MFA Teaching Opportunities

Residential Teaching Fellow

The Bennington Writing Seminars and Bennington College offers a full-immersion teaching fellowship to MFA students. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. This fellowship includes full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, enrollment in one class offered on campus, and experience in arts administration or editorial work thanks to unique partnerships with The Robert Frost Stone House Museum, Bennington Review, and Poetry@Bennington.

The Residential Teaching Fellow works for a full term in an undergraduate classroom where they assist a Bennington College literature faculty member. The selected Fellow gains experience in arts administration or editorial work while continuing their regular coursework for the term. We select two Fellows per year.

This competitive fellowship application is open to Bennington MFA students in their second, third or fourth term. Students will be mentored 1:1 with the on-campus faculty member with whom they are working (and/or by the faculty mentor with whom they have been assigned at BWS).

We are thrilled to offer this unique and necessary teaching experience to our MFA students. No other low-residency MFA program in the country offers full-time teaching opportunities of this nature to current students. —Mark Wunderlich, Executive Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars

About the Residential Teaching Fellowship

This competitive fellowship is open to MFA students who are rising into their second, third or fourth term by the time the fellowship begins. The Residential Teaching Fellow will serve as a teaching assistant for a full term in an undergraduate classroom. The selected Fellow will work with an on-campus faculty member, and gain experience in arts administration or editorial work while continuing their regular coursework for the term. 

Students awarded this fellowship in the past have been: Lisa Cockrel, Matthew Groner, Jeanie Riess, Puloma Ghosh, Nico Amador, Jordan McCord, Ariél Martinez, Louise Bokkenheuser, Kimberly Cooper, Sarah Zoric, Etan Kerr-Finell, and Jason Sebastian Russo.

Students will be mentored 1:1 with the on-campus undergraduate faculty member with whom they are working (and/or by the faculty mentor with whom they have been assigned at BWS). Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, enrollment in one class offered on campus, and experience in arts administration or editorial work. 

More Information 

Meet the Teaching Fellows

Carly Willsie

Carly Willsie MFA ‘25, an MFA student in fiction, has been selected to be the thirteenth Residential Teaching Fellow at Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class. Willsie will begin in February.

“This competitive fellowship is a unique opportunity for our MFA students and affords them intensive teaching experience under the guidance of an established faculty member,” said Megan Culhane Galbraith, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “We are delighted to have Carly as this term’s teaching fellow and I am thrilled this program continues to thrive.”

Willsie will be working with visiting literature faculty member Nicolette Polek in the class “Fundamentals of Creative Writing.” Willsie’s duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities, along with continuing her regular MFA coursework.

"I'm thrilled to serve as the Residential Teaching Fellow this term,” said Willsie. “I look forward to working with Professor Nicolette Polek and getting to know Bennington's unique undergraduate community. It's such an honor to contribute to the long legacy of literary excellence at Bennington College."

Carly is a writer and farmer-florist based in New York's Hudson Valley, where she lives with her two young sons. She spends her summers planting seeds and designing with flowers for her studio, Daisywild Farm, while her winters are spent substitute teaching in her local school district. All year long she struggles to write her latest book and reads as much as possible. Prior to her time at Bennington, Carly worked as the director of the Logan Nonfiction Program, a residency for journalists and documentary filmmakers. You can find her most recent work in Necessary Fiction, The Rumpus, and Ms.

The competitive teaching fellowship is open to enrolled Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third, or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the faculty member with whom they are working, and continue to work on their MFA coursework and manuscript.

For more information about the Bennington Writing Seminars, or to apply to the MFA program, please visit the website. The application deadlines are September 1 (for entry to the Winter term) and March 1 (for entry to the Summer term).

Jason Sebastian Russo

Jason Sebastian Russo MFA '25, a dual-genre MFA student in fiction and poetry, has been selected to be the twelfth Residential Teaching Fellow at Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class. Russo will begin in February.

