Elaine MacDougall, ‘99

Elaine MacDougall (‘99) is a former UMBC English Major with a Creative Writing Minor and is currently a doctoral student in the Language, Literacy, and Culture (LLC) Program at UMBC. She is also a Teaching Professor and Director of the Writing Center at UMBC.

I received my undergraduate degree from UMBC in May 1999 and a Masters in Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University in May 2005. Starting in the fall of 2004, I taught various composition and literature classes for the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) and discovered a love for teaching writing at the college level. In 2011, I was hired as an adjunct instructor with the English Department at UMBC and started my journey as Writing Center Director here in 2016. While my trajectory in the higher education field did not follow a linear timeline, I’m grateful for all of the life experiences and professional opportunities I’ve had.

One of my most memorable professional opportunities is working with incarcerated students through the Goucher Prison Education Partnership (GPEP). Through my doctoral work in LLC, I discovered several writing programs that focus on higher education in prison. After reading about their work, including testimonials from students in the programs, I knew this was my “why,” and I haven’t turned back since. During the fall 2023 semester, I taught a writing center tutor training course at the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women (MCIW) in Jessup. In the spring of 2024, I taught a professional writing course at the Maryland Correctional Institute, Jessup (MCIJ), and I am currently teaching a composition course at MCIJ. As one of my students from MCIW eloquently wrote, “Society cannot define, devalue, or erase who I have become as a result of college in my life while in prison. I have the attention of the outside world.” Exactly. This is why I do this work and will continue to advocate for currently incarcerated scholars and writers.