Christian Thomas is a lecturer in the Writing Program and the Associate Director of the Center for Digital Games Research. He teaches Rome: The Game (WRIT/ARTHI W6R), How Games Tell Stories (INT 36GS), Writing about Film (WRIT 109F), Multimedia Writing (WRIT 105M), Writing for Public Speaking (WRIT 105PS), Writing and the Research Process (WRIT 50), and Academic Writing (WRIT 2).

Vickie Vértiz's writing is featured in the New York Times magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, KCET Departures, and the San Francisco Chronicle, among many others. Her book Palm Frond with Its Throat Cut won the 2018 PEN America literary prize in poetry. Vértiz teaches creative nonfiction, writing for Chicanx Studies. Her research interests include drag culture, feminist and queer art, film, and performance, experimental writing, and writing for community engagement. She earned an M.F.A. from UC-Riverside in nonfiction, a Master’s degree in public affairs from UT-Austin, and a B.A. in political science from Williams College.

Alison Williams primarily teaches media communications, including 107P, 105C, 107M, 107DJ, and 107V, as well as Writing 2. Alison comes to UCSB with a career in public relations and marketing for entertainment and advertising, and she holds an MFA Creative Writing and MA English from Chapman University. Her own writing has been published in literary, scholarly, and mainstream publications.