Meet the Staff
Jaclyn Wells, Director
Jaclyn received a Ph.D. in English (Rhetoric and Composition) from Purdue University in 2010. Her book, Partners in Literacy: A Writing Center Model for Civic Engagement (co-authored with Allen Brizee), describes a three-year engagement project involving the Purdue OWL and two adult literacy organizations in Lafayette, Indiana. Jaci has directed the UWC since 2012. She is SafeZone certified. You can read more about her on the Department of English website.
Fun Facts: To date, Jaclyn has never lost a game of Seinfeld trivia. Her corgi mix, Travis, is Instagram famous.
Brianna Carnley, Program Administrator
Bri graduated from UAB in April 2022. Her major was English with a concentration in creative writing and her minor was Philosophy. Before becoming the Program Administrator, she worked as a tutor for the UWC during her senior year. She is also a graduate student at UAB pursuing a Master’s of English.
Fun Facts: Her favorite musicians of all time are Florence and the Machine and Hozier; however, she’s been into rock and metal music more recently, specifically Måneskin, Ghost, Bad Omens, and Sleep Token.
Amber, Graduate Tutor
Amber (she/her) is a 2nd year English MA student on the Creative Writing track. She is a poet, fiction writer and teacher. She is a first-generation college student and hopes to pursue an MFA degree and continue studying, practicing, and teaching creative writing.
Fun Facts: Her favorite show is The Office US; she's seen it 17 times and counting. Her favorite things to read are anything by Ruth Ware or Fredrik Bachman. She loves to crochet and take walks with her dog Nala.
Anaya, Graduate Tutor
Anaya is a first-year graduate student studying English Rhetoric and Composition. She received her BA in Communications with a specialization in Public Relations and a minor in Professional Writing from UAB in 2022. After completing the graduate program, Anaya hopes to teach English in higher education.
Fun Facts: Anaya has two dogs, Theodore and Margot, and a cat named Maeve, who take up most of her free time. When she’s not busy taking them on walks and vacuuming their fur from every crevice in her house, she can usually be found thrifting, watching tv, or listening to the same four songs on repeat.
Anoushka, Undergraduate Tutor
Anoushka is a sophomore student majoring in English with a focus in literature. She plans to minor in either Japanese or art. One day, she hopes to find her footing as a sports journalist.
Fun Facts: She loves watching silly little cartoons (specifically, Avatar: the Last Airbender) and attending UAB basketball games.
Clay, Graduate Tutor
Clay is a first-year English M.A. student concentrating in Literature. He received his B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing and a minor in Psychology from Samford University in 2023. Since then, Clay gathered experience in teaching English and Reading Comprehension across multiple grade levels and continued to work on writing and editing any number of his various poems and short stories.
Fun Facts: A true jack-of-all-trades, Clay is an amateur blacksmith, a proficient drummer, a massive fantasy nerd, and a half-decent fisherman. His favorite movie is A Knight’s Tale, and his favorite book (right now) is Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.
Crys, Graduate Tutor
Crys McKissick is a first-year graduate student studying English Literature. She completed her undergrad at UAB in English with a concentration in Literature and minors in History and Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies. Prior to returning to school, she worked in a public library and taught reading intervention. She is passionate about literacy and the power of a story. After completing her MA she intends to pursue a MLIS with the goal of becoming an academic librarian. If she's not at school or hauling her children to their various activities, Crys knits compulsively, consumes too much coffee, and is diligently making her way through her towering TBR list.
Fun Facts: Her superpower is the ability to sleep basically anywhere at any time, including crowded public places. This is why she hasn't seen a movie or TV show in more years than she cares to admit. Also, she does costume sewing, primarily for ballet.
Elizabeth, Undergraduate Tutor
Elizabeth is a senior English major with a focus in literature. She transferred to UAB from Bevill State Community College in 2023. Elizabeth loves helping students with writing and polishing up essays.
Fun Facts: Elizabeth is a Swiftie! Her favorite album is reputation.
Emmett, Adjunct Tutor
Emmett is a second-year doctoral student at the University of Alabama. He earned his BA and MA from UAB in 2015 and 2022 respectively. His writing has been published in Aura Literary Magazine, Screen Door Review, Rogue Agent, and Black Napkin Press. His writing and research aims to celebrate the Southern Queer Experience.
