Education
PH.D. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, LINCOLN
English (Concentration in Creative Writing and Women’s and Gender Studies), August 2021
Dissertation: No Easy Way Out (memoir)
Committee: Joy Castro, Grace Bauer, Stacey Waite, Claire Nicholas
M.A. UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA, LINCOLN
English (Concentration in Creative Writing-Poetry), May 2016
Thesis: The Girl With The Fur Coat (poems)
Committee: Kwame Dawes, Grace Bauer, Gwendolyn Foster
B.A. WASHINGTON & LEE UNIVERSITY
Journalism (Minor in Creative Writing and Concentration in French), May 2010
Capstone: “The Uncertain Future of I-81” (Journalism) and Women’s Memoir (Creative Writing)
Advisors: Brian Richardson (Journalism) and Deborah Miranda (Creative Writing)
Publications
SELECTED PROSE
“The Only Thing I’ve Ever Wanted.” Split Lip Magazine (Forthcoming in the print November 2021 Issue). (1,665 words)
“The Empress, Reversed.” Brevity (May 2021 Issue). (513 words)
“Drawing the Wisdom Out.” Brevity’s Nonfiction Blog (Special Issue on Experience of Disability, Fall 2020). (1,390 words)
“Motion in the Landscape.” Great Plains Ecotourism Coalition (Fall 2019). (1,000 words)
“So Far.” GRAVEL (Spring 2019). (750 words)
“Vortex.” SFWP Quarterly (Summer 2019). (2,300 words)
“White Carpet on the Back Stairs: Blackface, Whiteness, and My Virginia Childhood.” Entropy Magazine (Spring 2019). (2,800 words)
“Post Kavanaugh, Women’s Self-Care Needs to Lose the Alcohol,” The Fix (Fall 2018). (2,000 words)
SELECTED POETRY
“Bubos.” Poets.Org (Spring 2019).
“A Gaze is A Group of Raccoons.” Bluestem Magazine (Spring 2017).
“Artifacts of a Make-Believe Ghost,” “Anatomy of a Whisper.” Red Paint Hill Poetry Journal (Spring 2016).
“Prison Bars Dissect A Man,” Wherewithal Lit (Spring 2016).
“According to Women, When to Use Knives,” “Casualties of Nature,” Pooled Ink (Spring 2015).
“Not for Attribution,” chapbook, South Dakota State Poetry Society (Spring 2014).
Awards and Honors
NATIONAL
Gaffney Award, Academy of American Poets (2019)
South Dakota State Poetry Society’s Juried Chapbook Award (2013)
Henry Lee Freedom Of Information Award, North Carolina (2013)
Associated Press Media Editors First Place Award for Community Services News, Alabama (2012)
Associated Press Association First Place Award for Feature Writing, Alabama (2012)
Associated Press Media Editors First Place Award for Feature Writing, Alabama (2012)
Associated Press Media Editors First Place Award for Investigative Reporting, Alabama (2010)
Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Award for Investigative Reporting, Virginia (2010)
Academy of American Poets’ College Award (2010)
INSTITUTIONAL
Card Summer Fellowship, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Summer 2021)
Stuff Dissertation Fellowship, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2020-2021)
Great Plains Graduate Fellowship, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2018-2021)
Parents Recognition Award for Teaching, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2019)
Academic Teaching Experience
INSTRUCTOR OF RECORD, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN, 2016-PRESENT
Department of English
200-level Courses:
Creative Nonfiction Writing (live web conferencing/zoom, 1 section)
Intro to Poetry (1 section)
100-level Courses:
Beginning Creative Writing (2 sections)
Writing and Argument (7 sections, 1 online section)
Writing and Inquiry (6 sections)
Intro to Literature (online section)
Additional Teaching Experience
SLAM POETRY COACH, LINCOLN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 2014-2016
Louder Than a Bomb Nonprofit
Slam Poetry (2 after-school sections)
SUBSTITUTE TEACHER, ARLINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 2013-2014
Kindergarten-12 (multiple class sections across English, Mathematics, and Social Studies)
Editorial Experience
Editorial Assistant, American Life in Poetry, 2019-2021
Editorial Assistant, Prairie Schooner, 2014-2017
Assistant Metro Editor, The Anniston Star, 2011-2012
Editor-In-Chief, In-General Magazine, 2009-2010
Editorial Assistant, Shenandoah, 2007-2008
Professional Writing Experience
Copywriter, Firespring, 2018
Investigative Reporter, The Charlotte Observer, 2012-2013
Investigative Reporter, The Anniston Star, 2010-2012
Producer, Reporter, Anchor The Rockbridge Report, 2009-2010
Institutional Service
Graduate Student Association, University of Nebraska Lincoln, 2014-2017
English Department Representative
Watershed: An Independent Blog of Critical Theory, 2014-2017
Contributor
Panels and Presentations
“Figures of Force: Mothers, Daughters, and Angry Affect in 201th and 21st Century Women’s Memoir” (presentation proposal accepted) Society for the Study of American Women Writers-Baltimore, MD 2021
“Teaching at the End of The World: How Do Creative Writing Classrooms Respond to Climate Crisis?” Great Plains Conference-Lincoln, Nebraska 2021
“Built of Light and Leaf-Shadow: Ruined Men, Ruinous Landscapes in Tana French’s Crime Novels” (accepted, not presented due to health issues) Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment-Davis, CA 2019
“A Surgical Table Elegizes A Man’s Organs: Poetry of Terror, Poetry of Critique” Southwest Popular Culture/American Culture Association-Albuquerque, NM 2016
“The Spectator and the Surreal Girl: The Female Gaze in Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et La Bête and Catherine Breillat’s La Belle Endormie” Southwest Popular Culture/American Culture Association-Albuquerque, NM 2015
Professional Experience
Social Media Manager, Yoga Teacher at Lotus House of Yoga Lincoln 2015-2016
Managed social media accounts for local yoga studio where I also taught yoga classes and led creative writing workshops for the community.
Intern, OnPoverty.Org 2008-2009
Managed and copyedited nonprofit news website dedicated to raising awareness about local issues involving poverty and food insecurity in historically underserved communities.
Professional Affiliations
Academy of American Poets
Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment
Center for Great Plains Studies
Society for the Study of American Women Writers
Society of Professional Journalists 2010-2014
Featured Invited Readings
No Name Reading Series – Live on Zoom – Lincoln, NE 2021
No Name Reading Series – Indigo Bridge Bookstore – Lincoln, NE 2019
“Poetry of Our Times with Kwame Dawes” – University of Nebraska-Lincoln – Lincoln, NE 2017
Things Speak Creative Writing Workshop with Grace Bauer – The Sheldon Museum of Fine Art – Lincoln, NE 2014
Cameron Scott Steele 