If you are looking for your teacher's office number or e-mail address, consult the English Department directory.

Tom Aspell teaches Written Professional Communication.

Deborah Edwards thinks of teaching as her third career, one that combines her favorite parts of her first two careers: law and technical writing. At Pitt, she teaches Written Professional Communication, Writing in the Legal Professions,Creative Corporate Writing, and the Language of Science and Technology. After a successful career as a corporate lawyer in Pittsburgh, she earned a Master of Science in Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh and became a technical writer and Web content developer. She enjoys immersing herself in new subjects to find effective ways to communicate complex ideas to a wide range of audiences. Her professional writing experience includes software documentation, employee training materials on subjects ranging from renting bulldozers to making hamburgers, and corporate marketing and consumer education communications. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Ohio State University and a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the College of William and Mary.

Steve Fine is a tireless advocate for clear, concise writing. Steve has taught Public Relations Writing and Creative Corporate Writing, and currently teaches Written Professional Communication as a member of the PPW faculty. Steve also is a marketing communications consultant, writer and editor, and draws on his extensive professional experience to provide context and relevance in his courses.  His career also includes stints with leading international marketing communications agencies and award-winning work as an editor and journalist at local and regional publications.  Steve is a magna cum laude graduate of the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned departmental honors. 

Deborah Galle brings business management, professional writing, and community volunteer experience to her Public and Professional Writing course.  She was awarded an MFA in English/Writing (creative nonfiction concentration) with honors from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA in Liberal Arts/English from Western Connecticut State University.  Her publications and productions include creative nonfiction, news stories and features, weekly columns, promotional video, poetry, and in-house newsletters.  In 2003, she was awarded the University of Pittsburgh Creative Nonfiction Award for her story, “Jumping In.”  Her short documentary video, The Key to Your Future is Here, has promoted the Pittsburgh region to business leaders worldwide.  Her most recent publication, “Fourth of July,” can be found in Shelagh Watkins’ anthology, Forever Travels, the second in the Forever series (Mandinam Press, Manchester, England, 2010).  Deborah has taught courses online and/or in the classroom for the University of Pittsburgh, Washington & Jefferson College, and Chatham University.  Her courses have included Written Professional Communication, Business Writing, Intro to Engineering Analysis, Intro to Engineering Computing, and a variety of themed composition courses and creative writing mini-workshops.  Within the University of Pittsburgh she has held Composition Assistant, Research Assistant to the Department Chair, and Visiting Lecturer appointments.  In addition, she has served the greater academic community as a Writing Center tutor, committee member, student club organizer, and judge for a variety of research and writing competitions. 

Jean A. Grace is a senior lecturer in the University of Pittsburgh composition program, where she has taught a range of composition courses over the past 23 years, including first-year composition, professional writing, and courses for underprepared readers and writers.  She is currently the director of the Public and Professional Writing Certificate Program and the associate director of the Writing Center. As a senior writer and researcher with Spann Communications, Jean writes for foundations with a special interest in public policy. Jean has taught at the Tepper School of Business and the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University and in the Katz School of Business and the College of Business Administration at Pitt. In the PPW program, Jean teaches Written Professional Communication, Writing for the Public, Advanced Research and Documentary Writing, and Integrating Writing and Design. Jean holds a doctorate in English and a Certificate in Composition, Pedagogy, and Literacy from the University of Pittsburgh.

Carla Howell Greenfield has balanced a career spanning more than 15 years as a part-time municipal finance and corporate lawyer with active engagement as a volunteer in several community organizations. Her work in both the legal and nonprofit sectors has involved extensive writing and editing of many types of communications. She graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in French and earned her J.D. from Pitt Law School, where she was Managing Editor of the Law Review. At Pitt Carla teaches Written Professional Communication and Writing for the Legal Professions.

Stephanie Kane-Mainier teaches Writing for the Public and Seminar in Composition for the English Department and has over 17 years of teaching experience with graduate, undergraduate, and secondary students. She holds a BA in writing (poetry), a masters in English education, and a certificate in Composition, Literacy, Pedagogy, and Rhetoric; she is a fourth year Language, Literacy, & Culture PhD student in the Department of Instruction & Learning in the School of Education. Stephanie is a fellow of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project and has served as a teacher consultant, developing and facilitating professional development for practicing teachers. Since 2009, she and her colleague have been the principal investigators of a qualitative study of preservice teachers’ beliefs and practice of writing instruction. Additionally, along with Amanda Godley, Stephanie is involved in data analysis for a study that examined the impact of culturally relevant pedagogy on student writing development. Her dissertation research utilizes mixed methods to investigate the ways in which poetry and its instruction are represented by secondary textbooks, with Anthony Petrosky (chair), David Bartholomae, Linda Kucan, and Vivian Mihalakis serving as her committee. Stephanie is currently a research associate at the Institute for Learning.

Nancy Koerbel teaches Written Professional Communication, Writing for the Legal Professions, and Advanced Topics in PPW.