Fun Facts: Emmett enjoys woodworking and sometimes you may be able to catch him using a pen he himself made!
Kaylie, Graduate Tutor
Kaylie is a first-year graduate student with a concentration in literature. Kaylie loves reading and writing. In the future, she hopes to earn a PhD to eventually become an English professor.
Fun Facts: Kaylie loves to spend her free time watching movies/tv shows, hanging out with her family, and listening to music or podcasts.
Kylie, Graduate Tutor
Kylie is a first-year graduate student and teaching assistant. She received her B.A. in English with a minor in political science from the University of South Alabama in 2019. After graduating, Kylie moved to Austin, Texas where she taught high school English Language Arts and Reading for two years. Life brought her back home to Alabama and she now lives in Birmingham with her husband, Nathaniel, and cat, Doodle. In her free time, she loves staying home and re-watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries or binging Bluey with her 2-year-old niece (and best friend), Ellie. Kylie hopes to teach English in a higher ed setting after receiving her M.A. and may even go for her Ph.D. some day!
Fun Facts: Kylie’s favorite book is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and she has a collection of different versions (including some in other languages). Other favorites include The Hobbit, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and anything by Jane Austen.
Ligaya, Undergraduate Tutor
Ligaya is a sophomore Psychology major and Sociology major despite how much he is encouraged to switch to English. He loves helping people with all kinds of writing but prefers literary analysis and creative writing. He hopes to become a child psychologist after getting a PhD in Psychology.
Fun Facts: Ligaya is the word for “joy” in Filipino. His interests include Hadestown the musical, going to vintage markets, and eating as much food that fits on the table.
Lorice, Adjunct Tutor
Lorice is an Adjunct English Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where she currently teaches Freshman Composition. With a passion for nurturing young minds, she also writes children’s books, inspired by her desire to encourage her young family members to develop a love for reading.
Fun Facts: In her free time, Lorice has taken up gardening—a hobby that, much like her writing, involves plenty of patience and a sense of humor. While her plants don’t always cooperate, she remains optimistic that one day her garden will flourish. Until then, she’s mastering the art of growing weeds and keeping pesky insects well-fed.
Madeline, Undergraduate Tutor
Madeline is a senior majoring in Psychology and English. She loves helping students find joy in the writing process, and she also tutors personal statements at the Office of National and International Fellowships and Scholarships. She taught creative writing at a summer fellowship and aspires to teach writing at the college level.
Fun Facts: Madeline’s current guilty pleasure is The Inheritance Games series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and her favorite movie is Guardians of the Galaxy. You can usually find her drinking espresso of some kind.
Rachel, Undergraduate Tutor
Rachel is an English major who, no surprise, loves reading. A Birmingham native, she loves the diversity and culture of the city. Rachel loves the process of editing papers, especially when it comes to grammar.
Fun Facts: Rachel is a French minor and hopes to study abroad in the summer (and maybe never come back)!
Shannon, Adjunct Tutor
Shannon received her M.A. in English Literature from UAB in 2019. She's worked in a variety of roles for the UWC since 2017 and loves seeing students' confidence in their writing grow after a tutoring session.
Fun Facts: Shannon is notorious for watching movies and immediately logging them on Letterboxd. You can usually find her at Sidewalk or Saturn catching free bad movie and B-horror movie nights. Her Starbucks order is a Grande Iced Shaken Espresso, but in the fall, she obsesses over O'Henry's Christmas Blend Cold Brew.
Tiaundra, Undergraduate Tutor
Tiaundra is a senior English major with a concentration in linguistics. She is currently learning French and wants to teach English as a second language internationally. She has tutored for a year and plans to continue for many years throughout the world! She loves anything to do with languages and hopes to be a polyglot. She is very comfortable with English as a second language speakers and is a TA for EH 108 and 109 this fall semester!
Fun Facts: She has an archive of random kpop knowledge readily available but only from before 2020. She lived in Alaska for 7 years. She has been to many concerts including Beyonce, Kehlani, Megan Thee Stallion, Monsta X, NCT, and Sik-K.