Innis College
Our Instructors

Sharon English
Sharon studied English Literature at the University of Western Ontario and the University of British Columbia and has taught academic writing in the Innis College Writing Centre since 2000. A fiction writer and experienced freelance editor, Sharon has also taught numerous courses in professional communications, fiction writing, and grammar. In 2008–2009, Sharon will teach INI 311, Seminar in Creative Writing and also courses in the short story and nature writing at the University of Toronto’s School for Continuing Studies.

Sharon English has published two collections of short stories, Uncomfortably Numb (Porcupine's Quill, 2002) and Zero Gravity (Porcupine’s Quill, 2006). Zero Gravity was long-listed for the 2007 Giller Prize, short-listed for a 2006 ReLit Award, and included in the Globe and Mail’s Best 100 new titles of 2006. Sharon has also published in numerous journals, including Best Canadian Stories, 2004 and Canadian Notes and Queries.

Liz Newbery
Liz Newbery completed an M.A. at OISE/UT in 2000 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in education at York University. In addition, she holds bachelor degrees in biology, outdoor education, and liberal arts. Liz has worked extensively in non-formal and experiential education contexts, experience that she brings to her university teaching. She has taught outdoor education at McMaster University and York University, and has taught at writing centres at York University and U of T.

Dr. Melanie Stevenson
Dr. Melanie Stevenson has been teaching academic writing skills to both undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Toronto for several years. After an earlier career writing for a medical newsmagazine, she completed a Ph.D. in English in 1998 and subsequently taught drama and literature at the University of Toronto at Scarborough before deciding to focus on the teaching of writing. Since then she has taught writing at Innis, the School of Graduate Studies and Woodsworth College, working with both ESL and non-ESL students from every conceivable discipline. Winner of both doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, she has published articles in academic journals, won a Toronto Arts Council first-time playwrights grant and was recently nominated for a screenwriting award from Ryerson University.

Dr. Vikki Visvis
Vikki Visvis received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Toronto in 2004. This is Vikki's first year at the Innis Writing Centre. Currently, she is also a lecturer at U of T for the Department of English, where she teaches Canadian literature. In 2004-05, Vikki taught both Critical Writing about Narrative and Effective Writing at U of T, intensive academic writing courses for undergraduates. She also has experience as an ESL tutor, and has worked at other writing centres on campus. She has published on Canadian and American literature.

Rebecca Vogan
Rebecca Vogan received a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Western Ontario, where she earned the Helen B. Allison Gold Medal, and an M.A. from Queen's University, where she held a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Special Scholarship. She has worked as an editor for over fifteen years and in 1994 began teaching editing courses at George Brown College. She currently teaches copy editing in Ryerson University's publishing program and enjoys helping both students and professional writers to improve their language skills. She has specialized in editing fiction, literary nonfiction, language arts textbooks, and ESL resources, but has worked on manuscripts in many other subject areas as well. Becky has been working at the Innis College Writing Centre since 2002.