Alumni Profiles

Matthew Allison

Community Library Manager, Queens Borough Public Library, New York

After graduation, Matt worked at a bookstore in Toledo, where conversations with retired librarians led him to enroll in a graduate program in library science at Kent State. After attending the American Library Association conference ("wearing a suit in Orlando in July is not a pleasant experience," he recalls), Matt was offered a job at the Queens Borough Public Library. "The borough of Queens is the most diverse county in the country," he says, "and I think a very interesting place to be a public librarian. I've worked at three locations, one as a librarian, one as an assistant manager, and now I am a manager of a library. The three places I've worked at the communities are all different. Each part of Queens has its own demographics and character." A Creative Writing major at UT, Matt has continued to write about literature as well as life in New York, and his work can be seen hackwriters.com.

Feliza Casano

Freelance writer and web editor

Feliza focuses on intersectionality and inclusion in entertainment with a specialization in speculative fiction. She holds an MA in Publishing from Rosemont College, where she graduated with Thesis of Distinction and the publishing departmental award for the capstone project based on her ongoing publication Girls in Capes. In addition to hosting programming focused on diverse reading, she also has bylines at The Portalist.

Rebecca Dorosz

Teacher, Pettisville Local Schools, Pettisville, Ohio

Rebecca earned her BA in English and BEd in Adolescent Education from UT, and has been in the field of education for 10 years. Since her hiring, she has developed a literary club for young readers, created a writing class that leads to the publication of young novelists each year, advised four nationally recognized writers, and been named the Franklin B. Walter tribute teacher five times. A coach, quiz and yearbook advisor, and mentor teacher, she received her Master of Education from BGSU in 2010 (but her allegiance will always be to UT). 

Andrea Falcone

Head of Education & Outreach Services at the University of Colorado Denver Libraries

Andrea has earned an MLS and MA in English and leads a program offering one-time, course-integrated instruction on a campus with three institutions. She encourages library faculty to be experimental in designing their curriculum and to conduct assessments with the intent of continuous improvement. She is the editor of the Beta Phi Mu Scholars Series published by Rowman & Littlefield and is the column editor for "Perspectives on Public Services," which appears in International Information & Library Review.

Will Myers

Editor, Beacon Press, Boston

Will graduated from The University of Toledo in 2006 with a BA in English and a BEd in Education after completing a Departmental Honors thesis on David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, directed by Dr. Russell Reising. A graduate of Emerson College's Publishing and Writing Master's Program, he has worked in the publishing industry for ten years. An Editor at Beacon Press in Boston, he acquires and edits books on the environment, politics, and activism.

Charles Porter

Assistant Professor of Developmental English, Wor-Wic Community College, Salisbury, Maryland

Chuck returned to UT after graduation to join the English Department's MA Program in Literature, with an assistantship as an instructor of Composition. "As a graduate assistant at Toledo," Chuck says, "I gained valuable experience in the classroom, and by the time I graduated again in 2006, I had already found a full-time position as an Instructor of Developmental English" at Wor-Wic. Chuck has continued to explore new areas of teaching; he has taken over the ESL program at his college, and is also pursuing an MA as a Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). He reports: "As of 2010, a colleague and I received a grant from Lumina to redesign English 101 and one of our developmental writing courses, I am serving as Wor-Wic's Faculty Council President, and I also was promoted to Assistant Professor."