Mark Todd, founder of Western's MFA in Creative Writing, has been a Professor of English at Western since 1988. He currently serves as Director of the Undergraduate Creative Writing Program, and as Editor-in-Chief for Western Press Books, which oversees the Graduate Program in Creative Writing's Certificate in Publishing. He has 25 years of professional journalism experience, having published hundreds of news stories, features, columns, and editorials in local through international markets. He also served as editor and publisher of both a newspaper and a regional magazine and, at one point, digested online news for the Lycos daily news service. In addition, Mark directs Western's summer creative writing conference, Writing the Rockies, now in its 15th year. Mark has performed his poetry and given fiction readings across the country and in Europe.