» Tabula Poetica Staff

Current Staff

Anna Leahy

Director

leahy@chapman.edu

Anna Leahy's collection Constituents of Matter won the Wick Poetry Prize and was published by Kent State University Press. She has two chapbooks, Turns about a Point and Hagioscope, and her poems appear in literary journals such as the Connecticut Review, Crab Orchard Review, The Journal, Nimrod, and Phoebe. She is a contributing editor for Fifth Wednesday and Redux and edited the collection Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom. She co-writes the Lofty Ambitions blog. She earned her MFA at the University of Maryland and her PhD at Ohio University. Leahy teaches in the MFA and BFA programs at Chapman University. Additional information about Anna Leahy can be found at www.amleahy.com.

Claudine Jaenichen

Creative Director

jaenichen@chapman.edu

Claudine Jaenichen is an Associate Professor in graphic design. Her design and research projects focus on inclusive public information and education campaigns and has been included in national and international diverse publications including, Parsons Journal for Information Mapping, Applications of Information Design, Journal of Applied Global Research, Rockport's Visual Language for Designers, and Design Principles and Practice: An International Journal. She is a Life Fellow for Communication Research Institute, a member of the International Institute of Information Design, the Interaction Design Association and American Institute of Graphic Arts. She continues her professional practice in information design, book design, exhibition, museum education, and wayfinding/wayshowing for disaster planning.

Laura Silva

Publicity & Web Coordinator

Laura Silva earned her BA at the University of La Verne in Journalism. She comes to Chapman from The Orange County Register, where she worked as a reporter until 2006. She has recreated and maintained the Wilkinson website, including Tabula Poetica; launched the Wilkinson Review; and overseen the creation and distribution of promotional material for various programs and events, carrying out objectives of the college through communication.

Tori O’Leary

Graduate Assistant

Tori is a student in the MFA in Creative Writing at Chapman University. She is originally from Prescott, Arizona, and earned her BFA in Creative Writing at Chapman. She especially enjoys writing experimental prose.

Jason Thornberry

Graduate Assistant

Jason is a student in the MFA in Creative Writing at Chapman University. Jason’s work has appeared in The Stranger, Adirondack Review, URB Magazine, ALAN Review, Orange County Weekly, and elsewhere. Jason taught literature and writing at Seattle Pacific University.

Former Staff

Logan Esdale

Former Assistant Director, Tabula Poetica

Logan Esdale's PhD (2003) is from SUNY Buffalo, where he was in the Poetics Program. Currently he is preparing "Interpersonal Space: Epistolarity and American Writing, 1852-1937" for publication. This book project works with the early 20th-century commentary on letter writing to examine the role of privacy in the creative process, the interplay of sociality and authorship, and the poetics of difference. Two chapters have been published, one in The Emily Dickinson Journal, and the other (on Gertrude Stein and Laura Riding) in the Journal of Modern Literature. He now teaches at both Chapman University and California State University, Long Beach.

Debbie Thacker

Administrative Assistant

Debbie Thacker came to Chapman University in 2007. She has a BA from CSULB in Comparative Literature. Coming from a teaching background, Debbie has always felt most comfortable working in an academic setting. She facilitated the various author’s visits for the Poetry Reading Series, as well as worked in as the English Department Administrative Assistant. Debbie retired in 2016 and now enjoys an abundance of time with her family.

Natalie D’Auvergne

Graduate Assistant

Natalie D'Auvergne holds a BA in English from Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisana as well as dual Master's Degrees in Literary Studies and creative Writing from Chapman University. Natalie teaches African American Literature and writing at Southern University. She is currently working on a coming-of-age novel set in her native St. Lucia. She also runs a literary blog, Aphroditeares' Blog, in her spare time.

Cindra Fox

Graduate Assistant

Cia Emry Fox (aka, Cindra Fox) graduated from Chapman University with an MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing. She is currently completing her first novel, an action/suspense that explores the future of the war on terror, while collecting rejection letters from journals around the world for her poetry and short fiction.

Calvin Pennix

Graduate Assistant

Calvin Pennix received his MFA and MA degrees from Chapman University. His primary interest is contemporary poetry - the reading, writing, and teaching of - and his poetry has been published by ucity review, A Few Lines Magazine, Unlikely 2.0, and Counterexample Poetics. He has recently self-published his first book of poetry and is the founding editor of Quarter After.

Corin Porter

Graduate Assistant

Corin Porter received a B.A. in English from Boston College, graduating in 2010. He received his MFA and MA degrees from Chapman University.

Kathy Tafolla

Graduate Assistant

Kathy Tafolla graduated from Chapman University in May 2010 with a MA in English Literature and an MFA in Creative Writing. She currently works as a marketing copywriter for an online company and as a freelance writer. Recently, Kathy has finished a historical novel. She continues to write both poetry and fiction on a regular basis.

Michael Tesauro

Graduate Assistant

Michael Tesauro received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and a Master of Arts in English from Chapman University. He is an instructor at Chaffey College, and a Senior Copywriter at NewLeaf Labs. His non-fiction essays can be found in Life & Thyme Magazine. His fiction has been published in Crack the Spine, Wilderness House Review, Carnival Literary Magazine, Inlandia Journal, What Weekly Baltimore, Blast Furnace Press, and others. His short story "Brave and in Good Spirits" was a finalist on the 2013 Pen-2-Paper shortlist.

David Krausman

Graduate Assistant

David Krausman, Graduate Programs Coordinator, David came to Chapman University in 2016. Former graduate assistant to Tabula Poetica, David now serves as Graduate Programs Coordinator to Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Avid reader and writer; his current go-to recommendation is Joy Harjo’s Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings.

Mike Gravagno

Graduate Assistant

At the time of his Graduate Assistantship, Mike Gravagno was also the Poetry and Multimedia editor of Anastamos, a Chapman University modern interdisciplinary journal. Mike earned his MFA in Creative Writing at Chapman University and holds a BA in Creative Writing- Nonfiction from Columbia University. He is a pop culture and new media obsessive, and co-hosts several podcasts, including the Super Hero Hour Hour and the Coast Conversation. He also hosted Writers’ Block, Anastamos’ show about the story and process behind the works of poets, artists, musicians, directors, and more. When it comes to poetry, Mike tends to hate rhyming and eschews over the top flowery language in favor of direct and surprising turns of phrase.