Our graduates stay busy!
Since earning their MFAs, many of our alumni have been published or received awards.
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Here's how the MFA has helped our alumni reach their personal and professional goals!
“My MFA helped prepare me for this job because of the teaching experience I received through the program and because of the skills I developed through workshops, where giving and receiving feedback has transferred into the ability to look at a project with a detail-oriented, critical eye for ways to improve it. My MFA also taught me how to communicate in a variety of complex situations, both verbally and in writing.”
Jaime Wood-Riley ’10 | Program Officer, VentureWell
“I eventually went to law school after the MFA, and I currently work as an attorney for the state of Nevada. While law school taught me a lot of the substance I deal with, I find that I rely a lot on my MFA in my everyday job, even aside from my artistic endeavors. I would not have those skills that set me somewhat apart from my peers, professionally, had I not earned my MFA.”
Rost Olsen ’11 | Assistant Staff Counsel, Public Utilities Commission of Nevada
“I think my MFA prepared me in many ways for the position I now hold. For starters, I work as the co-editor of our biannual magazine, ImagineONE, and I also write content not only for the magazine, but for all of our social channels, websites, and social justice statements, and have also written anything from speeches for CEOs to annual appeals to success stories.”
Elizabeth Powers ’09 | Communications Manager, Congregation of St. Joseph
“I run the General Surgery Residency Program, 4 surgical fellowship programs, and oversee all department education projects. My time in the EWU MFA program helped develop my creative thinking, verbal and written communication skills, adaptability, project management skills, professionalism in a collaborative environment, interpersonal and teamwork skills, and ability to trust my own voice. All of these skills contributed to my success in my previous roles after graduating and helped me ultimately land the leadership position that I have today.”
Kristina McDonald ’12 | Education Manager, Houston Methodist Hospital Department of Surgery
“BRYC is a small but mighty nonprofit college readiness, access, and persistence program serving lower-income, primarily Black youth. While my MFA certainly set me up for success managing BRYC’s communications, grant/proposal writing, etc., it also prepared me to do something much harder to quantify, but nonetheless vital. By virtue of their race, socioeconomic status, and geographical region, BRYC’s students lack cultural and social capital. I’m able to advocate for our students in part because I previously had the privilege of attending a high-quality master’s program. The long-term personal, economic, and social impacts of an MFA doesn’t stop with the degree-holder – they ripple out in impossible-to-predict directions.”
Elin Hawkinson ’16 | Associate Director of Communications and Development, Baton Rouge Youth Coalition Inc.
“My experience at Eastern helped me clarify my career goals. Not only did I gain invaluable teaching experience as a TA, but I also got to try out editing through an internship with Willow Springs and got nonprofit/community teaching experience through Writers in the Community. I left the program with a clear sense of my interests and abilities in all three areas. Ultimately, I determined that teaching was the right career for me, but I felt (and still feel) confident in my skill set in other writing- and teaching-adjacent fields, as well. I also felt confident in my ability to market those skills by clearly and elegantly communicating them to potential employers.”
Ashley Wurzbacher ’10 | Associate Professor of English, University of Montevallo
“Skills I honed while earning my MFA from EWU directly influence how I work today. This includes: 1. Strong communication skills (to function as an effective liaison between business and technical teams). 2. The ability to distill information into bite-sized pieces. 3. Teaching—explaining complex and complicated concepts simply; training enterprises in a technical platform. 4. Writing documentation, one-pagers, proposals, and white papers with clarity and concision. 5. Public speaking / delivering presentations. 6. Asking clarifying questions (research, requirements gathering). 7. Collaboration.”
Ellie Kozlowski ’08 | Technical Product Manager, Senior in Marketing Technology, Starbucks Coffee Company
“The MFA program helped prepare me for this job by strengthening my writing and writing feedback skills, which I employ regularly to assist students with research writing, analytical writing, GRE essays, and graduate applications (typically 70-100% of our scholars are accepted into one or more schools). The academic community built through the EWU MFA has also stood as an example of how I can promote a strong cohort community for our scholars. Additionally, I have used skills learned via my Willow Springs Books internship to help with website design, program promotion, recruitment, and the writing of program materials.”
Cori Jaeger ’21 | McNair Program Academic Advisor, EWU
“I graduated from the MFA program (fiction) in 2009. My experience in the program was 100% positive and helped me grow as a writer. More specifically, the program helped me develop the requisite work ethic and artistic skill that I now rely upon daily as an attorney. I am forever grateful for the thoughtful mentorship provided by Sam (my thesis advisor), Greg, Natalie, and Jonathan. I still appreciate the careful line-level feedback Sam provided for my thesis. Two short stories from my thesis were subsequently published in Pank magazine and Canteen magazine.”
