Invited Speaker:
Emily C. Friedman teaches courses on British literature, book history, games, and playful media. Trained as a book historian, narratologist, and digital humanist, her work examines the history of cultural production outside of commercial mass media from the eighteenth century to today, from never-published manuscript fiction to analog games. Now one of the senior scholars and public intellectuals in the field of “Actual Play,” a new media form where roleplaying games are performed for audiences, her research on the topic has appeared in multiple academic books and journals, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and the game media site Polygon. Her next book, The Actual History of Actual Play, is forthcoming from MIT Press, and she is at work on a book on the comic and roleplaying game DIE for University of Michigan Press, a multiauthored critical companion to major Actual Play Dimension 20, and future work on microcelebrity and “nerd fame”. In 2026-27 she is in residence in Washington, DC as the Public Humanities Fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
2026 Speakers
listed alphabetically
Katie Austin has completed her undergraduate/graduate studies in: education, TESOL, history, film/english studies, and rhetoric/composition. She has also worked in a variety of roles in the field of education: teaching, student support/accessibility, testing/assessment, language learning, elementary support specialist, etc. When she is not mentoring writers, she likes to spend time with her academic spouse and 9, 7, & 2 YO kiddos (or mini-bosses!). A fun fact about Katie: After 4 years, she has FINALLY perfected her favorite Starbucks drink at home!
Kayla Cayasso is an Afro-Latina historical fiction writer from North Florida. Her creative work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and appears in Jabberwock Review, storySouth, and elsewhere. Kayla is an alum of Florida A&M University and the University of Central Florida. She is currently completing her PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri, where she is a George Washington Carver Fellow. Her dissertation, “CROWNSHY: a novel in stories,” is a decades spanning family saga inspired by her own family history and escape from enslavement. In her spare time, Kayla enjoys car shows, collecting vinyl records, and attending local concerts.
Dr. Christina Carney is an Associate Professor of Black (Queer) Sexuality Studies at the University of Missouri (Columbia) – and has taught at MU since 2016. She is the author of Disreputable Women: Black Sex Economies and the Making of San Diego (2025). Her research interests include, Black Feminism, Sex Work and Sex Economies, Urban Studies and the African Diaspora. Carney’s work has been supported by the Institute for Citizens and Scholars (formerly the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation) and the US Fulbright Scholars Program. Carney also serves on the editorial board for African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal.
Emily Clemente is a PhD Student in English with an Emphasis in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri. She teaches courses for the Composition Program, Creative Writing Program, and Honors College at Mizzou. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida State University and a BA in English and Comparative Literature with Honors in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Samuel Cohen is Associate Professor of English at the University of Missouri. He is author of After the End of History: American Fiction in the 1990s, coeditor of The Legacy of David Foster Wallace and The Clash Takes on the World: Transnational Perspectives on the Only Band That Matters. He is also series editor of The New American Canon: The Iowa Series in Contemporary Literature and Culture and author of the textbook 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. His latest book, Banning Books in America: Not a How-To, appeared in February.
Dennis Crouch is the Judge C.A. Leedy Professor of Law at Mizzou Law. He is well known for his expertise in both intellectual property and artificial intelligence law. He is widely published in academic journals and is also known as creator and primary author of the popular patent law blog, Patently-O that includes more than 6,000 substantive posts from the past 20 years and tens of millions of visitors.
He has taught a wide range of courses at Mizzou Law, including patent law and advanced patent law (experiential), copyright, internet law (writing intensive), licensing, law of the internet (popular undergraduate course), civil procedure I and II, property I and II, and professional responsibility. His patent classes are known for including substantial experiential components, including an internal moot court competition and substantial patent drafting practice. He has received several teaching awards.
Prior to joining the Mizzou Law Faculty, Crouch was a patent attorney in Chicago, Illinois, and taught at Boston University Law School. He received a BSE in mechanical engineering cum laude from Princeton University, where he also earned a certificate in engineering management systems. He then earned his JD cum laude from the University of Chicago Law School. While at the University of Chicago, he was a Microsoft, Merck, & Pfizer scholar, and a member of the Olin program in law and economics.
