Current Students
2025-2027 Cohort

Tyler McDonald
- Position: Poetry
- Email: tylrmcd@bgsu.edu

Mo Orr
- Position: Poetry
- Email: omorgan@bgsu.edu

Anne Williams
- Position: Poetry
- Email: annemw@bgsu.edu

Elijah Woodruff
- Position: Poetry
- Email: ewoodru@bgsu.edu

Kiersten Burtz
- Position: Fiction
- Email: kburtz@bgsu.edu

Remy Donald
- Position: Fiction
- Email: donalmp@bgsu.edu

Orion Emerick
- Position: Fiction
- Email: gemeric@bgsu.edu

Emilea Justice
- Position: Fiction
- Email: emileaj@bgsu.edu

Kelly McElroy
- Position: Fiction
- Email: kellyrm@bgsu.edu

Alexander Wagner
- Position: Fiction
- Email: acwagne@bgsu.edu
2024-2026 Cohort

Liz Barnett
- Position: Fiction
- Pronouns: they/them
- Email: bcarla@bgsu.edu
- Address: 433B East Hall
Carla (Liz) Barnett received their BFA in Creative Writing at Bowling Green State University in May 2023. In their undergraduate, they were the historian for the Bowling Green State University chapter of Sigma Tau Delta. During this time, Liz minored in Classic Civilizations and studied Latin even after graduating. Something Liz enjoys about writing is adaptation and focusing on how we can take myths, stories, legends, etc. and make them work in today's world. Outside of academics they enjoy drawing, playing video games, and spending time with their cats.

Serenity Dieufaite
- Position: Fiction
- Email: sddieuf@bgsu.edu
- Address: 415A East Hall
Serenity is an international MFA student from Freeport, Bahamas. She graduated with a BA in English from the University of the Bahamas in 2023. Serenity has a deep love of reading and writing. Her works focus on realistic fiction, speculative fiction, historical fiction, and postcolonial fiction. She also has an interest in creative nonfiction. Serenity enjoys writing about Bahamian life and the importance of relationships. She is also inspired by her Haitian background. Serenity aims to become an English professor and publish her creative works in the future. Her work is forthcoming in Tamarind Journal.

Nathan Fako
- Position: Poetry
- Email: nfako@bgsu.edu
- Address: 411A East Hall
Nathan Fako graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor's in English. After participating in Teach for America in Greenwood, Mississippi, he moved back to Salt Lake City and has been teaching high school Language Arts/IB for the past four years.

Jaden Gootjes
- Position: Poetry
- Email: jadenhg@bgsu.edu
- Address: 439C East Hall
Jaden Gootjes is an MFA poetry student from Grand Rapids, Michigan. She graduated from Northern Michigan University with her B.S. In English in 2024. Her work appears in Qua and Literary Veganism. Her poetry generally focuses on themes of feminism, animal rights, and mental health. She likes to spend her time knitting, reading, playing video games, and cuddling with her cat, Bear.

Hannah Goss
- Position: Fiction
- Email: hgoss@bgsu.edu
- Address: 433B East Hall
Hannah Goss is an MFA fiction student originally from Lancaster, PA. She received her bachelor's degree in English Writing from Duquesne University where she also minored in Sociology and Women's and Gender studies. Her writing often deals with family relationships and identity, and she enjoys playing with second person. Her short story "Say You're Ok" received Duquesne University's Carroll Creative Writing Award and her story "Fuzzy Head" was published in Fiction on the Web. She admires writers like Sally Rooney, Lorrie Moore, Ottessa Moshfegh, Carmen Maria Machado, and Deesha Philyaw. When she's not writing, she loves to read, hike, and buy overpriced coffees from local coffee shops.

Sydney Koeplin
- Position: Fiction
- Pronouns: she/her
- Email: srkoepl@bgsu.edu
- Address: 415A East Hall
Sydney Koeplin is a first-year MFA student at BGSU with a particular interest in speculative fiction. Much of her writing explores girlhood, the body, and place as character. Her work has been published in small-press anthologies and journals like the Corvus Review, Qu Literary Magazine, and Hypertext Magazine, among others. She completed her undergraduate degree in German Studies and English with a concentration in creative writing from Colby College in 2021, where she won the Elmira Nelson Jones Prize for Creative Writing the same year. In her free time, you can usually find her swimming laps or sitting in coffee shops for hours at a time.

Garret Miller
- Position: Poetry
- Email: gdmille@bgsu.edu
- Address: 411A East Hall
Garret Miller is a native of Northwest Ohio. He received a B.A. in English from The Ohio State University at Lima and writes poetry about people and place. He last placed work in the Lima anthology River and Rust. His interests include winter.

Melayna Pongratz
- Position: Poetry
- Email: mpongra@bgsu.edu
- Address: 433C East Hall
Melayna Pongratz is a poet and visual artist pursuing their MFA in Creative Writing. Their work explores themes like queerness, grief, family, and self-acceptance. Melayna was born and raised in western Pennsylvania and earned their B.A. in English from Robert Morris University.

Anna Vaughn
- Position: Poetry
- Email: atvaugh@bgsu.edu
- Address: 433C East Hall
Anna Vaughn is a first-year MFA student in poetry and holds a B.A. and M.A. in English from Kent State University. Her writing often guides her back to her childhood home near Lake Erie, as she finds the Great Lakes to be filled with literary inspiration. She aims to teach creative writing in the future.
Recent Program Graduates
2025 Graduates - Poetry:
- Meagan Chandler
- Caleb Edmondson
- Jamie Manias
- Mary Robles
- Elly Salah
2025 Graduates - Fiction:
- Muhammad Sheeraz Dasti
- Haley Souders
- Jane Wageman
2024 Graduates - Poetry:
- Lucas Clark
- Tyler Jacobs
- Christopher McCormick
- Michael Morris
- Mary Simmons
2024 Graduates - Fiction:
- Sydney Anderson
- Gen Greer
- Mays Kuhail
- Dan Marcantuono
- Caitlyn Mlodzik
Creative Writing ProgramĀ
Department of English
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
Phone: 419-372-2576
Fax: 419-372-0333
Email
English Department
Dr. Stephannie Gearhart, Chair
English Department
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
419-372-7540
stephsg@bgsu.edu
Updated: 05/22/2025 09:47AM