Leigh Hancock
Writing Department Chair and Instructor
Background
Leigh Hancock has been teaching writing, literature and women's studies at Columbia Gorge Community College (CGCC) since fall 2002. Prior to that time she was the director of the Gorge Arts Council and Arts Education program. She has also worked extensively in the field of community service, including developing one of the first AmeriCorps programs in the Northwest and serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in southern Africa.
When not in the classroom teaching students to write, Leigh is often writing herself. Her poetry and short stories have been published in a variety of magazines and anthologies, and she has been awarded several prizes, including the National Society of Arts and Letters award in Fiction and the World's Greatest Short Short Story contest. She is currently at work on a nonfiction account of growing up as the daughter of a polio survivor.
Education
Master of Fine Arts in Fiction Writing, 1989
Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, 1984