“This competitive fellowship is a unique opportunity for our MFA students and affords them intensive teaching experience under the guidance of an established faculty member,” said Megan Culhane Galbraith, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “We are delighted to have Jason as this term’s teaching fellow, and I am thrilled this program continues to thrive.”

Russo will be working with visiting literature faculty member Sandra Simmonds in the class “Fundamentals of Creative Writing.” Russo’s duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities, along with continuing his regular MFA coursework.

“The fellowship feels emblematic of our program, and it's an honor to be selected,” said Russo. “I'm excited to get to know our undergraduate population, and I'm thrilled to work and learn alongside Professor Simonds.”

Jason Sebastian Russo was born in Yonkers, New York and started writing on Twitter. His work appears in The Southwest Review, Hobart, Forever Magazine, and beyond. As a musician, he has toured and recorded with Mercury Rev, Hopewell, and Pete International Airport, among others, as well as composed for film, commercials, and even a nature documentary for the University of Alaska’s Planetarium.

The competitive teaching fellowship is open to enrolled Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third, or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the faculty member with whom they are working and continue to work on their MFA coursework and manuscript.

For more information about the Bennington Writing Seminars or to apply to the MFA program, please visit the website. The application deadlines are September 1 (for entry to the Winter term) and March 1 (for entry to the Summer term).

Etan Kerr-Finell

Etan Kerr-Finell, a fourth-term MFA student in poetry, has been selected to be the eleventh Residential Teaching Fellow at Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class. Kerr-Finell will begin in September.

“This competitive fellowship is a unique opportunity for our MFA students and affords them intensive teaching experience under the guidance of an established faculty member,” said Megan Culhane Galbraith, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “We are delighted to have Etan as this term’s teaching fellow, and I am thrilled this program continues to thrive.”

Kerr-Finell will be working with literature faculty member Jenny Boully in the class Fundamentals of Creative Writing. Kerr-Finell’s duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities, along with continuing his regular MFA coursework.

“I am thrilled about the opportunity to work with and learn from Jenny Boully this fall,” said Kerr-Finell. “I look forward to engaging with the students and the incredible literary life on campus.”

Kerr-Finell grew up in Colorado and received his BA from University of Colorado at Boulder in Philosophy and History. His poems have appeared in The Cimarron Review, the Rise Up Review, the Spadina Literary Review, and One by Jacar Press. He is currently at work on a poetry manuscript and lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. 

The competitive teaching fellowship is open to enrolled Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third, or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the faculty member with whom they are working.

For more information about the Bennington Writing Seminars, or to apply to the MFA program, please visit the website. The application deadlines are September 1 (for entry to the Winter term) and March 1 (for entry to the Summer term).

Sarah Zoric

Sarah Zoric MFA '23, an MFA student in fiction, has been selected to be the tenth Residential Teaching Fellow at Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class. Zoric will begin in February.

“This competitive fellowship is a unique opportunity for our MFA students and affords them intensive teaching experience under the guidance of an established faculty member,” said Megan Culhane Galbraith, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “We are delighted to have Sarah as this term’s teaching fellow and I am thrilled this program continues to thrive.”

Zoric will be working with visiting literature faculty member Maria Dahvana Headley in the class “Fantasy Literature: 4000 Years of Written Wonders.” Zoric’s duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities, along with continuing her regular MFA coursework.

“I look forward to the rigorous intellectual jousting of the Bennington College classroom,” said Zoric. “To work alongside Maria Dahvana Headley on topics in Fantasy Fiction is an exciting opportunity. I bring an enthusiasm for reading, an appreciation for academia, and curiosity and respect for the students who choose Bennington for their studies.”

Zoric is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied Creative Writing. Before pursuing her MFA, she spent many years working in financial services in various human resources roles. Most recently, she was the Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Nomura Securities. She is now a fly fishing guide in her adopted home state of Vermont, where she lives with her husband and two dogs.

The competitive teaching fellowship is open to enrolled Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third, or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the faculty member with whom they are working, and continue to work on their MFA coursework and manuscript.

For more information about the Bennington Writing Seminars, or to apply to the MFA program, please visit the website. The application deadlines are September 1 (for entry to the Winter term) and March 1 (for entry to the Summer term).

