Our Writing, Literature & Publishing Department is made up of accomplished publishing and writing professionals. They are editors, writers, designers, publishers, and consultants currently working in the field. They come from major industry sources such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Addison-Wesley, Globe Pequot Press, Nation Books, Viking, MIT Technology Review, Penguin, Da Capo Press, Newsweek, Inc., Men’s Journal, Boston Magazine, and The Atlantic Monthly. Their expertise gives you a solid foundation in traditional publishing as well as exposure to current market trends, including innovations in electronic publishing.

Your Graduate Program Director, John Rodzvilla, will serve as your primary faculty advisor, guiding you on course selection to ensure that you will achieve your learning objectives and satisfy the program requirements. You will also receive program and department news from your program director along with any on- and off-campus opportunities that might be of interest to you.

Meet Your Graduate Program Director

  • Bill Beuttler headshot
    Bill Beuttler
    Pronouns: (He/Him/His)
    Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director - On Leave

    Bill Beuttler, a Chicago native, broke into journalism as a police reporter at the legendary City News Bureau of Chicago. His first teaching job was as a visiting professor of magazine journalism at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.

    Before joining Emerson, Beuttler spent three years covering jazz for The Boston Globe, which he continues to do occasionally, and teaching journalism at Boston University. His magazine work includes stints as a senior editor at the Discovery Channel, Men's Journal, and Boston magazine, and as an associate editor at DownBeat and American Way. He has also been published in JazzTimes, Jazziz, The Atlantic, Esquire, Chicago magazine, The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Travel Holiday, Cooking Light, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and The New York Times Book Review.

    His first book, Make It New: Reshaping Jazz in the 21st Century, was published in 2019 by Lever Press and is available in paperback and open access editions. DownBeat magazine called Make It New “a rewarding book that examines some of the key voices directing contemporary jazz.”

Current Graduate Faculty List