Neal Peters ’09 | Lawyer
“I hold a handful of positions now after receiving the MFA from EWU. I want to say how grateful I am for the depth of immersion the program provided into authentic, uncommon, and vital aspects of humanity, ethics, and how art invigorates, strengthens, and helps heal the heart of the world. In the MFA, I received the irrefutable gift of greater personal, communal, and artistic understanding.”
Shann Ray ’05 | Professor Leadership Studies, Gonzaga University
“The skills and experiences I gained during my time in the EWU MFA program have proved invaluable to my advancement in this organization, where I began as an associate just three years ago, about six months after graduating with my MFA. The reading and writing skills I learned, as well as the collaborative experiences I had during my MFA years have contributed to my professional success and the positive impact I believe our organization has in the world.”
Daniel Spiro ’19 | Director of Communications, Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah
“Throughout my classes and thesis preparations, I was taught how to ask good questions, dig deeply for answers, push through the hard stuff, and render something meaningful in response. I learned how to say what I mean and to move with confidence. I became a better writer because of my MFA, but perhaps more importantly I became a better thinker.”
Caitlin Feldman ’20 | Content Lead, Two Barrels
Our alumni work in various positions and roles across the country!
Check out what they’re doing as:
Writing Faculty and Academic Administrators Editors and Publishers Journalists Poets Laureate
Arts and Nonprofit Administrators Marketing, Advertising, and Communications Industry Professionals
EWU’s MFA prepares students for jobs in academia by providing opportunities to teach in the university classroom through GSAs and pedagogy classes, in traditional and non-traditional creative writing classrooms through Writers in the Community and Triceratops, as well as through peer-mentoring experiences through workshop classes and literary editing and design professional practica.
I direct the university’s tutoring program and also teach first-year experience, humanities, and writing courses. The MFA at EWU was so important to me, something I absolutely needed in my life, and one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. The student teaching and coursework I completed during my time at EWU opened my eyes to the possibility for a career in higher education and provided me with relevant and transferable experience.
– Ryan Scariano ’15 | Assistant Director of Academic Support, Eastern Oregon University
Tod Marshal |Gonzaga University
Shann Ray Ferch |Gonzaga University
Jessica Halliday |Gonzaga University
Jeff Dodd |Gonzaga University
Ginger Grey |Gonzaga University
Heath Herrick |Gonzaga University
Thom Caraway |Whitworth University
Maya Jewell Zeller |Central Washington University
Kate Neurnberger |University of Minnesota
Jamie Wood |Portland State University
Laura Read |SFCC
Asa Marie Bradley |SFCC
Tim Greenup |SFCC
Polly Buckingham |EWU
Scott Eubanks |EWU
Liz Rognes |EWU
Jonathan Frey |North Idaho College
Karen Babine |University of Tennessee
Jennifer Pullen |Ohio Northern University
Danielle Buynak |University of Virginia
Daniel Vice |University of Indianapolis
Rachel Kartz |Ivy Tech Community College
Brent Lewis |Umpqua Community College
Kyle Capogna |Boston University
Chris Cullen |Santa Rosa Junior College
Kennan Knudson |North Seattle College
Rachel Hartley-Smith |College of DuPage
Megan Padillo | College of Southern Nevada
Laura Citino |Western Michigan University
Orville Williams |Oklahoma State University
Casey Guerin |Sacred Heart University
Kathryn Houghton |Michigan State University
Amaris Ketcham |University of New Mexico
Ashley Wurzbacher |University of Montevallo
Jeremiah Webster |Northwest University
Marie Hoffman |Northwest University
Jon Billman |Northern Michigan University
Nathan Anderson |Marietta College
Ingrid Johnson |Sierra College
Ruth Williams |William Jewell College
Jeff Horner |University of Virginia
Mark Gula |Northern Arizona University
Chelsea Johnson |Mt. San Jacinto College
Mandy Iverson |St. Catherine University
Luke Hammons |Front Range Community College
Tom Holmes |Nashville State Clarksville
Bethany Shultz Hurst |Idaho State University
Carrie Oeding |Bridgewater State University
Laura Stott |Weber State University
Tom Hunley |Western Kentucky University
Cori Jaeger |EWU
Nicholas Scott Hodges |Ivy Tech Community College
Elin Hawkinson |Baton Rouge Youth Coalition Inc.
Anne Kilfoyle |Pen
Shira Richman |Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen – Nürnberg Germany
Sierra Alexander |Westfield State University
Through workshop classes, students learn how to be readers and editors of their own and their peers’ work. Professional practica through Willow Springs Magazine and Willow Springs Books allows students to engage in the publishing world in a hands-on manner and obtain the skills required to work as editors, copy editors, magazine and small press staff, literary designers, etc. after graduation.
