Writer Bios

We couldn't offer The Well to our readers without the generous contributions of our writers. Read through their bios to learn from their stories and click through for links to the articles they have written. If you are interested in writing for The Well, explore our Writer's Guidelines.

 

Rebecca Carhart is an associate project editor at InterVarsity Press. She has an MA in Christian Formation and Ministry from Wheaton College Graduate School, is a trained spiritual director, and serves in several ministries at her church. A native of northeast Nebraska, Rebecca lives in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and blogs at rebeccafaith.wordpress.com.

Sharon Carnahan is Professor of Psychology and Cornell Professor of Service at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where she also directs a laboratory preschool.  A graduate of Hope College, UNC Chapel Hill, and the Proctor Insititute on Child Advocacy Ministry (Children's Defense Fund), Dr. Carnahan is a developmental psychologist who teaches child and adolescent development, child assessment and developmental screening, cross-cultural child psychology, and the psychology of religious experiences. She is a prevention scientist who studies the application of developmental principles to the problems of children and families. 

Sabrina S. Chan serves as the National Director of InterVarsity’s Asian American Ministries. She grew up as a second generation Cantonese American in Richmond, Virginia and worked as a computer network engineer for a few years after graduating from Rice University. In her 20 years on staff, she has volunteered at Rice, staffed at UT Austin, and served as a ministry director in Texas and the San Francisco Bay Area. She is passionate about seeing Asian Americans transformed by Christ as they grow in ethnic identity, evangelism, racial justice, and stewarding their lives for God's kingdom.

Sabrina earned her MA in Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary and was ordained in 2009. She lives in Durham, North Carolina with her husband Kevin and two young kids. She loves bike commuting, drinking tea, and hiking in the woods — all three whether alone or with family and friends.

Audrey completed her MS in Applied Mathematics and teaches math at a community college in northern California. She previously worked with InterVarsity as a campus minister, where her time investing in students, faculty, and the university paved her way back to academia and the classroom. She enjoys cooking, hosting, and being with her family.

Beverly Chen, MSW, LCSW, serves as Associate Dean of Student Emotional Health at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. She is also an adjunct professor at Azusa Pacific University and has a private practice in Claremont.

Sylvia Chen is a senior patent operations counsel at Motorola. Prior to joining Motorola, Sylvia was an associate attorney in Washington, D.C., and a patent examiner at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Sylvia earned her JD from the University of Michigan in 1994 and has a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois-Urbana. Sylvia is interested in leadership issues in the law profession, particularly related to minority and gender factors. She is married with three children and her biblical hero is Daniel, though she says she is much more like Gideon.

Dorcas Cheng-Tozun is a writer and leader whose work with various nonprofits, social enterprises, and faith-based organizations has given her opportunity to engage with a broad range of social issues toward solutions in the areas of homelessness, affordable housing, energy access, youth leadership, HIV/AIDS, and international development. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her social entrepreneur husband and two young sons.

Susanna Childress writes short fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She authored poetry volumes Jagged with Love and Entering the House of Awe and a forthcoming collection of essays, Extremely Yours. She earned her Master's degree at University of Texas at Austin, her PhD at Florida State, and held a Lilly Fellows Postdoc at Valparaiso University. Currently she teaches at Hope College and lives with her family in Holland, Michigan.

Jessica Tsai Chin is a leader driven by her dual passions for social impact and consumer-driven insights. After studying Business Administration and Chinese at the University of California, Berkeley, she discovered her passion for consumer businesses and began her career with Apple, Inc., ultimately serving as global project manager heading Apple’s retail expansion efforts in China. Jessica is currently attaining her MBA at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
 
Outside of her exceedingly busy professional pursuits, Jessica is an athlete at heart and loves hiking the outdoors. She is also involved in numerous faith-based organizations and looks forward to continuing her involvement upon returning to China following her graduation from Kellogg this June.

Grace Chiu received her PhD in Urban Schooling from UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, and her EdM from Harvard Graduate School of Education. A former classroom teacher and literacy coach, Grace consults in schools and districts across the country, committed to improving the quality of public education for underserved children and youth.  During college, Grace worked as a street artist in New Orleans Square at Disneyland. She is currently training a reading therapy dog, Pip Puddleglum.

Grace P. Cho is a Korean American writer, poet, speaker, and the Editorial Manager at (in)courage. In the middle of her years as a pastor, she felt a pull toward using her words to lead others in a broader context. She believes storytelling can create movements that change the world and desires to elevate women of color’s voices in the publishing industry. Grace is the co-editor of Take Heart: 100 Devotions to Seeing God When Life’s Not Okay and the author of the (in)courage Bible study, Courageous Influence. Learn more at @gracepcho and gracepcho.com.

E.V. Clare lives in South Bend, Indiana, where she studies poetry and poetics at a local university. In her spare time, she enjoys walking along the St. Joseph river and exchanging books with friends. Her future aspirations include learning — in the vein of poet Charles Olson — to live “carelessly,” and how to fish.

Tatyana Claytor is primarily a lover of story and truth. As an English teacher, she is surrounded by the stories of the ages, but as a lover of God, she is enveloped in the Story beyond all ages. Her desire is to know the Author of this story as clearly as possible that she might help others see God’s truth in their lives and His plan in their stories. She currently lives in Cocoa, Florida with her three story-loving children and her husband, a minister of Youth and Missions. She has a Master’s degree in Education from Nova Southeastern University and a Master’s degree in Professional Writing from Liberty University. She is also the editor for GrowthTrac Ministries, a website dedicated to helping marriages. Her work has been published in Fathom Magazine, Emerging Scholars, Christian Courier, and on The Redbud Post run by The Redbud Writer’s Guild of which she is a member.

Christena Cleveland is passionate about helping the people of God find the power of unity. She uses social psychological insights, biblical principles, and practical application to equip people to do the work of unity and reconciliation in the church. Christena is the author of Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart and is currently writing The Priesthood of the Privileged, which examines power and inequality in the church. She earned a BA from Dartmouth College and a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is an associate professor of the practice of reconciliation at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina.

Laura Cline lives in Knoxville, Tennessee and is engaged to be married to her fiancé Trip in the summer of 2016. Laura has her Master's degree in English from The University of Tennessee and currently is an English Instructor at Pellissippi State Community College where she teaches writing and literature classes. 

Deshonna Collier-Goubil (PhD, Howard University) is the founding chair of the department of criminal justice and now serves as interim dean of the School of Behavioral and Applied Sciences at Azusa Pacific University. She lives in Fontana, California. Follow Deshonna on Twitter @deshonnacollier.

Christine A. Colón (PhD, University of California at Davis) is professor of English at Wheaton College. She is the author of Joanna Baillie and the Art of Moral Influence and Writing for the Masses: Dorothy L. Sayers and the Victorian Literary Tradition. She is also the coauthor of Singled Out: Why Celibacy Must Be Reinvented in Today's Church.

Kathy Cooper is the Director of Staff Training & Leadership Development for InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Ministries, and serves as GFM staff at Brown University Graduate & Medical Schools.  She has a B.A. from Yale in American Studies (Literature) and a Masters of Divinity from Regent College (Vancouver).  Kathy lives in Providence, RI with her husband Keith and their three teenage daughters.  She enjoys cooking, reading, walks with the family dog, conversation over a cup of good coffee, and gardening (a new discovery).

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