Kimberly Cooper

Kim Cooper MFA '24, an MFA student in fiction, has been selected to be the ninth Residential Teaching Fellow at Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class. Cooper will begin in August.

“This competitive fellowship has been a great success for our MFA students who want to gain teaching experience, as well as for the undergraduates they mentor, and for each teacher,” said Mark Wunderlich, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “Each term it gets more difficult to choose a fellow from our talented MFA candidates and we’re delighted to welcome Kimberly into the classroom this term.” 

Cooper will be working with Bennington College literature and MFA faculty member Manuel Gonzales in his class, Screenwriting: The Story Studio. Her duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities, along with continuing her regular MFA coursework.

“I am honored and excited to join the Bennington classroom this Fall, and for the opportunity to work alongside Manuel. I have much to learn from him, and I suspect much to learn from Bennington students; it will be a gift to work among this community as we explore and write stories.”

Cooper is a New England-based writer currently living in Sheffield, Massachusetts. For the past eleven years, she taught high school English at a variety of independent schools and served as the Director of Equity & Inclusion at The White Mountain School. In 2018, she earned an MA in Literature from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English.   

The competitive teaching fellowship is open to Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the faculty member with whom they are working, and continue to work on their MFA coursework and manuscript. 

Louise Bokkenheuser

Louise Bokkenheuser, an MFA student in fiction has been selected to be the eighth Residential Teaching Fellow at the Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class. Bokkenheuser will begin in February.

“Now in its eighth term, this competitive fellowship has been a great success for our MFA students, the undergraduates they mentor, and for each teacher,” said Mark Wunderlich, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “Each term it gets more difficult to choose a fellow from our talented MFA candidates and we’re delighted to welcome Louise into the classroom this term.” 

Bokkenheuser will be working with Bennington literature faculty member Paul La Farge in his Spring 2022 class, Speculative Fiction. Her duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities, along with continuing her regular MFA coursework.

“I’m thrilled by the opportunity to work with Paul La Farge, a writer I admire greatly, and to get to know the Bennington students as they explore the worlds of speculative fiction,” said Bokkenheuser.

Louise Bokkenheuser came to fiction after a 20-year detour through the peaks and valleys of American journalism that included time as a crime reporter in L.A., a gossip columnist in Hollywood, a war correspondent in Iraq and a political reporter in Iowa and beyond. She spent almost a decade at the Los Angeles Times, before becoming the Foreign Editor at successively The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Mashable and HuffPost. Her first book, a memoir, was published in 2009. She grew up in Denmark. 

The competitive teaching fellowship is open to Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the faculty member with whom they are working, and  continue to work on their MFA coursework and manuscript. 

Ariél M. Martinez 

Ariél M. Martinez, an MFA student in nonfiction has been selected to be the seventh Residential Teaching Fellow at the Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class. She’ll begin in August.

“We conceived this fellowship to give Bennington students a unique opportunity to have full-time teaching experience and also to work closely with our literary partners,” said Mark Wunderlich, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “We’re thrilled to have Ariél here as a Residential Teaching Fellow. Her skills and experience are well-suited to this position and we’re excited that we can return to in-person teaching.” 

Martinez will be working with Bennington faculty member Manuel Gonzales in his class, Screenwriting: The Story Studio. Her duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities, along with continuing her regular MFA coursework. 

“Spending the semester immersed in the classroom is a dream come true and I am so excited to work alongside Manuel this fall,” said Martinez. “I am very grateful to Bennington for this opportunity!”

Ariél M. Martinez is a queer femme writer from San Antonio, Texas. She holds a BA from Bard College where she majored in social sciences with a concentration in gender & sexuality studies. She attended the Tin House 2020 Winter Workshop and her work has been published or is forthcoming from The Rumpus, Peach Mag and The Gordon Square Review. She is working on a memoir and lives on the East Coast with her chihuahua, Frida.