My MFA prepared me for this work in the following ways: My practicum with Willow Springs gave me experience selecting material for publication; critiquing fellow students’ writing in workshops and writing and revising my own work gave me experience producing, evaluating, and editing writing for publication; producing my own writing and providing written feedback for fellow students on deadline while also teaching English Composition and reading for Willow Springs gave me experience organizing and managing overlapping projects and timelines to complete projects on deadlines.
– Carol Cowan ’20 | Magazine Editor
Derrik Knowles |Out There Monthly
Monet Thomas |The Rumpus
Jess Bryant |The Philadelphia Gay News
Mike Baccam |University of Washington Press
Cody Smith |The Swamp
Brett Ortler |AdventureKeen Press, Knockout
Michael Bell |W.W. Norton
Casey Patrick |Milkweed Editions
Megan Padilla |Red Rock Review
Tom Hunley |Steel Toe Books
Adam Walsh |Proa Publications
Alia Bales |Cognella and The Swamp
Steve Knezovich |Creative Nonfiction
Thom Caraway |Rock & Sling, Sage Hill Press
Kevin Breen |New England Review
Adam O’Connor Rodriguez |Hawthorne Books
Jeremy Halinen | Knockout
Amaris Ketcham |Scribendi
Kim Kent |Lucia Marquand Books
Megan Rowe |Spokane Coeur D’ Alene Living
Jason Sommer |Featherproof Books
Lauren Hohle |Gettysburg Review
Olivia Croom Hammerman |Henry Holt, Alfred A Knopf
Jennifer Krasner |New England Review
Mary Christensen |The Swamp
Polly Buckingham |Stringtown Press
Tom Holmes |Redactions
Geneva Randall |HKW
Jessica Moll |University of California Press
Christine Holbert |Lost Horse Press
EWU’s MFA classes allow students to explore avenues of writing beyond their genre of specification including research-based writing and nonfiction which gives them a heightened skill-set for being effective journalists. Students also enhance their critical reading and adhering to fast-paced deadlines which further prepares them for jobs in the newsroom.
The MFA at EWU honed my storytelling, writing, and editing skills and prepared me for my new career as a public radio and podcast producer. I’m now part of the team that produces one of NPR’s most popular podcasts and radio shows, and my work is heard by millions of people each week. The MFA course work and my time working for Willow Springs magazine have proved invaluable, and my career change would not have been possible without the MFA at EWU.
– Chris Maccini ’18 | Producer, National Public Radio (NPR)
Shawn Vestal |The Spokesman Review
Lisa Laughlin |Out There Monthly
Wilson Criscione |The Pacific Northwest Inlander
Adrian Rogers |The Spokesman Review
Holly Weiler |Out There Monthly
Jack Hennessy |Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, Petersen’s Hunting
Summer Hess |Out There Monthly
Amy Silbernagel McCaffree |Out There Monthly
Chris Maccini |National Public Radio
Not only do students learn to better embrace their creativity through EWU’s MFA, but they learn how to actively engage and work in teams with other creatives through GSAs, professional practica experiences and publications which are heavily student-run, as well as other literary events such as VoiceOver, Poetry After Dark, and Get Lit! which also provide significant administrative and event-management experience.
I help design and create community outreach programs that help teach people how they can help in the fight to prevent peer sexual harm. I also fundraise. Here’s a few ways my MFA helps my current job: Writers in the Community was my intro to community programming; Creative nonfiction writing helps in all nonprofit communications, storytelling especially helpful in grant writing, and writing solicitations and appeals for support; Teaching lit + learning pedagogy while at Eastern informs the way I write programs, facilitate groups, and help participants learn new concepts; Willow Springs editorial experience translates to producing effective stakeholder reporting, annual reports.– Danielle Buynak Horner ’16 | Director of Community Outreach, Erin Levitas Foundation
Melissa Huggins |Spokane Arts
Karen Maner |Culture Works
Ross Carper |Feast
Dorian Karahalios |Spokane Print and Publishing Center
Kate Peterson |GetLit!
Danielle Ward |San Diego Repertory Theater
Thom Carraway |Millwood Print Works
Rajah Bose |Factory Town
Emily Gwynn |LitFuse
Emily Van Kley |Olympia Food Co-op
Daniel Spiro |Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah
Melissa Rhoades |Spokane County Library
In addition to writing in their genre, students receive many opportunities to venture outside their genre into the world of copywriting, social media writing and marketing, and advertisement design through the various internships available. Students also learn how to respectfully give and receive feedback, making them effective communicators and leaders in administrative positions as well as ideal candidates for marketing and advertising roles.
