Northwest Institute of Literary Arts
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
CATALOGUE, 2007-2009

GOVERNING BOARD
Northwest Institute of Literary Arts

The Northwest Institute of Literary Arts is a program of the Whidbey Island Writers Association. The Whidbey Island Writers Association Board of Directors appoints the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts Governing Board to oversee and make recommendations to the WIWA Board of Directors concerning Institute policies and procedures.

Antoinette Grove
Antoinette Grove, governing board chair, is the author of many published short stories, humorous essays and poetry. With decades of experience in community service, she has served on the executive boards of a local cooperative preschool, her homeowners association and, for the past six years, the Whidbey Island Writers Association. She also served two years on the Program Delivery Counsel at Eastgate Elementary School, was a member of the planning board for the South Whidbey/Mercer Island Service Unit of Girl Scouts Totem Council for five years and has remained active as a volunteer in several art and literacy programs at the primary school level. Since 1987, she and her husband have owned and operated a small interstate moving business. Grove has been involved in development of the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA Program from the beginning, serving on the MFA Program Design Committee.

Nancy Ruff, EdD
Nancy Ruff holds a Bachelor of Science in Education and Master of Arts in educational administration from Texas Tech University and a Doctor of Education from North Texas State University. During her 30-year career in education, she was a public school speech, drama and English teacher; a consultant in accreditation with the Texas State Department of Education; director of communications for a large suburban Dallas school district; and adjunct professor of speech communications in the College of Business at the University of Texas, Arlington. She is an experienced conference planner; professional development coordinator; speaker at local, state and national levels; and contributor to professional publications. In addition to her activities with the Whidbey Island Writers Association and Whidbey Writers Workshop, Ruff is on the board of the South Whidbey Schools Foundation.

Allan Ament, J.D.
Allan Ament holds a B.A. in political theory from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from Northwestern University, Chicago. He has served as Director of Academic Affairs for a multi-state, multi-campus region of the University of Phoenix and as Area Chair for the Doctorate in Educational Leadership program in the School of Advanced Studies of the University of Phoenix. Ament has taught in the online environment for almost ten years as an adjunct instructor for several universities. He’s also been a classroom teacher, trial attorney, and small business owner and has served as advisor to elected and appointed governmental officials in this country and abroad. The principal of a company providing conflict resolution services and training, he is an active board member and volunteer with several non-profit community organization on Whidbey Island.

Lorraine Healy, MFA
Lorraine Healy is an Argentinean poet and photographer living on Whidbey Island, Washington. The winner of several national awards, including a Pushcart Prize nomination for poetry in 2004, she has been published extensively. The author of two published chapbooks, Lorraine is a graduate from the low-residency M.F.A in Poetry program at New England College, New Hampshire, as well as from the post-MFA Program at Antioch University Los Angeles. Her first full-length manuscript, “The Habit of Land,” is making the rounds of contests and presses. A veteran of several Burning Word Festivals, Lorraine was part of the group of volunteers that put the first WIWA Conference together, and has stayed connected with the Conference and WIWA since then. She currently teaches an ongoing Advanced Poetry Seminar for WIWA, as well as being Affiliate Faculty in Poetry at Antioch University in Seattle.

David R. Powers, Ph.D.
David R. Powers earned the degrees of B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh. He retired Emeritus in 2005 from the position of Executive Director of the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, the state agency which coordinates higher education for the state. Prior to that, he was Executive Director of the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board, and he was Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the West Virginia Board of Regents, the statewide governing board for all public colleges and universities. Powers' administrative positions on campuses included service as Vice President for Academic Affairs at George Mason University, the state university in northern Virginia, and as Vice Provost of the University of Pittsburgh. His books include: Making Participatory Management Work: Leadership of Consultive Decision-Making in Academic Administration, co-authored with Mary F. Powers, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1983, and Higher Education in Partnership with Industry: Opportunities and Strategies for Training, Research, and Economic Development, co-authored with Mary F. Powers, with chapters by Frederick Betz and Carol Aslanian, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988.

Sue Ellen White
Sue Ellen White holds a B.A. in Communications/Journalism and a Certificate in Editing, both from the University of Washington. Currently managing a book research project at the University of Washington and freelance editing, her career includes more than 25 years in print journalism and editing covering news, public affairs, the environment, travel and bio-regional issues. She was associate editor of the Island Independent, communications manager of Hedgebrook Writers Retreat and editor of the literary magazine Hedgebrook Journal. Sue Ellen has been involved in the organization of Whidbey Island’s first food bank, works with Operation: SackLunch (feeding Seattle’s homeless residents) and campaigns to save old-growth forests and provide more water access in Island County for hand-carried boats.

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