DIANNE BENEDICT English Department University of Southern Maine Portland, Maine 04103 UNIVERSITY TEACHING EXPERIENCE University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME. Associate Professor, Creative Writing and Literature. 9/84 Present Vermont College, Montpelier, VT. 5/81-8/95 Associate Professor, Creative Writing and Literature, Adult Degree Program. Associate Professor, Fiction and Literature, Master of Fine Arts Writing Program. University of Iowa, The Writers' Workshop, Iowa City, IA. 1/84-5/84 Visiting Professor. Courses included a literature seminar, three independent studies, and a writing workshop. Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY. 9/83-12/83 Visiting Professor. Courses included a graduate creative writing seminar and an undergraduate course on Twentieth Century American Literature. Ohio University, Athens, OH. 9/82-6/83 Visiting Professor. Graduate and undergraduate creative writing workshops. Goddard College, Plainfield, VT. 1/78-1/82 Adjunct Faculty Advisor, Fiction and Literature, Master of Fine Arts Writing Program. Adjunct Faculty Advisor, Creative Writing and Literature, Adult Degree Program. EDUCATION Trinity University, San Antonio, TX. Music Major. 1959-1960 Goddard College, Plainfield, VT, BA. English. 1977 Goddard College, Montpelier, VT, MFA. Creative Writing. 1979 A-1
WRITING CONFERENCE TEACHING Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury, VT. August 1982 Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, Middlebury, VT. August 1983 Eastern Writers Conference, Salem, MA. March 1986 and April 1989 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Fall Retreat. Brunswick, ME. 1990 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Fall Retreat. Brunswick, ME. 1991 Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Fall Retreat. Brunswick, ME. 1992 Salem State College Writers' Conference. Salem, MA. 1994 Voices in the North Country. Presque Isle, ME. September 1996 Champlain College Young Writers' Conference, Burlington, VT. 2011 Champlain College Young Writers' Conference. Burlington, VT. 2012 Stonecoast Writers Conference. Freeport, ME. Summers, 1992-2013 (intermittent) PUBLICATIONS Shiny Objects, a short story collection. Winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award. University of Iowa Press. 1982. "Crows," Short Story, published in fiction international, Fall 1979. "Looking for Rain," Short Story, published in INTRO 10, Fall 1980. "Shiny Objects," Short Story, published in The Atlantic Monthly, February 1982. "Where the Water Is Wide," Short Story, published in The Atlantic Monthly, May 1982. "The Blind Horse," Short Story, published in MSS, 1984. "Gathering in the Fields of Gold," Short Story, published in MSS, Spring 1986. "Unknown Feathers," Short Story, anthologized in The Best American Short Stories of 1987, ed., John Updike, 1987. "The Shell," Short Story, published in The Berkshire Review, Fall 1987. "Unknown Feathers," Short Story, (in translation) anthologized in American Short Stories 1975-1985, a Rumanian anthology, January 1989. "A Lion's Tale," Short Story, published in MSS, Fall 1988. "The Lion's Tale," Short Story, and essay, "Child of the Volcano," anthologized in The Eloquent Edge, a collection of short works by Maine women writers. September 1989. "Shiny Objects," Short Story, anthologized in American Short Stories: Fiction from the Atlantic Monthly, Atlantic Monthly Press. 1992. A-2
"Crows," Short Story, anthologized in The Best Short Stories from Twenty Years, ed., Frank Conroy, University of Iowa Press. 1992. "The Squaw Doll," Short Story, published in The Peninsula Review, Spring 1997. "Mockingbird," Short Story, published in Out of the Cradle, Summer 1998. "The Yellow Suitcase," Book Excerpt, published in The Peninsula Review, Fall 1998. "Shiny Objects," Short Story, published in Stories about God, ed., C. Michael Curtis, Harcourt Brace, 1999. "A Circle of Light," Short Story, published in Women Writing in the Southwest, ed., Christina Adam. "Oleanders," Short Story, published in Iris, 2003. "White Curtains," Short Story, published in Nimrod, 2005. "Hawk," Short Story, published in Gargoyle, 2011. "The Greening," Short Story (republication), published in Rosebud, 2011. "The Things the Slow the Body," Short Story, published in Words and Images, 2011. "Cricket," Short Story, published in Minerva Rising, 2012. "Radio," Short Story, published (republication) in Red Rock Review, 2013. "The Fox Pelt," Short Story, North American Review," forthcoming. "The Birdcage," Short Story, Fiction, forthcoming. READINGS. 