Staff Directory

Meet the staff of the Writing Program.

Picture of Abigail Reardon, Executive Director of the Writing Program

Abigail Reardon

(she/her/hers)

Executive Director of the Writing Program

Associate Senior Instructional Professor, The College

reardon1@uchicago.edu

Abigail (“Abbie”) Reardon arrived as Executive Director of the University Writing Program and Associate Senior Instructional Professor in the College in the summer of 2024. A specialist in pedagogies of writing, writing program administration, pragmatism, and American literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Abbie has taught writing and research at every level of the curriculum, in addition to a wide range of interdisciplinary first-year seminars, pedagogical practica, and courses in American literature and culture. Before coming to the University of Chicago, Abbie was Director of Expository Writing at Rutgers University–New Brunswick, where she won the Provost-Chancellor’s Award for Innovations in Teaching and Education and the School of Arts and Sciences’ Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Education. She received her B.A. in English and Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Rutgers University–New Brunswick. 

Picture of Kathy Cochran, Interim Director of the Writing Program

Kathryn Cochran

(she/her/hers)

Deputy Director of the Writing Program

Senior Instructional Professor, Humanities Collegiate Division

kcochran@uchicago.edu

Picture of Tracy Weiner, Senior Associate Director of the Writing Program

Tracy Weiner

(she/her/hers)

Senior Associate Director

tweiner@uchicago.edu

Picture of Ashley Lyons, Associate Director of the Writing Program

Ashley Lyons

(she/her/hers)

Associate Director

anlyons@uchicago.edu

Ashley has over 12 years of experience teaching writing to undergraduate and graduate students, developing resources to support writers arcoss the university, and leading writing pedagogy workshops and courses. Ashley also enjoys collaborating with university partners to support their goals for student writing. Ashley received an MA from the University of Chicago in 2009 and her research focused on the intellectual history of Vaishnavism and Sanskrit literature.

Picture of Crystal Holmes, Assistant Director

Crystal Holmes

(she/her/hers)

Assistant Director

clholmes@uchicago.edu

Crystal began teaching writing at the University of Chicago in 2014 and became an Assistant Director in 2020. She helps develop writing curricula and workshops for undergraduate, professional, and non-traditional students. She especially enjoys providing one-on-one support for academic and creative writers at the university and in the greater Chicago community.

Picture of Crystal Holmes, Assistant Director

T Lacy

(they/them/their)

Assistant Director

lacyt@uchicago.edu

T Lacy joined the Writing Program staff first in 2016 as a Writing intern and MAPH Mentor after graduating from the Master’s of Arts in the Humanities the same year. After leaving to teach after school programming and executive functioning at a Chicago youth center, T then joined the Writing Program again in 2019 as a Writing Specialist, and now serves as an Assistant Director.

Picture of Ryan Oliveira, Program Coordinator of the Writing Program

Ryan Oliveira

(he/him/his)

Program Coordinator

writing-program@uchicago.edu

Ryan has been working for the Writing Program since 2020. He is a playwright, dramaturg, and solo performer. He received his MFA from the University of Iowa (2015) and has collaborated as playwright and dramaturg with theatre artists in Chicago, New York, Texas, and Arizona. Ryan has also taught playwriting, criticism, and performance history at the University of Iowa and DePaul University.

 

Emeritus Staff

Larry McEnerney, Director Emeritus of the Writing Program

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