Academic

Kwantlen Polytechnic University (2003 – present): Professor teaching Applied Communication and Entrepreneurial Leadership classes in the School of Business. Chaired School of Business Awards Committee for its first five years. Curriculum Committee representative for Entrepreneurial Leadership department. Former “Knowledge Dissemination” advisor to Kwantlen’s “Acting Together” research project (2008-11). Elected Applied Communication department Chair for three-year term beginning September 2010.

Simon Fraser University (2006): Instructor for Continuing Education Division’s “Public Companies” course. Presentation: “What Investor Relations Can Do.”

Stanford University (1982 – 5, 1993 – 6): Highly ranked teacher, TA, and lecturer.  For English Department, taught sections of Shakespeare, the American Novel, and Modern Poetry; for Writing and Critical Thinking Program I developed two popular new courses:  “American Road Writing” and “Writing and the Bill of Rights.” Selected by Writing and Critical Thinking Program to mentor new teachers among graduate students in English, Modern Thought, and Comparative Literature Departments.

Cogswell Polytechnical Institute (1995 – 6):  Taught College Composition at innovative Sunnyvale, CA technological arts and music production college.

Villa Maria College (1985 – 6):  Taught Business Communications, College Composition, and Cinema at Buffalo, NY two-year Catholic college.

Editorial and Business

Basil Communications Inc. (1997 – 2008):  President and Founder.  Provided marketing, writing, research, strategic planning, compliance, and multimedia services for public and private companies and individual clients in Canada and the United States.

Ellavon:  An Ezine of Basic Culture (1997 – 2002): Editor and Founder.  Lauded online publication features interviews, essays, photo and art galleries, and fiction.  Numerous coups include the first online publication of Lincoln Clarkes’ epic “Heroines” photographic series and co-production of Kat Kosiancic’s landmark documentary “Be My Junkie Shadow.” Among the contributors:  Diane Middlebrook, Paul Kurtz, Robin Plan, Jonathan Mayhew, Joseph Conte, Kristi Coulter, and Julie Damerell. Ellavon is currently on hiatus.

Prometheus Books Inc. (1990 – 1992): Senior Acquisitions Editor, responsible for Trade Division of notable midsize publishing house; acquired 30 – 35 titles annually; negotiated contracts; liaised with legal team; edited select top-list books; oversaw several assistant editors and large pool of freelancers.

Free Inquiry Magazine (1986 – 1989):  Executive Editor.  Edited, acquired, and assigned articles for revered activist quarterly; oversaw arts, typesetting, and freelance staffers.  Authors included B. F. Skinner, E. O Wilson, Rita Mae Brown, Martin Gardner, Steve Allen, Albert Ellis, and Mathilde Krim.

Selected Publications and Appearances

Not Necessarily the New Age:  Critical Essays (Prometheus Books, 1988):  Conceived, edited, and contributed to influential, popular essay collection that The Nation magazine termed “a breakthrough book.”  Other contributors included Carl Sagan and Paul Edwards.

On the Barricades:  Religion and Free Inquiry in Conflict (Prometheus Books, 1989). Conceived, co-edited, and contributed to selection of articles culled from Free Inquiry magazine’s first ten years. Other contributors included Thomas Szasz, James Randi, Benjamin Spock, and Sidney Hook.

Miscellaneous Writing:  I have published scholarly articles in The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal, The Hundredth Monkey Paradigms, and The Journal of Near-Death Studies, as well as journalistic and arts writing for dozens of publications, including the Stanford Daily.  My letters have appeared in The New York Times, Newsweek, and many other publications.

Media: Appeared on dozens of radio and television shows, including “Larry King Live,” to promote issues associated with my books and journalism; quoted as a cultural expert in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and many other newspapers.

Conferences:  Co-organized and made presentations at numerous conferences for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, the International Humanist and Ethical Union (Holland), and the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism. Gave keynote address to Association of Humanistic Psychology’s 1989 annual conference at American University in Washington, DC.

Education

State University of New York at Buffalo, B.A. in English, 1982, summa cum laude (3.9 GPA), Phi Beta Kappa, Haupt Memorial Prize for Best Student in English Department. Editor and columnist for The Spectrum.

Stanford University, M.A. in English, 1983; passed Ph.D. oral exam, 1985; full four-year departmental fellowship.  Literary scholarship has appeared in William Carlos Williams:  Man and Poet and Robert Creeley:  The Poet’s Workshop.

Simon Fraser University, Certificates of Completion for Securities Courses “Going Public” and “Continuous Disclosure,” 1997.