University Directory

Jenny Spinner, PhD

(she/her/hers)

Professor of English

Director of the Writing Center

Jenny Spinner PhD

Department

Contact
    • MFA, Penn State University, 1995
    • MA, University of Connecticut, 1999
    • PhD, University of Connecticut, 2004
    • Women Essayists
    • History of the Essay
    • Creative Nonfiction
    • Journalism
    • Student Media & Journalism Pedagogy
    • Writing Center Theory & Practice 

  • Scholarly Articles & Reviews, Refereed Journals & Invited

    “Toward a More Inclusive Essay Pedagogy.” Teaching the American Essay. Ed. Stephanie Redekop. Modern Language Association, forthcoming.

    “‘Oh, so that’s what it was like!’: The Personal Essay in Hard Times.” CounterText: A Journal for the Study of the Post-Literary, 8 Feb. 2024.

    “Sitting Vigil: The Genteel Essayists and the (Imagined) Death of the Essay.” The Cambridge History of the American Essay. Eds. Jason Childs and Christy Wampole. Cambridge UP, 2024, pp. 182-196.

    “How Young Can You Go? Age and Experience and the Personal Essay’s Limbo Pole.” Nonfiction, the Teaching of Writing, and the Influence of Richard Lloyd-Jones. Eds. Laura Julier and Doug Hesse. WAC Clearinghouse/University of Colorado P, 2023, pp. 175-186.

    “Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Women Essayists and Their Golden Moment.” The Edinburgh Companion to the Essay. Ed. Mario Aquilina, Bob Cowser, Nicole Wallack. Edinburgh UP, 2022.

    “The American Essay.”  The Oxford Research Encyclopedia. Ed. Jay Parini. Oxford UP, 2022.

    “Rooting the Black Essay: Gertrude Bustill Mossell (1855-1948).” Fourth Genre 23.1 (2021), pp. 193-205.

    “What the Periodical Press Made Possible: Women Essayists and the Eighteenth Century.” The Essay at the Limits: Poetics, Politics and Form. Ed. Mario Aquilina. Bloomsbury Press, 2021, pp. 111-123.

    “The Writer in a Pandemic: On Zadie’s Smith’s Intimations.” Essay Daily 23 Dec. 2020: n.p.

    “Gertrude Bustill Mossell.” American National Biography. Ed. Susan Ware. Oxford UP, 2020.

    “Why Johnny Can (and Should) Write Essays: A Case for an Essay-centric Writing Curriculum.” Rev. of Crafting Presence: The American Essay and the Future of Writing Studies, by Nicole B. Wallack. Pedagogy 20.1 (2020):185-91.

    “‘What’s on Your Syllabus?’ Decolonizing the Classical Essay Curriculum.” In the Classroom Blog Series. Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies 22 April 2019: n.p.

    “The Best American Essays Series as (Partial) Essay History.” Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies 3.1 (2016): n.p.

    “Creative Nonfiction Writers: A Dialogue.” With Lynn Z. Bloom and Kate Dobson. Writing on the Edge 26.2 (2016): 19-33.

    Rev. of Nuns Behaving Badly: Tales of Music, Magic, Art & Arson in the Convents of Italy, by Craig A. Monson. Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures 39.1 (2013): 100-6.

    “Here, There, and Everywhere.” Rev. of How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer, by Sarah Blakewell. American Book Review. American Book Review. 33.2 (2012): 4-5.  

    “A Response to ‘Lookin’ for Fame at the 4Cs Convention.” Writing on the Edge Spring 2007: 61-5.

    “When ‘Macaroni and Cheese is Good’ (Enough): Revelation in Creative Nonfiction.” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture 4.2 (2004): 316-22.

    “Toward a Personal Ethics of Telling.” Writing on the Edge Fall/Winter 2001: 31-4.

    “The American Essay.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Oxford UP, 2004.
     

    Creative Works, Refereed Journals & Invited

    “The Plant.” Ethical Eating: Conflicts, Conversations, Commitments, eds. Jennifer Cognard-Back and Melissa Goldthwaite. New York: NYU Press, 2023, pp. 58-68.