Katy Rank Lev holds an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh's Creative Nonfiction Writing program with certificates in Women's Studies and Composition. In addition to teaching in the English department at Pitt, she is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Parents magazine, Fit Pregnancy, Forbes.com, and other publications. Her writing experience ranges from magazine articles to academic papers to white papers for corporate clients. These various forms of professional writing have led her from the press box of the Rugby World Cup to the irrigation canals in Phoenix to the kitchens of an organic pizzeria. She is eager to share her experiences with students and encourage a definition of writing to include many forms of new media and communication.

Jonathan Loucks was born and raised in Southern California. He has studied at the University of California, Berkeley (B.A. 20th Century Literature) and the University of Pittsburgh (MFA Poetry). His rock criticism has appeared in Kitchen Sink and Fabula magazines, and his poems have appeared in The New Yinzer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Jonathan spent several years living in San Francisco, where he worked as an advertising copywriter in a building with no windows. He now calls Pittsburgh home.

Beth Marcello has taught Public Relations Writing and Creative Corporate Communications in addition to Writing for the Public in the Public and Professional Writing Program. She is also director of Women's Business Development at PNC, where she manages a team that helps the bank’s sales force develop business relationships with women entrepreneurs and executives across its 13-state market. Prior to joining National City, a PNC predecessor bank, in 2006, Beth owned PRwriting, Inc. for more than 15 years, a consulting firm that helped companies communicate to customers, employees, the media and other stakeholders. Her clients included a wide range of large and small businesses and nonprofit organizations, such as Federated Investors, Wabtec, National City, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and Saint Vincent College. Beth, who earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications from Point Park University, has also held positions in community development and government relations. A South Side resident, she is the author of Passport to Pittsburgh, a commemorative book that celebrated the 1993 opening of the new Pittsburgh International Airport, and a contributor to Pittsburgh: Fulfilling Its Destiny.

Tom McWhorter is a lecturer who teaches Writing for the Public, Writing in the Legal Professions, Written Professional Communication, and the Service-learning Seminar in addition to other composition and creative writing courses in the English Department. He has a JD from the University of Utah and practiced in a nonprofit law firm for more than a decade, helping low-income clients with cases involving public benefits, disability, landlord-tenant, and family law. During this period, an activity he found just as rewarding as helping the economically disadvantaged with their legal problems was mentoring, through research and writing assignments, the many undergraduate and law student interns he supervised. Eventually, Tom decided to emphasize another aspect of his own writing—fiction. He earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Utah in 2006. (His short story “Pigeon Eggs,” can be found in the journal Short Story, Spring 2007. Another story, “A Tragedy with Pigs,” which originally appeared in the Fall 2006 Madison Review, was later anthologized in New Stories from the Southwest.)

Pam O'Brien holds a lectureship at Pitt and is the associate director of the Public and Professional Writing Program. She also coordinates the internship program for PPW. She has worked in a variety of career fields including advertising, public relations, government planning and administration, grantwriting, and teaching. She holds undergraduate degrees from Allegheny College and the University of Madrid and did her graduate work at Gannon University. Her avocations are reading and writing poetry. Pam's first chapbook, Kaleidoscopes, was published in 1999, and Paper Dancing was released by Foothills Publishing in 2004. Her third chapbook, Acceptable Losses, will be released by Pudding House Press in 2009. In 2007, Pam was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and she received the Student Choice for Faculty Excellence Award in 2008 from CGS. A member of the Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop, Pam has also taught courses to older Americans interested in writing memoirs and has developed a course in that area. Here at Pitt, Pam focuses on composition courses such as Written Professional Communication, Persuasive Writing in Advertising and Fundraising, Writing for the Public, and Grant and Proposal Writing.

Salvatore Pane has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Dzanc's Best of the Web anthology and has been published in Annalemma, PANK, Quick Fiction, Pear Noir!, Hobart, and others. His book reviews and blog posts appear regularly in The Rumpus, BOMB, PANK, and Dark Sky, and his original graphic novel, The Black List, will be published by Arcana Studios. He teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh and Chatham University and is represented by Jenni Ferrari-Adler of the Brickhouse Literary Agency.

Dahliani Reynolds holds undergraduate degrees from Cabrillo Community College and the University of California at Berkeley, and earned a Master’s Degree in English (with dual concentrations in Composition and Creative Writing) from Western Washington University. Before moving to Pittsburgh in 2007, she taught English 101 for two years at Western Washington University, and served as the Fiction Editor for The Bellingham Review. At Pitt, she teaches Seminar in Composition and Written Professional Communication, among other advanced composition classes.

Lisa Schwartz has taught teaching writing and literature courses at Pitt, Rutgers, and Temple University.

Heather Stewart draws on her marketing and employee communications experience with various industries when she teaches. Her courses include Language of Business and Industry, Persuasive Writing in Advertising and Fundraising, and Written Professional Communication. She has been active in the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), serving on both the regional and local chapter boards. At a recent Pitt Honors Convocation she was recognized for receiving IABC/Pittsburgh’s Award of Honor for an employee communications program called “Shape How AutoNation Snacks.” She holds a graduate certificate in Financial Aspects of Human Resources Management from La Roche College, a Master of Arts in speech pathology from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Bachelor of Science in speech and hearing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.