Writing Instructors at University College
All of us are experienced in teaching writing, and you can see that we're interested in a lot of academic areas.
Jerry Plotnick, Director. This is Jerry's tenth year as Director of the UC Writing Centre. He has over eighteen years of experience teaching writing at U of T, including a stint teaching Effective Writing at U of T's Mississauga campus. He has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics and an M.Sc. in Computer Science. His graduate studies in English have focused on Shakespeare. He is also interested in political theory, film, and philosophy.
Heather Fitzgerald has worked as a lexicographer in the Canadian Dictionary Department at Oxford University Press. In this position, she edited many dictionaries and reference books, including the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, the Oxford Canadian Student's Dictionary and the Canadian A-Z of Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation. She holds degrees in English from the University of Victoria and the University of Calgary; her particular areas of interest were in Canadian and American literature, queer theory, gender studies and rhetoric. She also has experience as an ESL instructor, a technical writer, a marketing copywriter and a copyeditor, in all of which positions she has worked with writers from a wide variety of backgrounds in a wide variety of disciplines. This is her third year as a writing instructor with University College's Writing Centre.
Natalie Papoutsis is a Ph.D. candidate in Drama and a lecturer in the Department of English. She is a member of the Editors' Association of Canada, has instructed Critical Writing, Drama, and Film classes, and also has experience in Fine Art History, Music, Philosophy, and Communications. In her spare time, Natalie enjoys singing with her band, competing in spelling bees, and teaching her cat to sit on command.This is Natalie's first year at the University College Writing Centre.
Joanna Polley earned her PhD in Philosophy at the University of Toronto and has taught in the departments of Philosophy and Literary Studies. Fascinated by language in all of its aspects, she has been an ESL instructor, a translator, an editor and a freelance writer. She also spent a term running the Department of Philosophy’s essay clinic and looks forward to the wider range of subjects to be discussed in this her first year at the UC Writing Centre.
Sheryl Stevenson earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Maryland, College Park. From 1986 until the summer of 2008, she was a member of the faculty at the University of Akron, mostly teaching English full time, though she also held a number of administrative positions and was active in the development of courses and programs focused on writing. Her research and publications explore connections between literary theory and women’s studies, as well as venturing into work on cultural representations of AIDS and of autism. With her partner’s retirement from teaching in 2008 came the opportunity to immigrate to Canada and begin her rewarding work as an instructor in University of Toronto writing centres, along with the chance to teach a first-year seminar, Critical Reading and Critical Writing, at Trinity College for 2009-10.
Vikki Visvis received her Ph.D. in English from the University of Toronto in 2004. This is Vikki's sixth year at the UC Writing Centre. She is also currently a lecturer at U of T for the Department of English, where she teaches Canadian literature. In 2004-5, 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.
Becky Vogan works as a freelance editor for book publishers in Toronto and teaches copy editing at Ryerson University. Although her degrees are in English literature, she has helped writers in most subject areas. She is enjoying her seventh year as a writing instructor, and wishes that Western and Queen's had had writing centres when she was a student.