    “Um Aidan.” Essay Daily 23 Dec. 2022: n.p.

    “The Death of the Moth-er.” Essay Daily 25 Dec. 2021: n.p.

    “How We Are.” How We Are 4 Aug. 2020: n.p.

    “December 21, 2019.” Essay Daily 16 Jan. 2020: n.p.

    “Two Mothers.” Michelle Madrid Branch 30 August 2018: n.p.

    “Those Stairs.” Kentucky English Bulletin 65.2 (2016): 56–62.

    “Spoiled Love.” Brevity 33 (Summer 2010): n.p.

    “Leaving Home.”  Stepping on My Brother’s Head and Other Secrets Your English Professor Never Told You. Ed. Sondra Perl and Charles Schuster. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2010. 47-54.

    “Together in the Old Square Print, 1976.” The Essay Connection. Ed. Lynn Z. Bloom. 8th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. 333–4.

    “Block Island, 1998.” Mid-American Review. 24.1 (2003): 128–9.

    “My Father’s Dead (If Only I Could Tell You).” Fourth Genre. Fall 2002: 135–43.

    “In Medias Rest.” Touchstone Spring 2001: 78–82.

    “In Search of a Past.” The Essay Connection. Ed. Lynn Z. Bloom.  6th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. 573–80.


    Journalism Publications

    “Teaching Journalism in the Wake of George Floyd.” Gateway Journalism Review (2021): 6-7.

    “A Health Check for Science Journalism.” Gateway Journalism Review 49.357 (2020): 4-5.

    “On the Far Side of the World, Watching Her Sister’s Back.” The Washington Post 26 Jan. 2006: C1+.

    “Coming Home Can Be Hard.”  Decatur Herald & Review 6 Dec. 2005: D4.

    “A Journalist’s Sister.” All Things Considered. NPR. 6 Dec. 2004.

    “Women Rule.” Newsday. 25 April 2004.

    “An Extra Day in Minneapolis/St. Paul.”USA Today Online. 3 Jan. 2003.

    “First Christmas.” All Things Considered.NPR. 24 Dec. 2001.

    “Architecture is an Act of Optimism.” All Things Considered. NPR. 8 Nov. 2001.

    “Sometimes Words Aren’t Necessary.” Decatur Herald & Review 9 Oct. 2001: C2.

    “Grandma Reaches End of the Road.” Decatur Herald & Review 28 Nov. 2000: C2.

    “Baby, You’ve Got Mail.” FamilyPC Web Online. 24 April 2000.

    “Culinary Cupid’s Festive Feast.” FamilyPC Web Online. 4 Feb. 2000.

    “Book Discussion Groups.” FamilyPC Web 15 March 2000.

    “Look Out When dAD Discovers Computers.” Hartford Courant 22 Nov. 1999: A2.

    Interview with Ben Bradley. P.O.V.  April 1999. 90–2.

    “The Heart Wanders Back to Family Home.” Hartford Courant 8 March 1999: A2.

    “Am I No Longer Hip?  Well, If the Shoe Fits. . . .” Hartford Courant 11 Jan. 1999: A2.

    Interview with Joe Paterno. P.O.V. April 1998. 72.

    “Library is Candy Store of Words.” Decatur Herald & Review 23 Nov. 1999: C2.

    “At Reunion, the Twain Meet Again.” Decatur Herald & Review 24 Nov. 1998: C2.

    “Another Year to Brag About.” The Washington Post 21 Dec. 1997: F1, F8.

    “America’s Return to the Kitchen.”  The Penn Stater  Nov./Dec. 1994: 37–39.
     

    Pedagogical Materials, Refereed & Invited

    “Sample Syllabus and Classroom Strategies for Stepping on My Brother’s Head and Other Secrets Your English Professor Never Told You.” Heinemann. Heinemann, 2010.

    Analysis of “Leaving Home.” Instructor’s Manual for Stepping on My Brother’s Head and Other Secrets Your English Professor Never Told You.” Eds. Sondra Perl and Charles Schuster.  Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2010. 35–37.

