative writing and composition pedagogies. Crewrt-L@lists.missouri.edu is still going strong, and one of the many things I've learned from that community is that writing is a conversation, even (maybe especially) creative writing.

Bachelor's

English: Writing
Missouri Western State College
St. Joseph, MO
Advisor: Rob Shell
1988

Three good things happened while I was studying at Missouri Western. I got a position on the the college newspaper which helped lead to an internship with the local daily, The St. Joseph Gazette, which lead to a fulltime job as a police beat and city government beat reporter there. Great experience. Third, I met my wife, Amy.