Who I am 

DEBORAH LICHTMAN, PhD

I'm a professional educator with twenty-five years of experience teaching writing and literature. 

After fifteen years of teaching in graduate writing programs, I now work independently with adults who want to develop their skills as writers. 

I'm the former director of the MFA in Writing Program at the University of San Francisco, where I was associate professor of writing. I have an MA and PhD in English from the University of California, Berkeley. 

I've worked as an individual mentor to dozens of students throughout my career and I've trained writing instructors at

• Mills College 
  
• the University of San Francisco
  
• the NYU Faculty Resource Network

I'm affiliated with UC Berkeley through the creative arts curriculum of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and the advisory board of the UC Extension Post-Baccalaureate Certificate Program in Writing.

I teach writing courses in both programs, and have also taught in the English departments at Mills College and UC Berkeley. My writing workshops and courses in literature have included

• Design of the Modern Novel
  
• Creative Nonfiction and the Personal Essay
  
• Contemporary Fiction
  
• The Well-Crafted Memoir
  
• The American Novel in the Twentieth Century
• Five Personal Pieces: Experimenting with Autobiography
• Theories and Strategies of Teaching Writing
  
• Women's Literature
• Writing Between the Lines: Using Style to Make Meaning
• Your Final Draft: A Fresh Look at the Work You Know By Heart

I bring rigor and humor to my teaching. I love to see the work of my students evolve, and I prize their achievements. I'm passionate about what I do.

I grew up in a bilingual family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My parents were immigrants from Eastern Europe; they raised me in a tight-knit community bound together by close friendships and good conversation.

As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I really did walk miles in the snow to my classes. My coursework revolved around literature and film. So did my free time. 

After completing graduate school in Berkeley, I stayed on. I now live with my physicist husband and our genius cat.  

Humphrey