Tree Swenson, President / Executive Director
Tree Swenson’s background in the literary arts includes serving as publisher and executive director of Copper Canyon Press, a literary press devoted to poetry, which she co-founded in 1973. Immediately prior to joining the Academy, Swenson served as director of programs for the Massachusetts Cultural Council where she oversaw grants in all arts disciplines for organizations, artists, schools, and communities. She has served on governing boards of several nonprofit organizations, including a term as president of the Associated Writing Programs board. Swenson attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, as an undergraduate and she holds a Master in Public Administration degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

Ryan Biracree, Audio & Web Associate
Ryan Biracree was born and raised in rural Connecticut, and studied poetry and computer music at Bennington College in Vermont. His poems and essays have appeared in various publications, and his compositions have been performed in Connecticut, Vermont, Illinois, Hawaii, and New York. He lives in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Elaine Bleakney, National Poetry Month Coordinator
Elaine Bleakney joined the Academy after working for The Art Newspaper in New York City. She has taught creative writing at the University of California, Irvine, where she completed her M.F.A. following her undergraduate studies at Kenyon College in Ohio. She has received a poetry fellowship from the International Institute of Modern Letters and her work has appeared in Hotel Amerika, Crab Orchard Review, and other journals. She was raised in Arizona, Michigan and Hawaii.

Eric Engleson, Financial Manager
Eric Engleson has been the financial manager at the Academy since 1993. Prior to joining the Academy, Eric worked as a controller for Berger, Stone & Partners Advertising. He received his M.B.A. in finance (2002) and B.B.A. in accounting (1993) from Baruch College (CUNY).

CJ Evans, Audio and Awards Associate
CJ Evans spent the majority of his life in Seattle, and received his B.A.
from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. He is the Associate Poetry Editor at Tin House magazine and served as Associate Director of the Tin House summer writers workshop. His poetry has appeared, or is forthcoming, in American Letters & Commentary, Chelsea, Court Green, Gulf Coast, LIT, and elsewhere. He lives in New York.

Audrey Ference, Membership Coordinator
Audrey Ference was raised, though not born, in San Antonio, Texas. Before joining the Academy, she worked in development at the Morgan Library and the Regional Plan Association. She has an undergraduate degree in English Literature from Haverford College, and her essays and criticism have appeared in various publications.

Beth Harrison, Associate Director / Director of Development
Beth Harrison joined the Academy in July 2001. She was formerly the Development Specialist for Literary Publishing at the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, and has worked as a freelance grant-proposal writer for arts organizations and nonprofit presses. Beth has also worked as an editor for several book publishers, including Princeton Architectural Press and Oxford University Press. Beth has a B.A. in English/creative writing from Miami University and is the founding editor of the literary magazine Spinning Jenny.

Robin Beth Schaer, Chief Online Editor
Robin Beth Schaer is a third-generation New Yorker. She has taught literature and writing at Columbia University and Cooper Union, and was educated at Colgate University and Columbia University's School of the Arts. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Saltonstall Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize. Her work has appeared in Rattapallax, Denver Quarterly, Guernica, Painted Bride Quarterly, From the Fishouse, and Barrow Street, among others.

Joseph Fasano, Academy Intern
Joseph Fasano grew up in upstate New York and received a B.A. in Philosophy from Harvard University. He currently lives in New York and is pursuing an M.F.A. in Poetry at Columbia University's School of the Arts.

Emily Hunt, Academy Intern
Emily Hunt was born in Amsterdam, Holland and grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. She studied at Goldsmith's College of Art in London and at the University of Richmond in Virginia, where she received her B.A. in Fine Art. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Christina LaPrease, Academy Intern
Christina LaPrease was raised in the backwaters of Louisiana. She received her B.A. in English from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, and is pursuing her M.F.A. in Poetry at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She lives in New York, and also works as a student teacher at Wadleigh High School.