I am the communications manager for Women Who Code. I use story telling I learned in my MFA every day now to support an organization of 345,000 technologists in 147 countries as well help women and minorities with their careers in tech. In fact, this position was created FOR me by the nonprofit based on my ability to tell nonfiction narratives and manage communications. That’s the power of learning to write and becoming a professional writer, which I learned to do at EWU.– Manda Frederick ’09 | Communications Manager, Women Who Code(NPR)
Shannon Amidon Castille |Berkshire South Regional Community Center
Tori Thurmond |KirkpatrickPrice
Kristina McDonald |Houston Methodist Hospital and Health Care
Howard Noggle |Microsoft
Brain O’ Grady |Clarify
Tiffany Crowley |Precision Aircraft Solutions
Elizabeth Powers |Congregation of St. Joseph
Caitlin Feldman |Two Barrels
Matthew Spaur |Marketing the Social Good
Michael Pankratz |Washington Trust Bank
Nicholas Arnold |AHA Agency
Sarah Flynn |Nike
Luke Leinberger |VOCO Creative
Stephanie McCauley |QD Solutions
EWU’s MFA lends its students an edge in a multitude of careers outside writing, publishing, and academia. Students learn how to accept and deliver constructive criticism, how to approach difficult situations, how to facilitate and mentor groups and events, as well as how to engage with others and the world with a humane, unbiased, and critical lens which leads to a holistic range of soft skills that are indispensable in the professional world.
My education in the MFA program at EWU prepared me for this position by giving me excellent communication and design skills. I worked on Willow Springs and learned so much about layout, editing, publishing, marketing, and more. I use these design and editing skills every time I create and publish a new e-learning course. Helping with the literary festival gave me many planning, communication, and organizing skills, all of which I put to use in very practical ways building timelines and communication plans for work projects.– Melissa (Lindstrum) Specht ’09 | Consultant Lead, Cuna Mutual Group
Gabrielle Lee |NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labratory
Mandy Iverson |Medtronic Foundation
Melissa (Lindstrum) Specht |Cuna Mutual Group
James Hagengruber |U.S. State Department
Thomas King |Audience Strategy, 10up
Amy Chase |Hobby Lobby Corporate
Jaime Wood-Riley |VentureWell
Jamie Curl |Slalom Consulting, LLC
Ellie Kozlowski |Starbucks Coffee Company
Rost Olsen |Public Utilities Commission of Nevada
Neal Peters |Lawyer
Some of our alumni have been officially appointed by governments or institutions for the purpose of composing poems for special events and occasions. They have found national recognition with their poetry and have served as poets laureate after graduating from EWU!
Tod Marshall |Washington State
Laura Read |Spokane
Thom Caraway |Spokane
After completing the MFA and putting to test the writing skills that they’ve garnered and honed through the program, our alumni are always engaged in publication no matter their professional field. Here’s what we know about some of our alum’s writing awards, fellowships, and publishing contracts!
Shann Ray |National Endowment for The Arts Fellowship; Bakeless Award; 2017 Washington State Book Award Finalist; American Book Award Winner
Laura Read |AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry; Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award; Crab Creek Prize For Poetry; Juniper Prize For Poetry
Shawn Vestal |PEN Award for first book; 2017 Washington Book Award
Leyna Krow |sold film rights for her short story Sink Hole to Universal Pictures (Jordan Peele and Issa Rae); sold film rights to her story End Times; earned a two-book contract with Viking
Ashley Wurzbacher |National Book Award 5 Under 35; Iowa Short Fiction Award
Kathryn Smith |Jake Adam York Prize (Milkweed Press)
Cass Bruner |Wisconsin Fellowship
Kathryn Nuernberger |James Laughlin Prize from the Academy of American Poets, BOA Editions; Antivenom Prize, Elixir Press
Emily Van Kley |Best New Poets; Best American Poetry; Persea First Book Prize
Amy Munson |National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship; Berkshire Prize
Stephanie Oakes |2018 Washington State Book Award, (her first book is now a TV series)
Bruce Holbert |2015 Washington State Book Award
Andrew Acuna |AWP Intro Award
Karen Maner |AWP Intro Award
Asa Marie Bradley |Holt Medallion Prize
Polly Buckingham |Katherine Anne Porter Award
Tod Marshall |2015 Washington State Book Award
Jeff Fearnside |Grand Prize Winner, Santa Fe Writers Project’s Awards Program
Wendy J. Fox |Press 53 Award for Short Fiction
Caroline Woodwell |AWP Intro Award
Karen Babine |Minnesota Book Award, 2023 UTAA Outstanding Teacher Award
Jennifer Boyden |Brittingham Prize
Casey Guerin |Robert Watson Literary Prize, The Greensboro Review
Kimberly Lambright |42 Miles Press Poetry Award
Bethany Shultz Hurst |Best American Poetry, Michael Waters Book Prize
Carrie Oeding |Akron Poetry Book Prize
Liina Koivula |AWP Intro Award
Jordan Brown |Robert Watson Literary Prize, The Greensboro Review
