Teaching
Education
Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing—Nonfiction, 2007
University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC
Thesis: Burn: A Memoir
Advisor: David Gessner
Outstanding Thesis Award Winner
Bachelor of Arts, English—Creative Writing with a Minor in Film Studies, 2003
Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA
Thesis: Whistle: Stories, Essays, and Poems
Advisor: Gary Fincke
High Departmental Honors
Teaching Positions
Instructor, January 2011-present. WriterHouse Inc., Charlottesville, VA.
Teaching Assistant, 2004-07. University of North Carolina
Wilmington, Wilmington, NC.
Workshop Leader, Young Writer’s Workshop, Summer 2005, 2006.
University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Other Teaching Experiences
Instructor, June-August 2011. Four Star Camps at the University of
Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
Instructor, July 2011. The Council for American Culture and
Education, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
Campus Visits
Visiting Writer, Reading Area Community College, Reading, PA,
May 5-6, 2011.
Visiting Writer, Writer’s Week at University of North
Carolina Wilmington, November 3-5, 2010.
Visiting Writer, Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA, April 19-
20, 2010.
Guest Teaching
Invited guest lecturer on creative nonfiction for literature class at
Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, VA
in June of 2011. Presented with poet Patrick Culliton and
fiction writer Lee Johnson.
Spoke with Assistant Professor’s Jarvis Slack’s Trinity College class
via Skype in January of 2011.
Answered student questions on nonfiction writing via Skype for
Instructor Kimi Faxon’s memoir class at the University of
North Carolina Wilmington in November of 2010.
Invited to guest lecture on nonfiction to creative writing students at
Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, VA
in November of 2009.
Publications
Books
Memoir, Nothing Left to Burn, published September 21, 2010 by
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
Print Literary Journals
Oxford American Magazine, TBD music essay, forthcoming 2012.
Carbon Copy Magazine, essay “The High Water Mark,”
forthcoming 2012.
Georgetown Review, essay “The Pennsylvania Bolide,” forthcoming 2012.
The Southeast Review, essay “Sport for Our Neighbors,” spring 2010.
Quicksilver, essay “Farm Machines,” fall 2008.
Black Warrior Review, essay “Missing Persons,” spring 2008
The Rectangle, essay “Small Gestures,” 2003.
Online Literary Journals
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, “An Open Letter to My
Neighbor Who Frequently SitsAlone inside His Truck,” June 2006.
Work in Progress
“A Clean, Just Thing.” A Pennsylvania-set novel about a murdered
ex-Amish man, the poverty-stricken family who took him,
and the Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement officer drawn to
the case.
Courses Taught
WriterHouse Inc.
Creative Nonfiction: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall 2011
University of North Carolina Wilmington
Creative Writing 201: Introduction to Creative Writing, Fall 2004,
Spring 2005
Creative Writing 209: Introduction to Nonfiction Writing, Fall 2005,
Spring 2006, Fall 2006, Spring 2007
English 110: Introduction to Literature, Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Fall
2006, Spring 2007
Editing, Publishing,, Journalism, and Digital Media Experience
Co-host and Co-Founder, Talus or Scree Podcast,
www.talusorscree.com, August 2011-present
Social Media Director, Montebello Kitchens, Gordonsville, VA,
February 2011-present
Managing Editor, Ecotone: Reimagining Place. University of North
Carolina Wilmington, June 2006-June 2007.
Nonfiction Editor, Ecotone: Reimaging Place. University of North
Carolina Wilmington, June 2005-June 2006.
Reporter, The Sentinel. Lewistown, PA, August 2003-June 2004.
Founding Editor and Fiction Editor, The Susquehanna Review.
Susquehanna University, August 2002-May 2003.
Assistant Editor, The Apprentice Writer. Susquehanna University,
August 2001-May 2003.
About Jay
Home
Nothing Left to Burn
Teaching
Press
Connect
Talus or Scree: A Podcast
Get Involved
