Thomas Caraway, Poetry Instructor

Thom's poetry collection, A Visitor's Guide to North Dakota was published by Finishing Line Press in 2007. His work has twice been awarded the Academy of American Poets' Thomas McGrath Prize for poetry, and has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Yalobusha Review, Red Rock Review, and New South. He lives in Spokane, where he teaches at Whitworth University. He has previously worked as a line cook, saute chef, and a counselor at the Bauen Camp in Wyoming, an art, writing, and performance camp for high school students.

Jeffrey Dodd, Program Director and Poetry Instructor

Originally from southeast Texas, Jeff sometimes buys cowboy shirts just to feel at home in Spokane, where he's lived since receiving his MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University. He currently teaches English composition at Gonzaga. His poems, interviews, and reviews have appeared in Harpur Palate, The MacGuffin, Meridian, Santa Clara Review, Willow Springs, and Redactions: Poetry and Poetics. If you happen to see his mother, please let her know that he's doing well and that he'll be calling soon.

Rachel Kartz, Fiction Instructor

Rachel has lived at nineteen different residences in the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Eastern Washington areas. Yet she considers herself a Milwaukee native and keeps at least three different kinds of cheese in her refrigerator at all times. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Eastern Washington University, and now teaches English composition at Gonzaga University and Spokane Falls Community College. Forthcoming work will appear in Fifth Wednesday this Spring. In the future she plans to drink more coffee and keep moving, short and long distances. 

Dan Vice, Assistant Director and Fiction Instructor

Dan was educated by the Indianapolis public school system, Indiana University's School of English, five years of office work, the Creative Writing program at Eastern Washington University, and his current position teaching English at Gonzaga. He served as Fiction Editor for the literary journal Willow Springs, rewrote General Orders for the Indianapolis Airport Police Department, and once chauffeured around the Episcopal Bishop of Eastern Oregon. Dan regrets that he has not yet seen every movie made since 1898, and that he spends far too long on simple tasks like writing web site bios.