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Interim Director - Anne Willkomm
Anne Converse Willkomm was appointed Interim Director of the Graduate Publishing Programs in April 2012 after having served as Program Adviser from November 2010 to December 2011.
She has taught developmental writing and composition at Philadelphia University since 2010, and joined the Rosemont faculty in 2011 to teach writing in the undergraduate college.
Anne is also a freelance editor and author. She has edited grants, brochures, press releases, and books, and her creative writing has been published in The Medulla Review, Postcard Shorts, Fiction365, Sybil Magazine, FlashFiction.net, and The Midwest Coast Review. Several longer works of fiction were twice named semi-finalist in the William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition.
Anne has over ten years of academic fundraising experience both as a professional development officer and as a volunteer. She was Director of Development at the Long Ridge School (Stamford, CT), Development Specialist for Wolf Performing Arts Center (Wynnewood, PA), and served as an Overseer of Berwick Academy (South Berwick, ME). She has also served on capital and annual fund committees for Bowdoin College, Berwick Academy, and Charlotte Latin School (Charlotte, NC).
Anne received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Bowdoin College in 1987, and her M.F.A. in creative writing from Rosemont in 2010.
Faculty
Our faculty members are dedicated and experienced professionals with a genuine commitment to teaching at the graduate level. Our belief is that students will more readily acquire meaningful skills and knowledge when they're actively involved in the learning process -- through seminars, workshops, discussions, peer critiques, and the hands-on opportunity to practice and perfect their craft.
Richard D. Bank received his B.A. from Temple University and his Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. He is the author of six books including The Everything Guide to Writing Nonfiction, published in 2010 by Adams Media. He has published numerous articles, essays, memoirs, commentaries, book reviews and short stories in a wide variety of publications. Richard is a past president of the Philadelphia Writers' Conference and a current Board member. In addition to teaching at Rosemont, Richard has conducted workshops at several writers' conferences and taught writing courses at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and Montgomery County Community College.
Elliott batTzedek holds an M.S. in Women's Studies from Minnesota State University at Mankato and B.A.s in English Literature and Creative Writing from Beloit College, and is currently working on an MFA in poetry from DrewUniversity. She has worked as an editor, writer and reviewer for several local and national alternative and community newspapers. For the last eleven years, she has worked with children's books and publishers in education-based nonprofits. Currently, Ms. batTzedek works on the Design Team for the American Reading Company/100 Book Challenge. Her class in Contemporary Issues in Publishing for Children is exploratory, open-ended, and a site for the raising of questions about the nature of publishing, reading, and cultural views of childhood.
Susan DiGironimo is a Philadelphia area artist who graduated from Moore College of Art. She is a successful freelance designer, illustrator, and a certified expert in the digital platform in graphic arts applications. Susan not only creates her own digital work, she has been teaching digital design at area colleges including Moore College of Art, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia University, and Gloucester Community College for the past 20 years. Susan has been teaching at Rosemont College in both the undergraduate and graduate level for the past 15 years. Susan has also helped artists in the corporate environment stay competitive in a dynamically changing profession.
Mary Kate Doman holds an M.A. in Children’s Literature and Writing from the Gallatin School at New York University and a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Loyola University in Maryland. She is a Children’s and Young Adult Book Consultant with over ten years experience in children’s publishing. She has worked both in-house and as a freelancer marketing books to the trade and educational markets. She has authored over 20 books for the youth market. Most recently she wrote a series for struggling tween readers titled The Heights (Saddleback, 2011). She currently writes, edits, and consults for major children’s publishing houses both domestic and abroad. You can see the full extent of her work at www.mkdoman.com.
