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Fiction | MFA in Creative Writing - Low Residency | April Ayers Lawson is the author of Virgin and Other Stories, which was named a Best Book of the Year by The Irish Times and Vice, and a Best Foreign Book of the Year by Spain’s Qué Leer Magazine.  Virgin and Other Stories has been (or will be) translated into German, Spanish, Norwegian, and Italian.  She has received The Plimpton Prize for Fiction, as well as a writing fellowship from The Corporation of Yaddo.   Her fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Die Welt, ZYZZYVA, and Oxford American, among others, has been cited as notable in Best American Short Stories, featured by Huffington Post, and anthologized in The Unprofessionals: New American Writing from The Paris Review.  Her nonfiction has appeared in Der Spiegel, Granta, Vice, and Neue Zürcher Zeitung Magazine, and been named a Most Popular Read of the Year by Granta.  She has taught in the creative writing programs at Emory University and the University Of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and now teaches at Clemson University. Mentor.  Workshops and classes in fiction. Statement: “The most important thing your writing can be is interesting.  And by that I mean interesting to you, because when you’re deeply engaged in the process, the work sparks alive.  This level of engagement involves writing into places you didn’t expect and opening to the risk of surprise.

Poetry | MFA in Creative Writing - Low Residency | Jenny Johnson is the author of In Full Velvet (Sarabande Books, 2017).  Her poems have appeared in The New York Times, Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics, Waxwing, and elsewhere.  Her honors include a Whiting Award, a Hodder Fellowship, and an NEA Fellowship.  She has also received awards and scholarships from the Blue Mountain Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Yaddo.  She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at West Virginia University, and she is on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University’s low-residency MFA program.

Associate Professor & Instruction and Reference Librarian | Library | rarteaga@plu.edu | 253-535-7505 | Roberto is an Instruction and Reference Librarian at Pacific Lutheran University.

School of Business | facciamm@plu.edu | Maureen Faccia, MBA, is a Visiting Professor at PLU School of Business since 2016 teaching graduate level courses.  Maureen brings over 25 years of industry business experience in marketing, product and brand management, business strategy and operations leadership in a variety of sectors from consumer packaged goods and building products to non-profit human services and healthcare.   At PLU, Maureen has taught Marketing Management and Healthcare courses and is passionate about providing mentorship to students.   Maureen holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Delaware and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in healthcare from Pacific Lutheran University. Currently, Maureen is an Administrative Director of Women’s Careline at MultiCare Health System, the largest system of its kind in the state.  She has oversight of 23 ambulatory clinics, Women’s Health virtual programs, and Family Childbirth Education programming. In other professional roles, Maureen led the marketing and product management of Milgard Windows & Doors, a subsidiary of Masco Corporation.  In this role she created a product roadmap and led the development of a cornerstone product for the Manufacturer.  She also led a major brand refresh including an award winning website, selling tools for dealers, and a national marketing campaign. Maureen lives in Gig Harbor with her husband of 20 years and daughter.  She is a passionate advocate for children and seniors, and has held positions on the Boards of United Way of Pierce County and Franke Tobey Jones in Tacoma.   She enjoys water sports including kayaking and paddleboarding, as well as hosting creative Maker events at her home. Education: Masters in Business Administration, Healthcare                  Pacific Lutheran University Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering                                        University of Delaware Professional Certifications: Certificate of Executive Leadership, Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute of University of Washington Certified Trainer, Participative Leadership Areas of Emphasis or Expertise: Marketing, brand and product development Developing strategic business and operating plans Healthcare Ambulatory Operations Professional Memberships/Organizations: American Marketing Association (AMA) Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) .

