When I first arrived on the campus of Youngstown State University as an undergraduate English major in the mid-1990s, I could not have imagined that this place would one day become not only my alma mater, but my professional home. I earned my BA here in 1998 and my MA in 2003, both in English, studying creative writing, literature, rhetoric, as well as Creative Writing and Psychology as minors, with faculty who believed deeply in the power of language to change lives. After years of writing novels and stories, teaching abroad in Japan, and building a career as a writer, I returned to YSU in 2008 as a professor in the English department. Coming back felt less like a job and more like a homecoming.

Today, nearly two decades later, I am proud to say that YSU’s English program is entering one of its most exciting chapters yet. This year we launched a newly revised English major that gives students more flexibility and focus than ever before. Instead of a one-size-fits-all degree, students can now major in English while concentrating in one of four concentrations: creative writing, linguistics, literature, or professional and public writing. That change may sound simple, but it represents something powerful—choice, adaptability, and a recognition that English is not a single path, but many.

As someone who has built a career at the intersection of creative writing, teaching, publishing, and public engagement, I know firsthand how valuable that kind of customization can be. Some students come to us dreaming of writing novels or poetry. Others are fascinated by how language works and want to study linguistics. Some fall in love with literary history and criticism. Others want practical preparation for careers in editing, publishing, nonprofit work, law, marketing, or technical communication. With these four concentrations, students can shape a degree that reflects who they are and where they want to go. 

What excites me most is how naturally this new structure reflects what we already do well at YSU. Our faculty are active scholars, writers, teachers, and community partners. We offer hands-on workshops, internships, undergraduate research, publishing opportunities, and close advising. We encourage students to combine creativity with professionalism, theory with practice, reading with writing. The revised major simply makes that richness more visible and more intentional.

When I advise students now, I often think back to my own time here—sitting in workshops, discovering writers who changed how I saw the world, learning to forge and to trust my voice. Those experiences led me to publish novels, see one adapted into a film, and travel the world teaching and speaking about literature and writing. But they also led me back to Youngstown, to a classroom where I could help the next generation begin their own journeys.