    Manuscript review of Creative Nonfiction: A Guide and Anthology. Eds. Becky Broadway and Doug Hesse. Boston: Bedford, 2009.

    “Research and Creative Nonfiction.” Instructor Resources for Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction. By Sondra Perl & Mimi Schwartz. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

    “The Craft of Revision.” Instructor Resources for Writing True: The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction. By Sondra Perl & Mimi Schwartz. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

    “Pulling a Poem Out of a Hat.” 2003 Creative Writing/Creative Teaching: Pedagogy Forum Handbook.  Associated Writing Programs, 2003. n.p.

    “Fiction or Nonfiction? Pushing Against Genre Boundaries.” 2002 Creative Writing/Creative Teaching: Pedagogy Forum Handbook. Associated Writing Programs, 2002. n.p.

    • Senior Editor, Assay: A Journal of Nonfiction Studies, 2017–present
    • Chair, Creative Nonfiction Special Interest Group, College
    • Composition and Communication Conference, 2021-present
    • Application Reviewer, Sigma Tau Delta/Penguin Random House Internship Program, 2023, 2024
    • Stage I Reviewer, College Composition and Communication Conference, 2008, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024
    • Dow Jones Fund Internship Monitor, 2017–2018, 2022-2023, 2023-2024
    • Proposal Reviewer, National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing, 2020, 2023
    • Past Chair, Creative Nonfiction Special Interest Group, College Composition and Communication Conference, 2019–2021.
    • Chair, Creative Nonfiction Special Interest Group, College Composition and Communication Conference, 2018–2019.
    • Vice Chair, Creative Nonfiction Special Interest Group, College Composition and Communication Conference, 2017–2018
    • Judge, Norman Mailer High School and College Writing Awards national competition, 2009–2016
    • Judge, Multimedia, Apple Awards national competition, College Media Advisers conference, New York, 2014, 2015.
    • Founding Member, Jesuit College Media Advisers, 2010–present
    • Past Chair, Creative Nonfiction Standing Group, College Composition and Communication Conference, 2015–2016
    • Co-Chair, Creative Nonfiction Special Interest Group, College Composition and Communication Conference, 2005–2015 
    • Judge, Southern Literary Festival Student Writing Competition, 2012
    • Past Chair, Jesuit Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, May 2010–May 2011
    • Chair, Jesuit Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, May 2008–May 2010
    • Vice Chair, Jesuit Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, August 2007–May 2008
    • Ethical Implications of AI Grant Award Recipient, Saint Joseph’s University, 2025
    • Faculty Justice Award, Saint Joseph’s University, 2025
    • Dean of Students Faculty Award, Saint Joseph’s University, 2024
    • Faculty Research Grant, Saint Joseph’s University, Summer 2023
    • Faculty Merit Research Award, Saint Joseph’s University, Fall 2018
    • Michael J. Morris ’56 Grant for Scholarly Research, 2017
    • Technology Innovation Fund Grant, Saint Joseph’s University, Summer 2014
    • Curriculum Development Grant, Saint Joseph’s University Summer 2011, 2012
    • Scholarship, Knight Foundation/Journalism and Women Symposium, Summer 2010
    • Fellow, Multimedia Journalism for College Educators seminar, The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, Summer 2010
    • Faculty Merit Service Award, Saint Joseph’s University, Fall 2010
    • Faculty Merit Teaching Award, Saint Joseph’s University, Fall 2008
    • Faculty Research Grant, Saint Joseph’s University, Summer 2007
    • Ethics Across the Curriculum Fellow, Saint Joseph’s University, Summer 2006
    • The Best American Essays Notable Essay for “(My Father’s Dead) If Only I Could Tell You,” The Best American Essays, 2003  
    • First Prize, Poetry, AWP IntroJournals Project Award, 2003
    • Honorable Mention, Creative Nonfiction, AWP IntroJournals Project Award, 2001
    • First Prize, Poetry, Windham (CT) Area Poetry Project, 2001
    • First Prize, Wallace Stevens Poetry Contest, 1998