Associate Director of Work-Based Learning Experiences
Year Started at JMU: 2016
john28am@jmu.edu
Contact Info
Pronouns: she/her
After a decade of teaching writing and research classes at Eastern Mennonite University (2014-2016), Study Group International (2015-2016), and James Madison University (2016-2025), I joined the University Career Center as Associate Director of Work-Based Learning Experiences. This position allows me to collaborate with faculty, staff, and students across disciplines to improve access to opportunities that help students become prepared to bring their academic learning into work contexts.
My Career Journey
My career journey started in the visual arts (Houghton College B.A. in Studio Art, with a minor in English). After college, I worked as an art gallery assistant, art gallery director, and freelancer.
In 2012, shortly after earning my MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, I began a career that combined professional writing, teaching, and tutoring. I taught at a study-away program called the Oregon Extension in 2012, taught 8th grade English for one year, then focused on teaching first-year composition and other courses at Eastern Mennonite and James Madison University.
Now I focus on helping students and faculty practice communicating the value of what students learn in the classroom and how they can use it in new contexts such as work places and their communities.
More About Me
3 words that describe me:
- Creative
- Compassionate
- Curious
Some fun facts about me:
- I love gardening for pollinators and other wild creatures
- My husband and I bought 11 acres of floodplain along the Shenandoah North Fork just to let wild animals and plants live there.
- I almost always prefer vintage things to new ones.