Ellie Slott Fisher has a B.S. in journalism and an A.S. in landscape design from Temple University and an M.A. from Rosemont College in English and Publishing. She is the author of three books including Mom, There's a Man in the Kitchen and He's Wearing Your Robe (De Capo Press, 2005) and It's Either Her or Me (Bantam Books, 2010) and has appeared frequently on television discussing relationship issues. She is a former reporter and editor of United Press International and has contributed to numerous magazines including CHILD, Parents, Working Mother, Essence and Main Line Today. She teaches writing at Bucks County Community College and at various writers conferences.
Thomas V. Hartman is a Senior Editor at John Wiley and Sons. He previously headed the book publishing program at the American College of Physicians in Philadelphia and before that was an acquisitions editor and developmental editor at Elsevier. Mr. Hartman’s experience in publishing also includes editorial and/or Web development work for Harcourt College Publishers, Prentice Hall and Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. He has served as a Senior Editor and Web Editor at Painted Bride Quarterly and is now an Editor at Large at Stated magazine. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., cum laude, English) and Columbia University (M.A. History of Art), Mr. Hartman is also a former Writing Center Associates Fellow at Georgetown University.
Colleen Hutchinson is a communications consultant with an expert background in medical publishing. She has served as the senior managing editor of leading peer-reviewed medical journals for the last several years, and now operates on a consultant basis for medical education companies, industry clients, and individual medical centers and physicians handling many different types of medical education initiatives and projects. She has been an invited speaker at national and international meetings and has authored chapters in medical texts on the role of media in medicine, surgery, and patient safety, and brings a current focus to a richly historical field of publishing and communications.
Laura Jacoby received a B.S. in Graphic Design/Visual Communication from the University of Delaware. Her professional experience spans design firms, a printing company, teaching, and freelance work. As an agency associate and senior art director for Debra Malinics Advertising, Laura conceives, designs and produces a broad spectrum of design and advertising materials. Projects range from corporate identity/branding, various print collateral, displays, point-of-purchase, and outdoor and transit advertising, to newspaper and magazine advertising for clients in the financial, medical, legal, real estate, travel, manufacturing, government, cultural, and non-profit industries. Other job facets include copywriting and editing, hiring and directing freelance designers, photographers and illustrators, and coordinating all aspects of production and printing. Laura's design work has been published in Print, Communication Arts, Graphic Design USA, and Rockport Publisher's Best Restaurant Graphics 2, and has won several creative awards including Philly Gold and American Graphic Design Awards for Creative Excellence.
Lisa Jobs earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master's of Journalism from Temple University. She operates her own company Healthy Lifestyle Publishing LLC and is the author of Sensational Stevia Desserts (9/05). Lisa has successfully handled the publication and marketing of her book from its initial conception to an effective and ongoing marketing and sales effort. Lisa is also an adjunct professor at local universities, freelance writer and is a contributing author in the book 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Health with Dr. Julian Whitaker. She is often interviewed by television and radio stations, health magazines and online health-related websites and her recipes have been published in various media. Her websites include http://www.healthylifestylepublishing.com/ and http://www.steviadessert.com/.
Anne Kaier (Ph.D. Harvard University) teaches workshops in poetry and in creative non-fiction in the MFA program as well as courses in memoir and contemporary American writers. She received a 2009 Pushcart Prize nomination in non-fiction. A memoir piece is forthcoming from The Gettysburg Review. Her poetry chapbook, InFire (2005) is available from Skintype Press. Her poetry and non-fiction have appeared in many publications, including: Under the Sun, Paradigm, The Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts, Philadelphia Poets and the Mad Poets Review. Her work received mention in the Inkwell Poetry Contest; she participated in The Kenyon Review Writers Workshop and has been a featured poet at various venues including the Free Library of Philadelphia and the Kelly Writers House at Penn.