Prior to attending law school, Professor Crouch worked on a number of interesting engineering projects that included time as a research fellow at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, as a software developer at the Mayo Clinic’s department of biomedical imaging, and as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana, West Africa. Dennis Crouch grew up on a farm near Pittsburg, Kansas. (Bio taken from https://law.missouri.edu/directory/dennis-d-crouch/)
Cortney Daniels is an award-winning poet living in Columbia, Missouri. She draws inspiration from her lived experience as an adoptee and finds her muse in the psychological hum of human existence in its perpetual paradoxes. She received an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and her recent work has appeared in Spillwords Press, Masticadores USA, Anti-Heroin Chic, and multiple volumes of Well Versed, the annual anthology of the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers Guild, of which she is co-editor. She’s also CCMWG’s treasurer.
Samuel Daugherty is a Research Specialist at MU hospital and a fiction writer in Columbia, Missouri. He earned a bachelor’s in Natural Resources from Mizzou and is completing a master’s in science teaching. He’s been writing fiction for four years and is working on his third manuscript. Samuel specializes in writing thriller-horror novels and is currently querying literary agents with his second manuscript.
Elizabeth Willis Frogge has more than a decade of experience in reporting, anchoring, producing and shooting television news. In 2010 she returned to teach at the Missouri School of Journalism and to serve as the managing editor at KOMU-TV. In 2025, she was promoted to assistant news director where she continues to help lead the newsroom in its editorial decisions and daily operations.
Frogge has taught a variety of television courses and helped redesign the broadcast curriculum in 2021. She currently teaches TV Reporting 2. She is also the faculty adviser and co-founder of the student chapter for the Association for Women in Sports Media.
Previously, Frogge worked at WVUE in New Orleans where she covered Hurricane Katrina and the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. This work garnered awards from the New Orleans Press Club and the Associated Press.
Frogge also served as an anchor/reporter/producer for WECT and WSFX in Wilmington, North Carolina; as a reporter for WEVV in Evansville, Indiana; and as the Owensboro, Kentucky, bureau chief.
Frogge earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism in 1999. (Bio taken from https://journalism.missouri.edu/people/elizabeth-w-frogge/)
Sean Goggins is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Missouri. His research focuses generally on social computing, with specific active projects in open source software health and sustainability, serious games, and cybersecurity. Goggins is a founding member of the Linux Foundation’s working group on community health analytics for open source software CHAOSS, a co-creator of Mission Hydro Sci, and the author of over 100 papers and three books focusing on understanding how social technologies influence organizational, small group and community dynamics. His work typically includes analysis of electronic trace data from systems combined with the perspectives of people whose behavior is traced. Goggins’ work is funded by the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Mozilla, Red Hat Software, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research. Goggins is also the creator of the Data Science and Analytics master’s program at Missouri. (Bio taken from https://engineering.missouri.edu/faculty/sean-patrick-goggins/)
Brian Henry has served in the field of education as a teacher and administrator for over thirty years. He received his Bachelors of Science in Education from Missouri Valley College, his Master of Arts in Education from Baker University, and his Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Kansas. Dr. Henry has served as a middle school assistant principal, middle school principal, high school assistant principal, high school principal, assistant superintendent, deputy superintendent, and superintendent. In addition to his administrative experience, Dr. Henry serves as the Missouri Commissioner for the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunity for Military Children. He has a passion for student learning and a commitment to creating equitable and inclusive learning environments that embrace all students, which has been demonstrated through his leadership of numerous diversity initiatives in the Waynesville R-VI School District. Dr. Henry has received several awards including the Missouri Association of School Administrators South Central Region New Superintendent of the Year, the Association of Defense Communities Defense Community Champion Award, and the Military Interstate Children’s Compact Commission’s Norman Arflack Leadership Award. (Bio taken from https://cehd.missouri.edu/person/brian-henry/)
Barja Islam is a PhD student and Graduate Instructor in English at the University of Missouri. She earned her BA and MA in English Language and Literature from the University of Rajshahi in Bangladesh and a second MA in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she also taught first-year composition. Her research and teaching interests include comparative literature, African American and postcolonial literatures, historical memory, political rhetoric and public discourse, and writing pedagogy and composition.
