Department: English

Areas of expertise:

• Creative Writing (Poetry and Memoir)
• Environmental Literature and Climate Change
• Coral Reefs 
• Nature as Mental Health Resource
• LGBT Literature 

Greg Wrenn, associate professor of English, is a poet, memoirist, and environmental writer. Taking readers to the most pristine coral reefs on earth, Greg’s forthcoming memoir Mothership is an evidence-based account of how he turned to the ocean, rainforests, and psychedelic plants to recover from childhood trauma when talk therapy and pharmaceuticals did little to help. He has also published Centaur, an award-winning poetry collection. He was educated at Harvard University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Stanford University.

A certified advanced scuba diver and yoga teacher, he has logged over 200 dives in Australia, South America, Hawaii, Palau, and the Caribbean, in addition to Indonesia, where his research site is located. 

His teaching focuses on getting students to think in a highly interdisciplinary way. For instance, in Environmental Literature of Wonder and Crisis, his GenEd course, he incorporates climate change science into the study of literature. And his nature writing students are required to observe wildlife in the national forest and interview local community members about environmental issues.

Media contact: Eric Gorton, gortonej@jmu.edu