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Staff Directory

Administration

Erin Zimmerman, Ph.D.

Director
Erin Zimmerman has been the director of the UNLV Writing Center since July 2020. She is the founder and managing editor of Center Moves: A Peer-Reviewed Archive of Tutor Training Materials, a scholarly venue for the research and pedagogical work relevant to writing center tutor training. Her most recent publication is a co-authored piece titled "Centering MENA Writing Scholarship within U.S.…
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Alanna Bitzel, J.D., M.P.Aff.

Assistant Director
Alanna Bitzel arrived at UNLV in June 2024 after 13 years with UT Austin’s Athletics Student Services, where she acted as assistant director of supplemental instruction, writing and academic enrichment. She previously worked at UT's University Writing Center; taught reading development as well as introductory college rhetoric courses; has held leadership roles in the International, Online, Rocky…
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Emma Fox, M.A.

Coordinator
Emma Fox is from Provo, Utah, where she received her bachelor and master’s degrees in English from Brigham Young University. The highlight of her college experience was working at BYU’s writing center for three years, doing everything from research on helping multilingual writers, to tutoring in public health and women’s studies classes, to assisting as a student administrator. When not at a…
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Olivia Rojas

Administrative Assistant
Olivia Rojas, raised in Las Vegas, holds a bachelor’s degree in social work. Passionate about making a positive impact, she dedicates her free time to volunteering with community organizations. When she’s not lending a hand, Rojas enjoys attending shows, watching movies, and expressing her creativity through drawing.
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Consultants

Madison Browne

Consultant
Madison Browne is a consultant and instructor with a master’s in English literature from UNLV. Her award-winning thesis explored the narrative function that conspiracy theories serve in Don DeLillo’s novels. Her research interests include posthuman philosophy, science fiction, and game studies. She has published on the Metal Gear Solid series and discussed it with NPR in a special feature…
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Shannon Carr

Consultant
Shannon Carr is a third year undergraduate double majoring in English and philosophy. She particularly enjoys rhetoric and ethics. Her pastimes are reading and being with her boyfriend.
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Mac Chamberlain

Consultant
Mac Chamberlain is originally from small-town Texas. He is doing an MFA in poetry. His interests include any kind or quality of horror movie, poetry, and England.
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Qandeel Chevalwala

Consultant
Qandeel Chevalwala is an undergraduate psychology student at UNLV with a strong interest in trauma research and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. They enjoy supporting writers in developing research questions, organizing their ideas, and building strong academic arguments. In her free time, she can be found cuddling with her cats.
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Raluca Comanelea

Consultant
Raluca Comanelea is a writing consultant at UNLV’s Writing Center and a part-time instructor in UNLV’s Department of English. She earned her MA in literary studies from UNLV in 2019. She is currently pursuing her MFA in creative writing from Spalding University’s Sena Jeter Naslund-Mann School of Writing. Her fiction has been published in various literary magazines. She was born in Romania and…
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Angelica De La Cruz

Consultant
Angelica De La Cruz is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UNLV, majoring in English and minoring in both secondary education and communication. Once she graduates, she plans to go to law school to become a trial attorney, but, for now, you can likely find her competing with UNLV Mock Trial. During her free time, she enjoys all things art, including pottery painting, drawing, and nail art. She…
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Rhett Dotson

Consultant
Rhett Dotson is a fiction writer and a freelancer for outdoor interest magazines. He likes to read, has a goofy dog who he loves, and is an avid fly fisherman. He is from Northern Utah.
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Carolyn Fagan

Consultant
Carolyn Fagan is an MFA candidate, fiction track. She received her bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from NYU. She came to UNLV after living in Providence, R.I. and Asheville, N.C. She likes reading, walking, and when book clubs get weird.
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Shayla Felix

Consultant
Shayla Felix is a third-year MFA student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, originally from Seattle. She specializes in creative writing and academic writing and has experience teaching both Composition I and Composition II. When she’s not behind a book, she’s usually out exploring nature.
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Shelbi Fitzpatrick

Consultant
Shelbi Fitzpatrick, born and raised in Las Vegas, earned her bachelor's degree in English with a minor in political science from UNLV, where she also completed and received her master's in English. Specializing in 19th-century British literature, Fitzpatrick now works as a consultant and as an instructor of English composition. Outside of her work and academic pursuits, she enjoys spending time…
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Zaira Gomez