Master of Business Administration | facciamm@plu.edu | Maureen Faccia, MBA, is a Visiting Professor at PLU School of Business since 2016 teaching graduate level courses.  Maureen brings over 25 years of industry business experience in marketing, product and brand management, business strategy and operations leadership in a variety of sectors from consumer packaged goods and building products to non-profit human services and healthcare.   At PLU, Maureen has taught Marketing Management and Healthcare courses and is passionate about providing mentorship to students.   Maureen holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Delaware and a Masters in Business Administration with a concentration in healthcare from Pacific Lutheran University. Currently, Maureen is an Administrative Director of Women’s Careline at MultiCare Health System, the largest system of its kind in the state.  She has oversight of 23 ambulatory clinics, Women’s Health virtual programs, and Family Childbirth Education programming. In other professional roles, Maureen led the marketing and product management of Milgard Windows & Doors, a subsidiary of Masco Corporation.  In this role she created a product roadmap and led the development of a cornerstone product for the Manufacturer.  She also led a major brand refresh including an award winning website, selling tools for dealers, and a national marketing campaign. Maureen lives in Gig Harbor with her husband of 20 years and daughter.  She is a passionate advocate for children and seniors, and has held positions on the Boards of United Way of Pierce County and Franke Tobey Jones in Tacoma.   She enjoys water sports including kayaking and paddleboarding, as well as hosting creative Maker events at her home. Education: Masters in Business Administration, Healthcare                  Pacific Lutheran University Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering                                        University of Delaware Professional Certifications: Certificate of Executive Leadership, Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute of University of Washington Certified Trainer, Participative Leadership Areas of Emphasis or Expertise: Marketing, brand and product development Developing strategic business and operating plans Healthcare Ambulatory Operations Professional Memberships/Organizations: American Marketing Association (AMA) Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) .

Chair, Department of Economics | Department of Economics | nagyka@plu.edu | 253-535-7085 | Krisztina Nagy (n-odge as in Dodge like the car) is an experienced teacher and researcher focusing on international economics and econometric analysis.  She is passionate about teaching her craft to both undergraduate and graduate students and she especially enjoys guiding students to see the interconnectedness of today’s world.  Dr.

Poetry | MFA in Creative Writing - Low Residency | David Biespiel is a contributing writer at The Rumpus, Partisan, American Poetry Review, Politico, New Republic, Slate, Poetry, and The New York Times, among other publications.  He is the author of numerous books of poetry, most recently Charming Gardeners and The Book of Men and Women, which was chosen one of the Best Books of the Year by the Poetry Foundation and received the Stafford/Hall Award for Poetry.  His books of essays include A Long High Whistle: Selected Columns on Poetry and a book on creativity, Every Writer Has a Thousand Faces.  He is a member of the board of directors of the National Book Critics Circle.  Recipient of Lannan, National Endowment for the Arts, and Stegner fellowships, he has taught at Stanford University, University of Maryland, George Washington University, Portland State University, and Wake Forest University, in addition to other colleges and universities.  He is a longtime faculty member in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film at Oregon State University and is the founder of the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters in Portland. Mentor.

Lecturer | School of Business | jnatali@plu.edu | 253-535-7244 | Passionate leader, strategic executive, and operational manager with robust background in organizational culture and employee experience.

MSW Fellow, Health Navigator | Wellbeing Services and Resources | logan.denen@plu.edu | Logan is a PLU BS Psychology graduate and a current PLU MSW student graduating in 2026. .

Poetry, Nonfiction | MFA in Creative Writing - Low Residency | Brian Teare, a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow, is the author of seven critically acclaimed books, including Companion Grasses and Doomstead Days, winner of the Four Quartets Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle, Kingsley Tufts, and Lambda Literary Awards. His most recent publications are a diptych of book-length ekphrastic projects exploring queer abstraction, chronic illness, and collage: the 2022 Nightboat reissue of The Empty Form Goes All the Way to Heaven, and the fall 2023 publication of Poem Bitten by a Man. After over a decade of teaching and writing in the San Francisco Bay Area, and eight years in Philadelphia, he’s now an Associate Professor of Poetry at the University of Virginia.