Will Lanstone is an English Literature PhD student at the University of Missouri-Columbia, with research interests extending from Euro-American modernism to Medical Anthropology. He holds a Master of Science in Narrative Medicine from the University of Southern California. He currently teaches Composition and Rhetoric for the Honors College at Mizzou.
Olivia Latendresse is a writer, educator, writing consultant, communications professional, and mother whose career has taken her through a wide range of writing identities. She holds an M.A. in English from the University of Missouri, where her research focused on Gothic literature and graphic novels, and is currently pursuing a graduate certificate in Online Education. A former high school English teacher and current writing consultant, Olivia has experience supporting writers at multiple stages of their academic journeys. Her professional work in strategic communications and marketing has further expanded her writing practice into research translation, storytelling, educational content, and communication for diverse audiences. Across these roles–particularly in her work as a mother–she has developed a deep appreciation for the messy, unexpected, and sometimes “monstrous” parts of creating something new. Outside of her professional and academic life, Olivia draws much of her artistic inspiration from nature, finding beauty in imperfection, transformation, and the wonderfully strange things that grow when given room to flourish.
Chelseá R. Mitchell is an associate clinical professor and director of the Mizzou Law Criminal Practice Clinic. Prior to the creation of the Criminal Practice Clinic, Mitchell served as director of the Mizzou Law Innocence Clinic and a supervising attorney with the Midwest Innocence Project. Before joining the MU Law faculty, she was an attorney with the Missouri State Public Defender System’s capital trial office where she represented individuals facing the death penalty. She has also represented adults and juveniles accused of crimes in state criminal courts and individuals facing involuntary commitment in both trial and appellate proceedings.
In 2019, Professor Mitchell was awarded the David J. Dixon Appellate Advocacy Award for outstanding achievement in appellate practice by the Missouri Bar Foundation. Professor Mitchell participated in the Innocence Clinic while a law student at University of Missouri School of Law. She earned her JD in 2010 and is a member of The Order of Barristers. She received a bachelor of science from Evangel University. (Bio taken from https://law.missouri.edu/directory/chelsea-mitchell/)
Megan Moore is Professor of French and Catherine Paine Middlebush Chair of Romance Languages. Her scholarship examines power, identity, and affect in the medieval Mediterranean, with a particular interest in the cultural and social dimensions of emotion. Her most recent publications include a co-edited volume, The Routledge History of Love in World Literature (2026) and monograph, The Erotics of Grief (Cornell University Press, 2021). Professor Moore also serves as Director of the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.
Megan Murph is the Director of the Budds Center for American Music Studies and a musicologist at the University of Missouri. Her research explores the life and career of experimental percussionist and sound artist Max Neuhaus, as well as broader questions about how sound and environment are experienced through American music and sound art. Megan currently co-facilitates MU’s “Hearing Place” StudioLab via the Center for Humanities as well as MU’s “Mindfulness in Teaching” Community of Practice via the Teaching for Learning Center.
Matthew Morris (he/him) is a mixed-race writer of creative nonfiction (his father African American, his mother white) born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Arlington, Virginia. His collection of essays, The Tilling, explores Black/white identity through the trope of the tragic mulatto. He hopes someday to write a literary biography of two ancestors: John Peyton Morris, a Methodist preacher and professor of Greek and math born into slavery, and Virginia Sorenson, a novelist of Mormon literature’s “lost generation.” For fun, Matthew plays league tennis, pickup basketball, and fingerstyle guitar.At Mizzou, he is a Ph.D. candidate in English and creative writing, a graduate instructor, and a proud recipient of a Gus T. Ridgel Fellowship.
Eilene Ording is a fiction writer and a poet. Her work has appeared in Well Versed, and in the Columbia Art League’s show Interpretations VII. She has degrees in chemical engineering and education and tutors college students in math and chemistry part-time. A native of Minnesota, Eilene has lived in Missouri for nearly twenty years. She lives in the country with her husband and cat, close to her three grandchildren. She’s also the secretary of CCMWG.
Joseph (Joe) Polacco is currently Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. He was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn NY and was educated in New York City public schools, followed by a BS in Biochemistry at Cornell (1966) and a PhD in Biochemistry and Genetics at Duke (1971). Joe was recognized with awards in teaching, and in foreign involvement including two Fulbright Fellowships, to Spain and Argentina. He has an extensive scientific publication record and, since retiring from active science research, Joe has authored multiple non-science-themed books, including Peppe ( Joe) Polacco’s Potpourri: Prose-Poetry Paired Peripatetic Perspectives (2026).
