Adam Belebczuk – Webmaster
Heather Madden Bentoske – Instructor, Nonfiction
Tom Bolda – Instructor, Nonfiction
Daniel J. Cleary – Founder and Executive Director; Instructor, Poetry
Sherrie Farabee – Instructor, Communication, Conversation, and Conflict Resolution
Deborah Magid – Instructor, Playwrighting
Ellene Glenn Moore – Instructor, Poetry
Paul S. Robertson – Instructor, Art
James Walsh – Instructor, Poetry
Adam Belebczuk – Webmaster – Adam is an IT Professional with ten years of experience in support, training, and software/database development. His primary focus is on designing solutions utilizing MS SQL Server and .Net and then helping to develop, implement, performance tune, and maintain those solutions. He is also certified as an MCSE: Data Platform and MCITP DBA 2005/2008 and belongs to the Ohio North SQL Server User Group (ONSSUG) & Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS). In addition to all things technological, he also loves to make electronic music, cook, go skiing, read, & help educate his fellow geeks whenever the opportunity presents itself. Adam helps build and maintain the NEOCOP website. You can contact Adam at webmaster@neocop.org.
Heather Madden Bentoske – Instructor, Nonfiction – Heather holds an M.A. from Cleveland State University in English with a concentration in creative writing/fiction. She has been published in Muse Magazine and was a creative nonfiction runner up in the Lit’s Lantern Awards. She has taught memoir writing at the Northeast Reintegration Center. She is a professional writer at a Cleveland, OH advertising agency and lives with a scurly 115-pound German Shepherd named Hubert.
Tom Bolda – Instructor, Nonfiction – Tom received his BFA from Bowling Green State University. While his primary focus for the creative writing degree was in fiction, he also dabbled in poetry. At BGSU, Tom held the position of Fiction Editor for the prestigious undergraduate writing journal, Prairie Margins. Tom assisted the women at the Northeast Reintegration Center in developing a voice and medium to share their memoirs and explore their creativity.
Daniel J. Cleary – Founder and Executive Director; Instructor, Poetry – Dan holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in English from the University of Dayton, and a PhD in English from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. While his primary focus is on Rhetoric and Composition, he has also completed extensive graduate studies in Creative Writing (fiction, poetry, and playwriting) at several universities. In addition to recruiting volunteer teachers, securing donations of materials, serving as liaison between the volunteers and the institutions, and overseeing the project, Dan teaches poetry workshops at Lorain Correctional Institution. When he’s not visiting or teaching in one of Northeast Ohio’s prisons, Dan teaches full-time as a professor of writing and literature in the English Department at Lorain County Community College, where he won the Faculty Excellence Award in 2013. Dan has published creative nonfiction in The North Coast Review, contributed selections to writing textbooks, and delivered dozens of scholarly conference papers at regional and national academic conferences, including the Modern Language Association (MLA) convention and the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC). He has recently been appointed to a three-year term on the National Association of Teachers of English (NCTE) Standing Committee on International Concerns. You can contact Daniel at dcleary@neocop.org.
Sherrie Farabee – Instructor, Communication, Conversation, and Conflict Resolution – Sherrie teaches communication courses (interpersonal, oral communication, business communication) at Lorain County Community College. She has been teaching communication and public speaking for more than 10 years. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Florida A & M University and has been taking doctoral courses in communication studies at Kent State University. Over the years, she has been a 4-H speaking coach and judge, and has taught communication classes and workshops for businesses, student groups, sales teams, and inmates at the Grafton Correctional Institution.
Deborah Magid – Instructor, Playwrighting – Playwright/composer and lyricist since 2008, Deborah is also a director, actor, singer, tech writer-editor, journalist, blogger, and all-round energetic type. She is attached to five Cleveland theaters including the Cleveland Play House Playwrights’ Unit, is a member of Dramatists’ Guild, and serves on the Board of the International Centre for Women Playwrights. Deborah’s works are not genre-identifiable as they include drama, comedy, SciFi, short, long, straight, musical, rock opera, and RICHARD WAGNER’S ENTIRE RING CYCLE IN 10 MINUTES, a one-woman play that she performs with sock puppets. Deborah is also teaching playwrighting to the women at Northeast Reintegration Center.
Ellene Glenn Moore – Instructor, Poetry – Ellene is a poet and MFA candidate at Florida International University, where she holds a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Fellowship. She earned her undergraduate degree in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University, where she acted as a mentor for writing students at a local high school for the arts. Her thesis work, entitled “Happiness: A Multi-Voice Narrative,” explored her interest in the relationship between the visual and verbal by combining creative writing, typography, book-making, and document design. During a brief stint in Cleveland, Ohio, Ellene had the pleasure of becoming a volunteer with NEOCOP, teaching two introductory poetry workshops at Grafton Correctional Institution and executing the design and layout of a chapbook of inmate work, “Songs from Ohio Route 83.” Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Barn Owl Review, Architrave Press, and other print and online journals.
Paul S. Robertson – Instructor, Art – Paul has earned his degree in Visual Communication & Graphic Design from Cuyahoga Community College. Paul currently works as a print designer for one of the premier beverage distributors in Ohio. Some of his past work experience includes design work for The Cleveland Indians, production work for American Greetings, and designing for non-profit health organizations in the Cleveland area. In addition to working as a Graphic Designer, Paul splits his time as a professional fine artist. His background as an artist includes illustration, painting, photography, and mixed media art installations. Paul teaches introductory fine arts courses at Lorain Correctional Institution, where his goal is to use his creative talents to help promote a positive environment.
James Walsh – Instructor, Poetry – James holds a dual undergraduate degree in History and Philosophy from Ohio Wesleyan University and is currently a graduate student in English literature at Cleveland State University. A polymath with a quizzical mind, James writes poetry geared more towards performance than page. He has taught poetry to the men at Lorain Correctional Institution since the inception of the NEOCOP project, and has co-authored the keynote presentation, a Foucauldian analysis of a prison writing workshop, at the Lorain County Community College Arts and Humanities Conference. His goal is to help inmates use poetry as a medium of self-expression and rehabilitation.
Northeast Ohio Community Outreach Project (NEOCOP) 