Professor
English
Office
Willard-DiLoreto Hall
W401-05
Biography
After many wonderful years in Washington, DC working as a writer and editor for National Geographic and the Smithsonian, I returned to my native Connecticut to accept a position as a professor of nonfiction for the Creative Writing Minors at Central. In the last 15 years I've spearheaded the development of the Writing & Publishing Minor, supervised many community engagement projects, and have felt privileged to work in such an amazing job. In 2010 I won the CCSU Teaching Award; every term I hope to bring that same award-winning energy into my classroom. I remain an active writer of literary nonfiction and have published three books and many articles and essays since arriving to Central in 2007. My most recent title: A Play Book: Creating Writers, Creating Citizens came out in 2023.
Education
Areas of Expertise
Literary nonfiction, biography, humor, personal essay, science, health
Publications, Research & Presentations
BOOKS
A Play Book: Creating Writers, Creating Citizens, Entasis Press, 2023
At the Broken Places: A Mother and Trans Son Pick Up the Pieces, co-authored with my son Donald Collins (Beacon Press, 2018)
American Idle: A Journey Through Our Sedentary Culture (Capitol Books, 2009)
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My essays and features have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Smithsonian Magazine, Cargo Literary, Out Magazine, LitHub and elsewhere.
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As a book author I have toured the country as a guest author and speaker for a broad range of organizations and clients including Yale University, Cornell University, Boston University, Association of Writing Programs and others.
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