Ellen Malphrus, PhD

Ellen Malphrus, PhD  

Professor of English

Library Room 256
One University Boulevard
Bluffton, SC 29909
Office: 843-208-8224
Ellen Malphrus, PhD

My name is Dr. Ellen Malphrus. I am a Professor of English and Writer in Residence here at USCB. In 2022, I was the university's Professor of the Year. I teach a wide variety of courses, from first-year English to Creative Writing Workshops to Southern Literature to Postmodernism. 

My BA, MFA, and PhD were earned at the University of South Carolina. James Dickey, U.S. Poet Laureate and author of Deliverance, was my Graduate Director for my Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. More recently, I was mentored by Pat Conroy, author of numerous acclaimed books including The Prince of Tides. Conroy wrote the foreword to my novel Untying the Moon.  

My poetry, fiction, essays, creative nonfiction, and academic research has been published in literary journals, scholarly journals, anthologies, and books including Poetry South, Haight Ashbury Review, Natural Bridge, James Dickey Review, Southern Literary Journal, William & Mary Review, Blue Mountain Review, Fall Lines, Review of Contemporary Fiction, Weber—the Contemporary West, Literature: Reading and Writing with Critical Strategies, and Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy.   

In my role as USCB’s Writer in Residence, I teach workshops in poetry and fiction as well as “Creative Writing Across the Curriculum,” a course designed to introduce students of all majors to the possibilities of creative writing. I also serve as Faculty Advisor to the Society of Creative Writers, which biannually publishes The Pen—USCB’s four-time national award-winning journal of creative writing and art. I offer a publishing practicum for creative writing students interested in serving on the editorial staff of The Pen and have directed 34 senior theses for USCB creative writing concentration students.  

I am Deputy Director of the annual Pat Conroy Literary Festival held in Beaufort County each November. As a member of the SC Humanities Speaker’s Bureau, I often serve as an invited presenter and panelist.  

 

  • Education
  • Teaching
  • Research

PhD in English. University of South Carolina 1998

MFA in Creative Writing. University of South Carolina 1992

BA in English with Minor in French. University of South Carolina 1981

  • ENGL B102 - Composition and Literature
  • ENGL B211 - Editing and Publishing Practicum
  • ENGL B222 - Creative Writing Across Curric
  • ENGL B464 - Poetry Workshop
  • Southern Literature
  • 20th Century American Literature
  • Creative Writing