1996 to Present "The Yellow Suitcase," a short memoir story, for Maine Writers and Publishers Association Fall Retreat. China, Maine, 1990 "Where the water is Wide," a short story, for Maine Writers and Publishers Association Fall Retreat. China, Maine, 1991 "The Cormorant," a short story, for Maine Writers and Publishers Association Fall Retreat. China, Maine, 1992 "Crows," a short story, for Salem State College Writers' Conference. Salem, MA, 1994 "The Bath," a short story, for Voices in the North Country. Presque Isle, ME, September 1996 "Shiny Objects," a short story, for Champlain College Young Writers' Conference. Burlington, VT, 2011 "Gargoyle," a short story, for Champlain College Young Writers' Conference. Burlington, VT, 2012 A-3
Readings for Stonecoast Writers Conference, Freeport, ME, Summers 1992-2013 "The Zookeeper," a short story. "The Bath," a short story. "Willard," novel excerpt. (unpublished, first reading) "Fallen," a short story. (unpublished, first reading) "The Garbedians," novel excerpt (unpublished, first reading) "Where the Water Is Wide," a short story "The Stone Angel," a short story "The Blind Horse," a short story "Unknown Feathers," a short story. "The Greening," a short story. "Shiny Objects," a short story AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS Seymour Lawrence Fellowship. Saranac Lake Writers Conference. Summer 1979 The Iowa Short Fiction Award (for a book collection of short stories). September, 1982 Bread Loaf Writers Conference Scholarship. Summer 1982 Bread Loaf Writers Conference Fellowship. Summer 1983 Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist's Grant. 1983 Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist's Grant. 1984 Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist's Grant. 1986 National Endowment for the Arts Grant. 1986 Maine State Council for the Arts, Individual Artist Grant. 1990 A-4
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Conducted a Weekend Workshop for Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. "Writing the Short Story." Camden, ME, February 1997. Conducted a Weekend Workshop for Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. "Narrative Writing: Memoir and Fiction. College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME, Fall 1997. Conducted a Weekend Workshop for Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. October 2000. COMMUNITY SERVICE Panel Judge, Ohio Arts Council April 1986 Panel Judge, Vermont Council for the Arts May 1987 and 1988 Panel Judge, New Hampshire Council for the Arts November 1989 Panel Judge, Maine State Council for the Arts 1993 and 1994 Panel Judge, Massachusetts Council for the Arts. March 1998 and March 2000 Finalist Judge, Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Fiction Award. 1999-2002 Finalist Judge, Greater New Orleans Writing Project. University of New Orleans March 2001 Volunteer Creative Writing Workshop Leader. YWCA, Portland, ME. 1998 2000 DEPARTMENTAL AND UNIVERSITY SERVICES AND COMMITTEES (1998 to Present) Creative Writing Committee. English Department. 1984 to present. Committee for the Writing Minor. English Department, Fall 1998. Curriculum Review Committee. USM, 1998. College Writing Committee. English Department, 1999-2000. Ad Hoc committee. USM. Designed Stonecoast Low-Residency MFA Writing Program. 2000 Board of Directors, Stonecoast Low Residency MFA in Writing Program. 2001-2002. A-5
Honor's Thesis Committees (four), in Honors Department. Fall 1998 Spring 2003. Search Committee. USM. For Director of Stonecoast MFA, 2006. Search Committee. English Department. For Creative Writing Professor. 2007. Ad Hoc Planning Committee. USM. For Low-Residency Interdisciplinary BFA Program, 2009 Dean's Faculty Group for Designing Low Residency Programs. 2013. Dean's Faculty Group for Designing Writing Certificate Programs. 2013. Ad Hoc Committee, English Department. Redesigning the Curriculum. 2014. Dean's Faculty Group for Restructuring the College, 2014. (current) NEW COURSES DESIGNED Memoir and Narrative Autobiography, ENG 202, approved by the Department, to be part of the new 200-level offerings of the revised curriculum. Topics in Writing, ENG 203, 200-level course approved by the Department as part of the revised curriculum, designed as a required course for the English Department's Minor in Writing. Advanced Memoir, ENG 304, designed as the advanced level course in the memoir writing track in the Writing Minor (runs parallel to Fiction Workshop, ENG 302). Writing the Novel, ENG 306 (first course in writing the novel to be taught at USM), offered as part of the English Department s Minor in Writing. A-6