Ellen O'Connell Whittet is a continuing lecturer who also teaches in the College of Creative Studies. She primarily teaches journalism, creative nonfiction, and writing for the visual arts, and her academic research focuses on arts writing, personal narrative, trauma-informed pedagogy, and creative writing studies. Her own writing has been published in Vogue, Time, The Cut, Buzzfeed, Vulture, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Her memoir, What You Become in Flight (Melville House 2020), was named a best book of April by Refinery 29 and the Chicago Review. Her debut novel, Book of Hours, is forthcoming in 2026 from Dzanc Books.