The competitive fellowship is open to Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the on-campus faculty member with whom they are working, and by the faculty mentor with whom they have been assigned to work on their manuscript. Martinez has studied with Bennington faculty members Jenny Boully, Dinah Lenney, and Chelsea Hodson. 

Jordan McCord

Jordan McCord, an MFA student in fiction was selected to be the sixth Residential Teaching Fellow at the Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class.

“We conceived this fellowship to give Bennington students a unique opportunity to have full-time teaching experience and also to work closely with our literary partners,” said Mark Wunderlich, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “We’re thrilled to have Jordan here as a Residential Teaching Fellow. Her skills and experience are well-suited to the shift to hybrid learning during the pandemic.” 

McCord worked with Bennington poetry faculty member Michael Dumanis in his undergraduate class, Introduction to Poetry. 

Her duties included grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities, along with continuing her regular MFA coursework. In addition, she gained experience in arts administration working on The Bennington Review, the college’s award-winning literary journal.  

McCord is a writer from Ohio who spent the last several years living abroad in Italy where she worked as an English as a Second Language teacher and wrote for a variety of newspapers and magazines. She also worked as a museum assistant and lecturer at The Keats Shelley Memorial House in Rome.

"I was delighted to have the chance to spend the semester on campus at Bennington,” said McCord. “Even during a challenging time the teaching experience was invaluable thanks to both the diligence of the students and the support of the campus community.” 

The competitive fellowship is open to Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the on-campus faculty member with whom they are working, and by the teacher with whom they have been assigned to work on their thesis manuscript. McCord has worked with Deirdre McNamer, Claire Vaye Watkins, and Lynne Sharon Schwartz in her time at Bennington and will complete her thesis manuscript with Doug Bauer.

Nico Amador

Nico Amador, a second-term MFA student in poetry was selected to be the fifth Residential Teaching Fellow at the Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class.

“We conceived this fellowship to give Bennington students a unique opportunity to have full-time teaching experience and also to work closely with our literary partners,” said Mark Wunderlich, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “We’re thrilled to have Nico here as a Residential Teaching Fellow. His skills and experience are well-suited to the shift to hybrid learning during the pandemic.” 

Amador is working with Bennington faculty member Manuel Gonzales in his class, Screenwriting: The Story Studio. His duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities. Amador will also gain experience in arts administration while assisting Michael Dumanis with duties at The Bennington Review, along with continuing his regular MFA coursework.

“During a time of so much isolation, I’m grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Bennington community this fall and excited to connect with undergraduates who are learning about themselves as writers and developing a vision for their creative work,” said Amador.

Amador previously served as the Executive Director for Training for Change, a national organization dedicated to promoting skills, analysis and training in popular education methods among people using direct action and other strategies to create social change. His prior work has also included efforts to fight mass incarceration, win a living wage, establish sanctuary policies, and end a public transportation system policy that discriminated against trans and non-binary passengers in Philadelphia. His poems have appeared in Bettering American Poetry, Vol 3., the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series, The Cortland Review, Hypertext Review, Poets Reading the News, Nimrod International Journal and elsewhere. His chapbook, Flower Wars, was selected as the winner of the Anzaldúa Poetry Prize and published by Newfound Press in 2017. He is a recent grant recipient from the Vermont Arts Council and an alumni of the Lambda Literary Foundation's Writers Retreat.

The competitive fellowship is open to Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third or fourth term. Students are mentored 1:1 with the on-campus faculty member with whom they are working, and by the faculty mentor with whom they have been assigned to work on their manuscript. Amador has studied with Bennington faculty members Craig Morgan Teicher and Jennifer Chang.

Puloma Ghosh

Puloma Ghosh, a rising fourth-term MFA candidate in fiction, has been selected as the fourth Residential Teaching Fellow at the Bennington Writing Seminars, working in the classroom for a full term beginning in Spring 2020. 

Ghosh will assist Bennington faculty member Phillip B. Williams in his course, The Devil. Her responsibilities will include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research. Ghosh will also gain experience in arts administration while assisting Bennington faculty member Michael Dumanis with duties at The Bennington Review, along with continuing her regular MFA coursework.

