Tandy Tillinghast, MFA; please call me Tandy

Assistant Professor, NTT, Western Oregon University

Email: tillingt@wou.edu

Office Hours: online & by appt. My goal is to reply within 24 hours. If I do not, please email again. I do not want to overlook key correspondence.

Dear Writer,

We are beginning a new journey together for words. I look forward to helping you make significant progress this term. First, I will begin by learning your goals for your writing and education.

Understanding the purpose of each writing piece is imperative to aiding writers’ progress.

I have been teaching for the past twenty+ years. Most recently, I have been an Assistant Professor, NTT for Western Oregon University and an instructor online for graduate students at SNHU. As an educator, my goal is to aid each student in the greatest progress possible in our limited time together. Writing is an essential learning process. If you haven’t found your ideal writing process, let’s discover innovations and perfect that process today!

In 2010, I received my Master of Fine Arts from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. My writing leans toward magical realism; the surreal and the grotesque captivate me. Now, I write and teach in the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

When I am not writing or teaching, you might find me with my thirteen-year-old, basketball-obsessed son Oliver, or our dog Zoey.

Below, you can read a bio about my writing. Now, I anticipate reading your words.

Be well,

Tandy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Best Place in a Long Dark is Tandy Tillinghast’s first unpublished fiction collection. In 2010, she received her Master in Fine Arts (MFA) in Writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University. Tandy writes to understand others’ experiences, often exploring the impossible possibility in everyday encounters. Ms. Tillinghast’s story “Breath” appeared in The Evolutionary Review, Vol. 3, Issue 1, her story “Hotline,” a finalist in Glimmer Train’s Very Short Fiction Award and Best Place, a finalist in Kore Press 2014 Open Reading. Currently, she crafts her second fiction collection about the surreal impact of science on ordinary lives.

Online Writing Instructor, Master of Arts in English and Creative Writing program.

Southern New Hampshire University. Summer 2014–present.

Courses: ENG–510, 520, 529, 542, 549, 559, 690 in graduate writing, editing, theses & capstone project.

Assistant Professor of English & Writing, NTT.

Western Oregon University, Monmouth. Fall 2012 & 13, full-time 2014–present.

Courses: WR 115, 121 & 122—College Writing I, II, English ENG 104, FYS 107: Wondrous Weird: The Strange in Art & Writing; online and hybrid.

Service: First Year Writing Team, common assessment pilot; coordinated First Year Writing awards 2015–18; Willamette Promise teacher training team & PLC; English Senior Portfolio assessment and Program Review; Writing PLC; Diversity PLC Co-Chair; Strong Start Cohort.