We’re excited to welcome six new faculty members to Sweetland Center for Writing this fall.

L-R: Jill Darling, Kodi Scheer, David Ward, Stephanie Pappas, and Brian Matzke. (Ali Shapiro not pictured)

Jill Darling teaches Writing 100 at Sweetland and other courses in the Writing Program at UM-Dearborn. She has taught academic and creative writing, literature, and other courses at schools from Colorado to Connecticut, Michigan, and even in Ontario. She writes poetry, creative and critical essays, short fiction, and other things. Her areas of interest include poetry and poetics, cultural studies and media, and rhetoric and writing.

Brian Matzke currently teaches English 124 "Academic Writing and Literature" and Writing 100 "Transition to College Writing." He received his B.A. in English and Political Science at Indiana University and Ph.D. in English Language and Literature at University of Michigan. His areas of interest include 20th Century American Literature, Science, Technology, and Society, Pop Culture, Science Fiction, and New Media.

Stephanie Pappas teaches Writing 100 at Sweetland. She received her Ph.D. in English from Northeastern University and M.A. in English from Boston College. Her areas of interest include composition pedagogy, information literacy, research instruction, and transfer studies.

Kodi Scheer received her M.F.A. in creative writing at the University of Michigan and B.A. with honors in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Iowa. Her areas of interest include creative writing, composition, and science writing. She teaches Writing 100, as well as English 124,125, and 229. She recently published a collection of short stories called Incendiary Girls: Stories.

Ali Shapiro is a graduate of the M.F.A. program in poetry at U of M. She teaches composition and creative writing classes for the English Department Writing Program and the Sweetland Center for Writing. Ali is also a freelance writer and cartoonist. Her areas of interest include poetry, graphic novels, and hybrid forms, particularly “translating” poetry into visual art.

David Ward received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from University of Michigan. In addition to Writing 100, David teaches composition and creative writing classes for the English Department Writing Program (English 124, 125, 223, 225). His areas of interest include Contemporary poetry and fiction, genre fiction, creative writing, new media.

In addition to teaching writing courses, all of our new faculty serve as writing consultants at Sweetland’s Writing Workshop. We're delighted to have Jill, Brian, Stephanie, Kodi, Ali, and David join the Sweetland team.