Amy Simons teaches news literacy, multimedia journalism and advanced social media strategies.
Since joining the faculty in August 2010, Simons has developed an interest in international journalism, training professionals on campus and abroad. She has traveled across China and the European Union, teaching Web-first workflows, mobile journalism techniques and how to use social media as a reporting tool and a means to disseminate journalistic content.
She serves as the adviser to Mizzou Women in Media, supporting members as they launch their careers in journalism, advertising and public relations. From 2011 to 2016, she was the adviser to ONA Mizzou, the local club of the Online News Association, and served as a mentor in the School’s student competitions.
Simons is known across the country for her expertise in teaching online courses. She has won several local, national and international awards for her innovative interactive approaches, including the Mizzou Online Excellence in Teaching Award, the MU Connect Champion Award, and regional and national awards for Excellence in Education from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).
From 2013 to 2024, Simons hosted and produces Views of the News, a weekly media criticism program that airs on KBIA-FM and KBIA.org.
Previously Simons worked as digital news editor for the Chicago Tribune, where she helped develop and execute the editorial programming strategy for chicagotribune.com. While at the Tribune, Simons worked closely with the newsrooms of WGN-TV, CLTV News and WGN-AM to coordinate the coverage of daily and planned news events. Before joining the Chicago Tribune, she spent seven years at CLTV News, Tribune’s 24-hour news channel covering Chicago and the suburbs. Simons worked her way up through the ranks, joining the newsroom as the assignment desk assistant and leaving as an executive producer. At CLTV, she produced the award-winning business magazine show, Your Money, and was responsible for all of the station’s election coverage.
Simons holds a master’s of science degree from the University of Missouri’s College of Education and Human Development and a bachelor’s of journalism from the Missouri School of Journalism (Bio taken from https://journalism.missouri.edu/people/amy-simons/).
Bethany Spitzmiller is an editor and writing coach based in Columbia, Missouri. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and communication with an emphasis in Journalism from Truman State University and a master’s degree in communication from the University of Central Missouri. Her editorial experience spans newspapers, magazines, and digital media, as well as ghostwriting for a marketing agency. Her work has appeared in publications such as Entrepreneur, Forbes, and Inc. She is also the founder of Spitzfire Editorial, where she provides freelance services. She’s the vice president of CCMWG and co-editor of the annual anthology, Well Versed.
Deb Sutton is a self-published author of over thirty novels. Her screenplay of Broken Sidewalkswon Honorable Mention in the 80th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition.
A veteran of the Air Force, she has a degree in psychology from Truman University and an MSW from the University of Missouri. She used to be a social worker for the Children’s Division and is now a full-time author.
Julia Kooi Talen is an essayist and poet based in the midwest where she teaches creative writing and composition. Currently a PhD candidate in creative writing, Talen lives with their cat, Otis and holds an MFA in creative writing from Northern Michigan University as well as an MSW from the University of Denver.
Michael Steven Williams is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis in the College of Education at the University of Missouri. His research program broadly focuses on inclusion, diversity, and equity, the social-psychological development of students, and institutional excellence in American postsecondary education. Specifically, he centers his inquiry on two aspects of higher education: (a) interpersonal relationships, particularly socialization, mentoring, and belonging for students, administrators, and faculty, and (b) the institution, with a focus on organizational improvement and accountability through multi-pronged assessment and evaluation.
Before joining the Mizzou faculty in 2017, he served as an Assistant Professor of public and international affairs at Baruch College, City University of New York. He has also served as a student affairs educator in a number of different roles, including residence hall director, living learning community assistant director, and admissions assistant. At Mizzou Ed, he teaches honors and graduate courses related to higher education.
Williams’ scholarship has been featured in the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the Journal of African American Studies, and the Journal of College Student Retention, among other publications. He is on the editorial board for several journals including the College Student Affairs Journal and the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, and is a member of the Association for the Study of Higher Education and other professional organizations. Williams is committed to translating his research to inform policies and practices that promote social justice and student success in higher education. (Bio taken from https://cehd.missouri.edu/person/michael-williams/)