Parkersburg, W.Va. (September 13, 2021) – West Virginia University at Parkersburg’s English faculty members are continuing their writing practice beyond what’s expected of them in the classroom.

Dr. Alicia Beeson, assistant professor, is one of four English faculty members to further her teaching skills by entering her writing into contests. Her piece “Wonder Woman’s Etta Candy: The Heroine We Need” will be published in Gender, Race and Beyond in Contemporary Superhero Cinema, an edited collection by Amherst College Press.

“Having English faculty who are published is beneficial for students because it demonstrates that we are actively participating in the field, keeping up with what’s current, and it also highlights that we’re passionate about what we do, which makes classes more engaging for everyone,” Dr. Beeson said.

Joyce Stover, associate professor, entered two pieces in the West Virginia Writers, Inc. Annual Writing Contest— “Swinging Doors,” which placed first in the middle school books category, and “Simple Truths,” which was an honorable mention in the same category.

“[Swinging Doors] focuses on three teenagers, Mark, Hank and Will, who witness an oil boom in East Texas in the early 1930s when the nation was in the depths of the Great Depression,” Stover said. “I chose this location for the story based on tales related to my father and older men who lived in that era.”

Assistant Professor Danielle Kelly wrote a creative nonfiction essay, “Husband Material,” which was published in Hedge Apple Magazine, a student-run literary magazine out of Hagerstown Community College, in their May 2021 issue Feminism in Rural America. You can find her essay here.

Dr. Sandra Kolankiewicz, who has had nearly 500 various writing pieces published over the past 40 years, said that writing is a skill set that constantly needs practicing.

“Sticking in the game and not giving up, even when my work was rejected, is what makes success possible,” Dr. Sandra Kolankiewicz said. “For every accepted magazine, there are ten ‘no’ responses. A lot of success is based on continuing to try and improve at all stages of your writing life, even if you don’t get the feedback you want.”