Pam Fox Kuhlken graduated with a BA degree in English and a minor in Philosophy from Pepperdine University. She earned a Master in Poetics degree from New College of California and the Master of Theology degree from Bethel Seminary. At the University of California, Riverside, she earned the PhD in Comparative Literature, winning awards for her teaching and graduating with highest honors. She has published poems, articles and reviews in literary magazines, journals and newspapers. Her book, What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls and Why Do They Matter, with world renowned scholar of Old Testament Studies David Noel Freedman, is a lay person’s introduction to the scrolls. Pam teaches literature at Pepperdine University and Perelandra College. pam.kuhlken@pepperdine.edu
Elizabeth Kropf is proud to have been the first graduate of Perelandra College with an M.A. in Creative Writing. Ten of her poems and a story have been published in literary magazines. She has been a reader at the Windhover Writer’s Festival and serves on the Board of Directors for the Austin Poetry Society. She teaches at Bryant & Stratton College and Perelandra College. Her new book of poems is What Mothers Withold. Contact her at: elizabethrebeccakropf@gmail.com
Charlie Gregg received his BA in Speech Communication from California State University, Northridge and his MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from Trinity College of Graduate Studies. He is a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT) with the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals and has been lead pastor of two churches in Southern California. Charlie’s life experience in Theology and Psychology has nurtured a passion for the integration of therapeutic healing modalities with Christian Spirituality.
Charlie began his work in the helping professions in 1969 when he opened a coffee house for young people searching for answers to life’s deepest questions. In the years that have followed Charlie has been staff therapist for Southern Indian Health Counsel’s Inpatient Adolescent Treatment Facility serving Native American Youth; Director of Imperial Valley Drug & Rehab Clinic and Supervisor for the Child Abuse Treatment Program for the Imperial Valley Office of Education; a lead faculty member in The University of Phoenix’s Masters of Counseling Program; and Clinical Specialist at the Community Counseling Center aboard Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Visit him at charlesgreggmft.com
Ken Kuhlken earned BA and MA degrees in English at San Diego State University and an MFA degree in Fiction Writing at the University of Iowa. He is the author of novels, short stories, feature stories and book reviews. His stories have been honored with Pushcart Prize nominations, a National Endowment for the Arts Literature fellowship, as a finalist for PEN’s Ernest Hemingway Award for the best first published novel, as a finalist for the Shamus best novel award, and as the recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin’s Press Best First PI Novel Award. He has taught Writing and Literature in the MFA program at the University of Arizona and in graduate and undergraduate programs at San Diego State University; California State University, Chico; University of San Diego; Christian Heritage College; Azusa Pacific University; and Perelandra College. Visit him and learn about his many books at: kenkuhlken.net
Steven Saint Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University and has been writing articles for newspapers and magazines for the past 25 years. He has worked as an award-winning daily newspaper reporter in Colorado and editor of six community newspapers in San Diego. His freelance work has been carried by Reuters News and has appeared in more than 60 publications, including Time Magazine and the Denver Post. His book, Rules for Reaching Consensus, has long been a resource for business and government.
In 2013, Steven completed a Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) course with Becky Elder and Pikes Peak Permaculture and has never been quite the same! His passion is not only practicing permaculture on a homestead site near the Humboldt Bay but educating the public on sustainability issues and permaculture solutions.
Steve is also teaching, through California State University, Humboldt, an investigative journalism series concerning a number of a fascinating conspiracies.
Contact him at ssaint01@gmail.com
Professors Emeritus:
Aside from teaching poetry at Perelandra College, Dr. Gary Swaim was a professor of graduate seminars in the Master of Liberal Studies program at Southern Methodist University of Dallas. He taught playwriting, the writing of both poetry and fiction, creativity, and diverse interdisciplinary courses. He was a produced playwright, director, and actor, and the 2011 Texas Senior Poet Laureate. Gary moved on to a glorious eternity during 2020. His most recent book is A Perhaps Line: Poetry of the Material and Immaterial Worlds.
Olga Savitsky, a wise, passionate, and uniquely honest poet, and a beloved friend,
received the B.A. from Clemson University with a concentration in Social Problems and Systems, minoring in Fine Arts and Language. Then she earned her Master’s in City and Regional Planning. On her resume, she reveals her interests in graphic arts, languages, and “a working knowledge of Russian, Spanish, and Greek.”
Ultimately, her vision did not encompass planning earthly cities, so she resigned altogether from the field with the farewell: “Take my worldly entanglements / And transform them into spiritual entwinings.” She chose to live free from worldly entanglements by cleaning houses while listening to praise music to effectively chase away what she called the “dirt devils,” leaving a spiritual afterglow in her clients’ homes.
As far as what will be eaten by moths and rust, Olga treasured two honors: her Smokey the Bear Reading Club Certificate (awarded when the Russian babooshka read in English for the first time), and her honorary MFA (Master’s of Fiery Arts) degree from Perelandra College, where she remains honored as the first Poet Laureate.
Listen to a poem of Olga’s and learn where to purchase her book, Shockabonda.