Summer in The Heights

I can say with full confidence that students will be able to see their writing develop in unexpected ways within a highly encouraging environment. Focused workshop groups develop a sense of vulnerability within a small group of campers who at the end of the five days create truly exquisite work. Here you can immerse yourself amongst stories and poems that will change you, push you, and most of all challenge you. The Young Writers Workshop is more than just a writing camp, it is a family.

Kerry Kelly '26, Young Writers Workshop

Dr. James Watling has been the Coburn Professor of Environmental Science at JCU for 10 years. With a passion for using technology to monitor biodiversity responses to environmental change, he and his students work in both the Cleveland area as well as the rainforests of South America. Dr. Watling is deeply committed to mentoring and collaborating with students, fostering a dynamic and engaging learning environment that encourages academic excellence and personal growth.

Dr. Doan Winkel is an entrepreneur and an educator. He did not enjoy his time as a student, so he's spent the past 15 years trying to make learning fun. At John Carroll University, he leads the entrepreneurship program, where he is exploring how AI can create stronger human connections between teacher and student and how it enables students to quickly experience the entire startup process. Doan served on the Board of Directors of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship for nearly a decade, where he was recognized as a Justin G. Longenecker Fellow for lifetime achievement in entrepreneurship education.

Dr. Katie Knoll-Frey received her doctorate in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland College Park where she studied the differences in offender recidivism between prison and jail sentences. She currently teaches several criminal justice courses in the Sociology and Criminology department and has been at John Carroll for seven years. Her research includes a range of topics including differences in prisons and jails, attitudes towards incarcerated people and the criminal justice system, and criminological theory testing. Dr. Frey loves being in the classroom and using innovative approaches to teach about social justice issues facing our current legal system.

Dr. Sharon Kaye is a professor of philosophy at JCU. In her service-learning courses, her students run philosophy discussions at local schools. She writes young adult philosophy novels, and other things, which you can see here.

With over 20 years of experience in nursing and higher education, Dr. Dawn Boettcher has advanced healthcare and education through leadership in curriculum development, faculty mentorship, and program accreditation. Now serving as the Director of Nursing at John Carroll University, she is committed to leading and innovating the program to nurture the next generation of healthcare professionals.

Philip Metres is the author of twelve books, including Fugitive/Refuge (Copper Canyon 2024), Shrapnel Maps (Copper Canyon, 2020), The Sound of Listening: Poetry as Refuge and Resistance (University of Michigan, 2018), Sand Opera (Alice James, 2015), and I Burned at the Feast: Selected Poems of Arseny Tarkovsky (Cleveland State, 2015). His work—poetry, translation, essays, fiction, criticism, and scholarship—has garnered fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, the Watson Foundation. He is the recipient of the Adrienne Rich Award, three Arab American Book Awards, the Lyric Poetry Prize, and the Cleveland Arts Prize. Metres has been called “one of the essential poets of our time,” whose work is “beautiful, powerful, magnetically original.”  He is a professor of English and director of the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. He lives with his family in Cleveland, Ohio. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @PhilipMetres