News Releases

April 6, 2010
For Immediate Release
For additional information: 
Barbara Kerr, APR
Executive Director of
Communications and Marketing
Telephone: 360-992-2921
Email: bkerr@clark.edu

From Mourning to Memoir:  
One Writer’s Journey into Her Story

English professor and writer Gail Robinson will be the presenter 
as Clark College’s Faculty Speaker Series continues on Tuesday, April 20

VANCOUVER, Wash. -- "What’s your book about?  What’s a memoir?  How long did it take to write it?"  These are the questions Clark College English professor Gail Robinson is often asked when she tells people she spent a year’s sabbatical working on her memoir.

Robinson will be the spring 2010 presenter in Clark's popular Faculty Speaker Series.  The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 3:30-5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20 in the Penguin Student Lounge in Clark's Penguin Union Building.   Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver.  Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps.

During the presentation, Robinson will "do my best to answer these questions, and more, sharing the story of my sister’s suicide that is at the heart of the memoir, as well as the story of healing and growth my whole family has experienced in the 22 years since Carol took her life."

She will also read a chapter from the memoir, which is nearing completion, and leave time for questions and discussion.

About Gail Robinson

An award-winning educator and writer, Gail Robinson is the recipient of an Oregon Literary Fellowship as well as writing residencies at Caldera in Blue Lake, Ore. and Soapstone in Nehalem, Ore.

A native of South Dakota, Robinson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She earned a master’s degree in English at Portland State University.

Gail Robinson is a tenured professor of English at Clark College, where she has served as English department chair and interim chair of the humanities division.  She has been active in the college’s outcomes assessment and eLearning initiatives and has served as a volunteer tutor in the college’s Writing Center.  During the 1999-2000 academic year, she was honored with the college’s Exceptional Faculty Award.

A resident of Portland, Robinson has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Marylhurst University, Pacific University and Mt. Hood Community College. Her teaching credits include classes in writing fundamentals, creative writing, English composition, poetry, fiction, American literature, and women in literature.  She says her goal in the classroom is “to build student confidence.” 

She adds, “I consider it a great privilege to witness the growth and change in so many students’ lives.”

About the Clark College Faculty Speaker Series

The Faculty Speaker Series, established by Clark College with support from the Clark College Foundation, honors individual faculty members and celebrates academic excellence.  

The Faculty Speaker Series showcases experiences that have enriched both the life and teaching of a Clark faculty member.  Throughout the series, faculty members share their developmental experiences with the college community – and members of the community at large – while addressing some of today’s most intriguing issues.  

####