“We conceived this Fellowship to give Bennington Writing Seminars students a unique opportunity to have full-time teaching experience and also to work closely with our literary partners,” said Mark Wunderlich, Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars. “We’re thrilled to have Puloma here as the fourth Residential Teaching Fellow and excited to see the collaboration she’ll bring to The Bennington Review, given her experience in arts administration.” 

This competitive fellowship is open to Bennington MFA students rising into their second, third, or fourth term. Students are mentored one-on-one with the on-campus faculty member with whom they are working as a teacher, as well as by the faculty mentor with whom they have been assigned to work on their manuscript. Ghosh studied with Bennington faculty member and novelist Stuart Nadler this past term.

Previously, Ghosh served as a Research Assistant for a classroom-based project with the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach, where she helped facilitate critical thinking activities with diverse students. She worked in arts administration for nearly two years as the Assistant Director of the Abigail Ogilvy Gallery, and she wrote for and interned at Artscope Magazine. Her work has been recognized with an honorable mention by Ploughshares Emerging Writers (2018), shortlisted for the Meridian Editor’s Prize (2018), and she was a finalist for the Grubstreet Emerging Writers Fellowship (2017). In 2014, she won the Morse Hamilton Fiction Prize from Tufts University. 

“I’m so excited for this opportunity to gain teaching experience within the low-residency format and to be more involved in the rich literary life on Bennington’s campus during my final term,” said Ghosh. 

Jeanie Riess

Jeanie Riess, a rising second-term MFA student in fiction, has been selected to be the third Residential Teaching Fellow at the Bennington Writing Seminars. The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class.

Riess will work in the classroom for a full term beginning in Fall 2020. She’ll assist Bennington faculty member Manuel Gonzales in his class Screenwriting: Scene and Structure. Her duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities. Riess will also gain experience in arts administration and programming while assisting with Poetry@Bennington, along with continuing her regular MFA coursework. 

Riess is a writer from New Orleans who currently works as research editor at The New Yorker. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, the Oxford American, Smithsonian.com and The Atlantic's City Lab. She has also written for newspapers in Mississippi and Louisiana. 

“I'm really excited to spend the fall at Bennington, surrounded by talented writers and seas of books,” said Riess. 

Matthew Groner

Matthew Groner, a rising third-term MFA candidate in fiction, has been selected as the second Residential Teaching Fellow at the Bennington Writing Seminars, working in the classroom for a full term beginning in Spring 2019.

The fellowship is the first of its kind in the country to offer full-time undergraduate teaching experience in a low-residency MFA format. Benefits include full tuition remission for one term, housing and board, and enrollment in an on-campus class.

As the Residential Teaching Fellow, Groner will assist Bennington faculty member and acclaimed poet, Michael Dumanis in his class, “Reading Poetry: A Basic Course.” His responsibilities will include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research. Groner will also have opportunity to gain experience in arts administration or editorial work with The Robert Frost Stone House Museum, Bennington Review, or Poetry@Bennington, while continuing his regular coursework.

“I am grateful to the Bennington Writing Seminars for giving me this opportunity, and I’m ecstatic to be working with Michael, who is a fantastic poet and teacher,” said Groner. “I plan to learn everything I can from him about both poetry and pedagogy, and I’m eager be a part of the Bennington campus community for an entire semester.”

Lisa Cockrel

Lisa Cockrel, a third-term MFA student in nonfiction has been selected to be our first Residential Teaching Fellow. Cockrel will work in the classroom for a full term beginning in Fall 2018. She’ll assist Bennington faculty member Manuel Gonzales in his class, Screenwriting: Scene and Structure. Her duties include grading, advising, assisting in the development of course materials, guest lecturing, and research, among other responsibilities.

“Manuel is an excellent writer and a great teacher. I’m thrilled to learn all I can from him this semester,” said Cockrel. “Plus, as much as I enjoy our MFA residencies, I think it will be great fun to experience the lively literary scene that Bennington hosts when undergraduates are on campus.”