Over the past fifteen years, Amy Grimm, as Assistant to the Director, has seen over 450 Warren Wilson MFA students from application request to walking stick.  She’s tended to faculty travel and dorm assignments and graduation buffet menus; she’s kept our budget, sent out reminder emails, and provided an ever-ready wit and a sympathetic shoulder.

At the July residency, Amy announced her decision to leave her position in September.

While Amy will be deeply missed, we’re excited for the opportunities that lie ahead for her. and we’re looking forward to the new energy and perspectives her successor will bring to the important work we do year-round in the MFA Office.

We encourage faculty and alumni to pass along the job announcement below to qualified candidates. Please note that there is no relocation assistance for this position. Review of applications will begin on August 1st.

Assistant to the Director, MFA

The MFA Program for Writers located at Warren Wilson College seeks candidates for the Assistant to the Director position.  The person in this full-time twelve-month position is responsible for organizing and running the MFA Office, anticipating and responding to the needs of graduate students, faculty, prospective students, and alumni, as well as recognizing those needs that require the attention of the Program Director.  The Assistant works in close consultation with the Program Director, the MFA Academic Board Chair, and the Project Manager/Web Manager, and is ultimately responsible for coordinating the work of all office staff.  The complete position description may be seen online at:  http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~humres/MFA_Assistant_to_the_Director_REV_June_2013-1.pdf.

The successful candidate will possess at least a B.A. degree, preferably in English;  excellent communication and computer skills; fluency with Microsoft Word and spreadsheet and database software, and social media; office management experience; exemplary organizational skills; maturity and discretion; flexibility, and even temper and a sense of humor; and experience or proven ability in bookkeeping.  Some knowledge of and interest in contemporary writers and writing is strongly preferred.  A driver’s license and good driving record is required.

The MFA Program has two 10-day residencies each year, in January and July.  The successful candidate must be available to work 14- to 18- hour consecutive days throughout the two residencies.  The summer residency typically includes July 4. Winter residency preparation involves working on New Year’s Day.

Warren Wilson College is an equal opportunity employer committed to the diversity of its community.  Please send cover letter, résumé, and contact information for three professional references by email to [email protected].  Electronic submissions are required. 

 

Amy_January_2012 FRIENDS OF WRITERS HONORS AMY GRIMM

Over the past fifteen years, Amy Grimm, as Assistant to the Director, has seen over 450 Warren Wilson MFA students from application request to walking stick.  She’s tended to faculty travel and dorm assignments and buddy pairings and graduation buffet menus; she’s kept our budget, sent out cheerful reminder emails, and has shared in our celebrations and trials with compassion, wit, and a sympathetic shoulder. For a decade and a half, Amy has been, as Debra Allbery said in her final residency introduction of her, our compass and calendar and counselor.

When Amy announced this month that she would be concluding her remarkable tenure as the Warren Wilson MFA Program’s Assistant to the Director in September, the question which loomed as large as “How will we ever replace her?” was “How might we adequately honor her?”

At the banquet following our graduation ceremony, each constituency of our Warren Wilson family presented tokens of their affection and gratitude to Amy for her decade and a half of dedication to this program.  Students offered a donation in Amy’s name to one of her favorite local charities.  Former MFA director Pete Turchi and current director Debra Allbery presented a rhododendron walking stick adorned with scores of messages and mementos from faculty past and present. And Program founder Ellen Bryant Voigt, Board Chair of Friends of Writers, Inc., announced that FOW’s student emergency fund would be renamed the Amy Grimm Student Emergency Fund.

Attaching Amy’s name to a fund which supports students in times of dire necessity provided us with an enduring way to honor the generous care and selfless attention she’s given generations of students: through financial assistance that continues such care.  Alumni and faculty who wish to express their appreciation to Amy may direct donations to this fund by designating it on the memo line on checks mailed to Friends of Writers at PO Box 128, Marshfield, VT 05658, or by appending a note to secure credit card donations made at www.friendsofwriters.org.

We’ll feature a full profile of Amy Grimm on our website in August.

Amy_and_Deb

Amy Grimm and Debra Allbery, July 2013

Public Schedule Events

At 10:00 am in Fellowship Hall, Mary Szybist’s lecture “There Interposed a _______: A Few Considerations of Poetic Drama”

Then at 11:15, a lecture from Robert Boswell’s lecture “Having Weight and Having Gravity: Resonance and Meaning in Fiction”

Join us this afternoon at 4:30 pm in Fellowship Hall for the final Graduate Student readings, followed immediately by the Graduation Ceremony

Tonight’s Graduate Readers:

Patricia Grace King

Lia Greenwell

Adrienne Perry

Nathan McClain

Garrett Simmons

For more information, including a full schedule of public events, please visit the program website at http://wwcmfa.org/

Public Schedule Events

At 9:30 am in Fellowship Hall, Caitlin Horrocks discusses “When Bad Stories Go Good”

Then at 10:45, a lecture from Tony Hoagland on “Information, Layering, and the Composite Poem”

Join us tonight at 8:15 pm in Fellowship Hall for Graduate Student readings by:

Tommye Blount

Elisabeth Hamilton

Sean Patrick Hill

Steve Weed

Carrie Mar

Judith Whelchel

For more information, including a full schedule of public events, please visit the program website at http://wwcmfa.org/

Public Schedule Events

Join us tonight at 8:15 pm in Fellowship Hall for the first night of Graduate Student readings.  Tonight’s Graduate Readers:

Lindsay Ahl

Alexandra Carter

Ronald Alexander

Brandi Gentry

Victor Valcik

Marit MacArthur

For more information, including a full schedule of public events, please visit the program website at http://wwcmfa.org/

Public Schedule Events

Join us tonight at 8:15 pm in Fellowship Hall for readings by:

Debra Allbery

David Haynes

Marianne Boruch

Debra Spark

Maurice Manning

For more information, including a full schedule of public events, please visit the program website at http://wwcmfa.org/

Public Schedule Events

At 9:30 am in Gladfelter’s Canon Lounge, Peter Orner speaks on “Reading as Experience”

Then at 10:45, a lecture from Stephen Dobyns on the work of James Wright

Join us tonight at 8:15 pm in Gladfelter’s Canon Lounge for readings by:

Christopher Castellani

Heather McHugh

Kevin McIlvoy

Ellen Bryant Voigt

Peter Turchi

For more information, including a full schedule of public events, please visit the program website at http://wwcmfa.org/

Public Schedule Events

At 9:30 am in Fellowship Hall, a lecture from Debra Spark: “Can I Have Some Information, Please?”

Join us tonight at 8:15 pm in Fellowship Hall for readings by:

Joan Aleshire

Charles Baxter

Gabrielle Calvocoressi

Susan Neville

Stephen Dobyns

For more information, including a full schedule of public events, please visit the program website at http://wwcmfa.org/

Public Schedule Events

At 9:30 am in Fellowship Hall, Marianne Boruch’s lecture “Do It Anyway: A Triptych”

Then at 10:45, a lecture from Peter Turchi: “Power Play”

Join us tonight at 8:15 pm in Fellowship Hall for readings by:

C.J. Hribal

Alan Shapiro

Sarah Stone

Alan Williamson

For more information, including a full schedule of public events, please visit the program website at http://wwcmfa.org/