Academics

English Faculty

Where dedicated professionals encourage critical thinking about writing and literature . . .

The English Department, representing a diverse group of backgrounds, interests and expertise, is one of the largest in the Upper School. You may use this list to contact the English Department Faculty

Our members are listed by the year they joined the Woodward Academy US staff.

Mrs. Carolyn Haldeman

Assistant Department Chair
  • Teaches English 4EP and Advanced Placement Literature 12
  • Assistant English Department Chairman
  • Mentor-Intern Program Coordinator
  • Former teacher of Communicative Arts in the Governor’s Honors Program in Valdosta, GA
  • Judge for literary magazines for NSPA, SIPA, and CSPA
  • Representative to Jianping School in Shanghai, summer 2012
  • AP Exam Reader, College Board, 2011 through 2013
  • M.A. Georgia State University, A.B. Georgia State University
  • carolyn.haldeman@woodward.edu / 404.765.1419
  • At Woodward since 1971

Mrs. Peggy Dyer McNash
Woodward, Class of 1973

Department Chair
  • Teaches English 2HP and Writers Workshop CP
  • English Department Chairman since 1990
  • Facilitator for 2013 English Connection (discussing and aligning English-Language Arts Curriculum, PK-12)
  • Coordinates 10th grade ERB testing and Nelson-Denny Reading Testing Grades 8
  • Administrator for SSAT Saturday testing
  • Grade Level Coordinator for 10th
  • Attended the Writing Program Administrators Conference summer 2006 in Chattanooga; NECC Conference, summer 2008 in San Antonio; November Learning Conference summer, 2010 in Boston.
  • Member of the Brain Study Cohort, E. E. Ford Foundation Grant, Center for Teaching at Westminster, 2012-2013; presented at Mentor-Intern, May 2013; Capstone Night, May 2013.
  • Co-presenter at the 12th Annual Student Success in First-Year Composition Conference: "Principles for Paper Load Reduction"
  • Member of NCTE, GCTE, DKG
  • M.A.T. Georgia State University, B.A. Milligan College
  • peggy.mcnash@woodward.edu / 404.765.1415
  • At Woodward since 1977

Mr. Scott Crook

  • Teaches English  English 4EP
  • Grade Level Coordinator for 12th
  • JV and Varsity Football and Track Coach
  • Member of the Peer Leadership Staff
  • Studied Shakespeare in England through the University of Georgia’s Oxford Program in England
  • Teacher of Communicative Arts in the Governor’s Honors Program in Valdosta, GA
  • M.A. University of Georgia, A.B.J. University of Georgia
  • scott.crook@woodward.edu / 404.765.1407
  • At Woodward since 1982

Ms. Jeanne Ann Ratliff

  • Teaches English 2HP and Writers Workshop EP (Summer School: Basic Reading and Writing 1 and 2)
  • SOAR Teacher
  • Co-Administrator of 10th Grade WRaP ERB testing
  • Summer Remediation Coordinator for US English
  • Sings professionally with many groups including the Atlanta Opera
  • M.Ed. Georgia State University, B.A. Georgia State University
  • jeanneann.ratliff@woodward.edu / 404.765.1417
  • At Woodward since 1985

Mrs. Jane Graham

  • Teaches English 4HP and English 4CP
  • Discipline Board Member
  • Member of Peer Leadership Staff
  • Featured in the AJC article about Woodward as a great workplace.
  • Supervised the European Student Tour in 1996 and 2000
  • Represented Woodward at The Pittwater House School in Australia in 1998
  • Former holder of the Thomas A. Jackson Loridan’s Chair (2000-2005)
  • Studied at NYU Film Institute in the summers of 2003 and 2012
  • M.Ed. Georgia State University, B.S. University of Georgia
  • jane.graham@woodward.edu / 404.765.1414
  • At Woodward since 1988

Mr. Tim Hamling

  • Teaches English 4EP and 3HP
  • Varsity Cross-Country and Track Head Coach
  • Varsity Wrestling Support
  • Member of Peer Leadership Staff
  • English Department Web Content Editor
  • M.A. University of Alabama, B.A. Washington & Lee University
  • tim.hamling@woodward.edu / 404.765.1456
  • At Woodward since 1995

Ms. Margaret Lee

  • Teaches English 3EP and Advanced Placement Language and Composition 11 and 12
  • STAR Teacher 2011-2012
  • Reader for the AP Language Exam
  • Teaches an AP Institute for teachers during the summer
  • Sponsor Algonquin Circle
  • Teaches PSAT and SAT preparatory courses, after-school hours
  • SOAR advisor
  • NCTE Achievement Award Contest Coordinator
  • M.A. University of California at Irvine, B.A. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • margaret.lee@woodward.edu / 404.765.1450
  • At Woodward since 1997

Mrs. Jenifer Baro

  • Teaches English 1CP and 3EP
  • B.S. Georgia Institute of Technology;  M. Ed. Troy State, Dothan
  • SOAR Teacher
  • jenifer.baro@woodward.edu/ 404.765.1427
  • First at Woodward in 1998; returned to US full-time in 2013
 