Consultant
Zaira Gomez is a first year student in the Creative Writing UNLV graduate program specializing in creative non-fiction. She hails from the East Coast and deeply misses frolicking in the forest. She believes that a little whimsy and woo can go a long way in this current world. She enjoys action films, yoga in 90 degree weather, thrifting at the bins, and yapping.    
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Sofi Güven

Consultant
Sofi Guven is a graduate student in the creative writing MFA program specializing in fiction. She is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to UNLV, she graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a BA in English and worked as a teaching paraprofessional at an elementary school. Her interests include literary fiction, animated TV shows, running, collaging, and drawing.
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Yasmin Halima

Consultant
Yasmin Halima comes to UNLV with a background in educational studies and a postgraduate training in global health and human rights. After a career fighting for women’s rights and social justice, she is focusing her MFA in creative nonfiction telling stories of diaspora and the emotional labor of belonging. When not writing, Halima can be found cooking Gujarati favorites at her home in Las Vegas,…
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Michael Hansen

Consultant
Michael Hansen is a first year creative nonfiction MFA student, originally from Hammond, Wis., who came to UNLV after getting his bachelor's degree in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. He is interested in history and politics as well. In his free time, Hansen likes to work out, read, play video games, or travel around the Las Vegas area.
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Kaitlyn Kim

Consultant
Kaitlyn Kim is a fiction writer pursuing her MFA in creative writing whose writing centers around themes of identity, transitions, and spirals. Originally from Irvine, Calif., she studied English at UCI before going off to work a tech job for a couple of years in Madison, Wisc. She's a big foodie who loves baking and exploring the local food scene; other times, she dabbles in crafts and video…
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Amily Kordi

Consultant
Amily Kordi is a social work major with a minor in communication studies. She enjoys working with students and hopes to create an empathetic and safe environment for those around her. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, photography, and listening to her favorite music.
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Alhassan Mohammed

Consultant
Alhassan Mohammed is a first year MFA creative writing (poetry) student. He is from Ghana and loves writing as much as reading. His other interests are spoken-word poetry, rap music, and Afrobeats.
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Praise Osawaru

Consultant
Praise Osawaru is a writer whose work appears in Agbowo, FIYAH, Frontier Poetry, The Maine Review, Uncanny Magazine, and Strange Horizons, and has been interviewed on Literary Hub. He is a creative writing MFA student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a Watering Hole Fellow, and a HUES 2024 Scholar. His work often explores identity, longing, and the landscapes that hold us. He is…
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Nina Rodenko

Consultant
Nina Rodenko is a fiction MFA student and a reader of all things literary. She calls San Francisco her home, but she was born in Ukraine. In her free time, she keeps finding new ways to procrastinate on homework. As a cinephile and a TV-show connoisseur, she’s never short on distractions.   
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Tyler Stokes

Consultant
Tyler Stokes is from Draper, Utah, where he received his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Utah. He is a first-year graduate student, pursuing an MFA in poetry. A proud Type 1 diabetic, his work centers on the bewildering contradictions of body, family, and purpose. In his free time, he enjoys disc golf, chess, and spending time with his newly adopted cat.
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Christina Ungermann

Consultant
Christina Ungermann is a first-year fiction MFA student at UNLV. She grew up in Northern California and received her bachelor's degree in film studies at USC. Along with reading and writing, she enjoys art, movies, hiking, and being in a pool as much as possible.
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Isabela Urioste

Consultant
Isabela Urioste is originally from Austin, Texas, though she has also lived in Chicago and Durham, N.C. She attended undergrad at UNC Chapel Hill, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in English and comparative literature. She is currently pursuing an MFA in creative nonfiction here at UNLV and enjoys writing about everything from restaurant work to travel to cats. She loves food,…
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Mauricio “Mo” Ortiz Zaragoza

Consultant
Mauricio “Mo” Ortiz Zaragoza is a consultant and composition instructor from Las Vegas, his home of 26 years, after immigrating from Querétaro City, Mexico. He has completed his bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in film, a graduate certificate from UNLV, and a master's in English. He enjoys spending an inordinate amount of his income on vinyl records, 35mm film cameras, and Criterion…
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