Sarah Mann-O'Donnell teaches theory, literature and creative design at Rosemont. Her areas of special interest include feminist literature, extreme literature, 20th century French philosophy, feminist art history, contemporary art history, sound art, performance art, critical visual practice, and intersections of philosophy, science, literature and art. She earned an undergraduate degree in art from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she concentrated in new media, performance and critical studies. She then completed a MA with distinction in Gender, Culture and Modernity at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Her dissertation, titled Becoming Alan Turing: Toward a Lived Theory of Difference, considered the early mathematical work of Alan Turing through the lens of French poststructuralist philosophy. A version of the dissertation was recently published by Goldsmiths, and is available for free download on their website. Most recently, she gave a paper extending the argument presented in her dissertation as part of the International Conference on Computers and Philosophy at the Institut Universitaire de Technologie in Laval, France. Sarah's current research interests include movement, mathematics, critical and feminist perspectives on Nancy Drew, and the films of Peter Greenaway. She also maintains her own website.
Janice Merendino earned her B.F.A. in Fine Arts and B. S. in Art Education from Moore College of Art and Design. She has been part of the faculty of Rosemont College since 1980. As creator of The Branch Out Project, Janice conducts workshops in which participants, by learning how to draw, can use the thinking process used in drawing to help them become more creative in their problem-solving. She has given her workshops for major corporations and government agencies (including the U.S. Navy, Wyeth-Ayerst, and TIAA-CREF), numerous community non-profit groups and in schools (both for students and as professional development for teachers). She co-authored two articles on using the arts to stimulate creative thinking in law practices. In 2002 and 2003 The Branch Out Project received a Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership Grant to work with the Roosevelt Alternative School in Norristown, PA. In addition, Janice is a practicing artist and has exhibited her paintings on paper and ceramic work in several group and solo shows, including a one-woman exhibition in Japan.
Chad Neuman is a professor of journalism, new media, and graphic design at Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida. He holds a master's in journalism and media studies from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and is pursing a PhD in communication from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He has a plethora of experiences in the digital media fields, including Webmaster at a New York Times-owned newspaper and Internet Development Director at an award-winning advertising design firm. Most recently Chad worked as Managing Editor at two graphic design and photography magazines at Kelby Media Group. Chad has written for magazines and designed web sites for over 15 years. He lives in Florida with his wife and daughter and loves surfing, writing on digital technology, and playing soccer.
Maria G. Pisano has an M.F.A. in Book Arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and an M.F.A. in Printmaking from Brooklyn College. Her works have been exhibited widely in museums and galleries. Her book, See Time Run: A Primer was shown in the 26th Print National Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Her works are in numerous private and public collections including the Library of Congress, the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton University, the New York Public Library, and many more. She has published articles in many book arts publications and has been continually involved in curating exhibits. Pisano teaches all aspects of the book arts, papermaking, printing, bookbinding and conservation.
Frank D. Quattrone, the managing editor and principal writer for Ticket, Montgomery Newspapers' award-winning weekly guide to entertainment and the arts, also paginates the editorial pages of the monthly Art Matters magazine. A long-time college professor (he taught English at Spring Garden College for 24 years), he now teaches courses in journalism part-time at Penn State Abington College and is faculty advisor to The Lion's Roar, the campus newspaper. Since 2002, he has been teaching courses on copyediting, magazine and features publication, book marketing and more in Rosemont College's graduate program in English & Publishing and is the author of the Arcadia Publishing Company's "Images of America" volume called "Ambler."\
Mac Slocum is online managing editor for O'Reilly Media. He holds an MA in journalism from Emerson College and a BA in journalism from the University of Richmond. Mac has been in the digital publishing trenches for more than 12 years, working as an editor, writer, and producer. Through his various positions he has remained committed to digital platforms-the Web in particular-because they empower virtually anyone with an Internet connection to create content and nurture communities. In recent years a lot of Slocum's work has focused on the interplay between digital content, online communities and sustainable business models (yes, they exist!). Slocum has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in journalism and Web technology at Emerson College, and he also worked for a time as an instructional designer. His educational philosophy is simple: it's all about practical application. That means labs and exercises over lectures, and "doing" over "hearing." In this way, Slocum transforms students from passive observers to engaged learners.