Ms. Lorri Hewett

  • Teaches English 3EP and Creative Writing 1, 2, 3, and 4
  • Chairman of English Department Program Enrichment Committee
  • Algonquin Circle Sponsor
  • Muslim Awareness Club Sponsor
  • Author of four young adult novels: Coming of Age, Soulfire, Dancer, Lives of Our Own
  • M.F.A University of Iowa, B.A. Emory University
  • Received NEH Grant to study Dante in summer of 2013, Sienna, Italy
  • lorri.hewett@woodward.edu / 404.765.1408
  • At Woodward since 1999

Mrs. Rachael Szymanski

  • Teaches English 1HP and 2EP
  • M.A. University of Cincinnati, B.A. Rhodes College
  • SOAR Teacher
  • SGA Sponsor
  • rachael.rack@woodward.edu / 404.765.1401
  • At Woodward since 1999

Ms. Ronda Zents

  • Teaches English 1EP and English 3CP
  • Service Leader Advisory Board
  • Senior Philosophy Seminar Co-Sponsor
  • Five-Points Club Co-Sponsor 
  • Co-chair of Revising of Writing Instruction Manual
  • M.A. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, B.A. University of Georgia
  • ronda.zents@woodward.edu / 404.765.1403
  • At Woodward since 2005

Ms. Jenny Green

  • Teaches English 1EP, 2EP, and 4EP
  • SOAR Advisor
  • Service Leadership Advisory Board
  • M.A.T. Georgia State University, B.A. Emory University, Pursuing PhD at Georgia State University
  • jenny.green@woodward.edu / 404.765.1404
  • At Woodward since 2008

Ms. Alexis Horder

  • Teaches English 1EP and 2CP
  • Cross Country Coach
  • SOAR Teacher
  • Co-chair of Revising of Writing Instruction Manual
  • M.A.T. Georgia State University, B.A. University of Virginia
  • alexis.horder@woodward.edu / 404.765.1411
  • At Woodward since 2008

Mrs. Dana Reker

  • Teaches Multicultural Literature EP and Contemporary Literature EP
  • M.A. Walden University; B.A. Western Carolina University
  • dana.reker@woodward.edu / TBD 
  • At Woodward since  2006; at US since 2012

Mrs. Sarah Cohen

  • Teaches English 1EP and 2CP
  • J.D. Emory University School of Law; B.A. Brown University
  • Member of State Bar of Georgia since 2003
  • sarah.cohen@woodward.edu / TBD 
  • At Woodward since  2009; at US since 2012

Mrs. Hayley Bowers

  • Teaches English 1EP and 2EP
  • B.A. Arizona State University
  • SOAR Teacher
  • hayley.bowers@woodward.edu / 404.765.1402
  • At Woodward since 2010

Mrs. Kelsey Quillen Emerson

  • Teaches English 1CP and 2EP
  • Girls Varsity Swim Team Head Coach
  • M.A.T., Agnes Scott College; B.A., Agnes Scott College
  • kelsey.emerson@woodward.edu
  • At Woodward since 2010; at US since 2012

Mr. Thomas Moore

  • Teaches  2EP and 3EP
  • Assistant Middle School Football and Assistant Varsity Lacrosse Coach
  • SOAR Teacher
  • Teacher of Creative Writing at Duke University, summer TIP Program
  • M.A. University of Edinburgh; B.A Georgia State University
  • thomas.moore@woodward.edu
  • At Woodward since 2011

English Faculty News

Hewett NEH Grant Recipient:

Upper School English Department Member Lorri Hewett has been awarded a stipend to travel to Sienna, Italy, summer of 2013, to study Dante's Divine Comedy.  Lorri has received other grants and fellowships since her college days; however, receiving this opportunity has been a long-held dream.  She travels to Italy in part using some of the Alford Funds (see below).

Alford Fund Summer Study-Travel Stipend: 
Mrs. Bobby West Alford retired from Woodward as the US English department chair in 1990.  Her will left a fund for the US English department, stating that the current department chair Peggy McNash could design a program to help teachers in her former department.  The Summer Study-Travel Stipend allows US teachers to design a student program and receive financial assistance for this travel.  In 2011, the first year, Jeanne Ann Ratliff visited Flannery O'Connor's home and town while Margaret Lee traveled in the Northeast to homes of many famous American authors. In the summer of 2012, Alexis Horder wrote a Thoreau-like journal while on a bicycle trip in the American west; Hayley Bowers traveled to the Northeast; Peggy McNash and Carolyn Haldeman spent seven days in the Lake District of England, concentrating on the works and life of William Wordsworth. For the summer of 2013, Thomas Moore will visit Iceland; Jane Graham will travel to various Southern writers' homes; Scott Crook will visit New York for a Faulkner auction; and Margaret Lee will return to the northeast to finish an earlier tour.  Read more about Mrs. Alford at the blog site created at her death in 2009.

CONGRATULATIONS! 
Margaret Lee, junior English teacher and AP Language Teacher for 11 and 12, was named Star Teacher by Michael Briskin, the 2011-2012 Star Student from Woodward.

CONGRATULATIONS! 
Long-time English Department members, Linda Gravitt, Lucy Klein, and Helen Shean retired in May 2012, becoming honorary members of the Class of '12.  Best wishes in their retirements. If you wish to contact them, email Peggy McNash, and she will forward your email to them.

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