NORTHWEST INSTITUTE OF LITERARY ARTS
WHIDBEY WRITERS WORKSHOP
CATALOG, 2009-2011

GOVERNING BOARD
Northwest Institute of Literary Arts

Antoinette Grove, B.Sc.
Antoinette Grove, NILA Governing Board Chair, is the author of many published short stories, humorous essays and poetry. With decades of experience in community service, she has served on the executive boards of a local cooperative preschool, her homeowners association and, for more than six years, the Whidbey Island Writers Association. She also served two years on the Program Delivery Council at Eastgate Elementary School, was a member of the planning board for the South Whidbey/Mercer Island Service Unit of Girl Scouts Totem Council for five years and has been active as a volunteer in several art and literacy programs at the primary school level. Since 1987, she and her husband have owned and operated a small interstate moving business. Grove has been involved in development of the Whidbey Writers Workshop MFA Program from the beginning, serving on the MFA Program Design Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Herbal Sciences from Bastyr University.

Nancy Ruff, EdD
Nancy Ruff, NILA Treasurer, holds a Bachelor of Science in Education and Master of Arts in educational administration from Texas Tech University and a Doctor of Education from North Texas State University. During her 30-year career in education, she was a public school speech, drama and English teacher; a consultant in accreditation with the Texas State Department of Education; director of communications for a large suburban Dallas school district; and adjunct professor of speech communications in the College of Business at the University of Texas, Arlington. She is an experienced conference planner; professional development coordinator; speaker at local, state and national levels; and contributor to professional publications. In addition to her activities with the Whidbey Island Writers Association and Whidbey Writers Workshop, Ruff is on the board of the South Whidbey Schools Foundation.

Winfred G. Allen, Ph.D.
Winfred G. Allen, Ph.D., earned a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Science degree from Emerson College, Boston, in Speech Communication and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in Speech Communication, focusing on Rhetoric and Public Address. Wayne State University established the “Winfred G. Allen Collection,” documenting certain of his scholarly research and writings in their Archives of Labor History and Urban Affairs. He has recently retired as a professor of communication from Pepperdine University where he was awarded the Teaching Excellence Award and was honored with Honorary Membership in the national Golden Key Honor Society. Dr. Allen is published in fiction, nonfiction, scholarly, and professional publications. As president of the W. G. Allen Company, a communication consulting firm, Dr. Allen has assisted post-secondary educational institutions in management, marketing, public relations, and with accreditations and re-accreditations. The breadth of his consulting includes international marketing for a merger-acquisition corporation, training news and sports broadcasters for three networks, serving on boards of directors of several non-profit organizations, as well as being the co-founder and president of the George Westmore Research Library and Museum in Burbank, California. He is a former board member of the Whidbey Island Writers Association.

Allan Ament, J.D.
Allan Ament, NILA CEO, holds a B.A. in political theory from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from Northwestern University, Chicago. He has served as Director of Academic Affairs for a multi-state, multi-campus region of the University of Phoenix and is presently the Area Chair for the Doctorate in Educational Leadership program in the School of Advanced Studies of the University of Phoenix. Ament has been involved in online education for over 10 years, as both an instructor and course developer for several universities. In addition to being a classroom teacher, he has been a mediator and arbitrator, trial attorney, small business owner and has served as advisor to elected and appointed governmental officials in this country and abroad. His articles have been published in professional journals and other publications. He has worked with non-profit organizations in both Seattle and on Whidbey Island for many years, serving as a board member, legal counsel and in other volunteer positions. He is presently an active board member of the Whidbey Institute at Chinook and serves as CEO and board member for the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts (NILA).

Lorraine Healy, MFA
Lorraine Healy is an Argentinean poet and photographer living on Whidbey Island, Washington. The winner of several national awards, including a Pushcart Prize nomination for poetry in 2004, she has been published extensively. The author of two published chapbooks, Healy is a graduate of the low-residency M.F.A in Poetry program at New England College, New Hampshire, as well as from the post-MFA Program at Antioch University-Los Angeles. Her first full-length manuscript, The Habit of Land, is making the rounds of contests and presses. A veteran of several Burning Word Festivals, Lorraine was part of the group of volunteers that put the first WIWA Conference together and has stayed connected with the Conference and WIWA since then. She currently teaches an ongoing Advanced Poetry Seminar for WIWA, as well as being Affiliate Faculty in Poetry at Antioch University in Seattle.

David R. Powers, Ph.D.
David R. Powers earned the degrees of B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh. He retired Emeritus in 2005 from the position of Executive Director of the Nebraska Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education, the state agency which coordinates higher education for Nebraska. Prior to that, he was Executive Director of the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board, and he was Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the West Virginia Board of Regents, the statewide governing board for all public colleges and universities. Powers' administrative positions on campuses included service as Vice President for Academic Affairs at George Mason University, the state university in northern Virginia, and as Vice Provost of the University of Pittsburgh. He also served on the Board of Trustees of Western Governors University, 1996-2005, and was keynote speaker on "Technology Diffusion: The Adoption of Technology in American Higher Education" at the International Association for Management of Technology, Washington, DC, April 4, 2004. His books include: Making Participatory Management Work: Leadership of Consultive Decision-Making in Academic Administration, co-authored with Mary F. Powers, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1983, and Higher Education in Partnership with Industry: Opportunities and Strategies for Training, Research, and Economic Development, co-authored with Mary F. Powers, with chapters by Frederick Betz and Carol Aslanian, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988.

Contact MFA