Our Leadership Team
The CUWP leadership model brings K-12 educators and university faculty together as co-directors of each local site. This shared governance is the core of school-university partnerships and teacher leadership. Each member of CUWP’s leadership team is a teacher committed to the teaching of writing and excited about building and nurturing professional communities with other writing teachers.
Dr. Amber Jensen, Director (2022-present)
Assistant Professor of English, Brigham Young University
Northern Virginia Writing Project (NVWP) ’13; CUWP ’20
Dr. Jon Ostenson, Associate Director (2023-present)
Associate Professor of English, Brigham Young University
CUWP ’10
Chris Thompson, Associate Director (2015-present)
ELA Teacher, Spanish Fork Junior High School
CUWP ’11
Joseph Wiederhold, Associate Director (2015-present)
ELA Teacher, Provo High School
CUWP ’12
Emeritus CUWP Leadership
Dr. Debbie Dean, CUWP Founder (2009-2022)
Professor of English, Brigham Young University
CUWP ’09
Dr. Chris Crowe, Associate Director (2009-2023)
Professor of English, Brigham Young University
Greater Phoenix Area Writing Project (ASU) ’83, CUWP Fellow ’09
Meet the CUWP Director
Dr. Amber Jensen became the director of the Central Utah Writing Project in July 2022 after co-directing the site with its founding director, Debbie Dean since 2019. Amber is eager to take part in the legacy of the site and the energy of its 200+ existing teacher fellows. We invite you to watch this video to learn more about Amber and how her own participation as a writing project fellow has influenced her professional life.
Our Advisory Board
Each year, the leadership team invites up to 10 CUWP fellows to participate on an annual advisory board whose mission it is to strengthen the community of CUWP by reviewing, imagining, and implementing project related to the core mission of the site. Currently, the Advisory Board project groups include BRANDING, CONTINUITY, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, and RECRUITMENT.
If you are a CUWP Fellow who is interested in participating in a future advisory board, please reach out and let us know by emailing us at cuwp@byu.edu.
2023-2024 Advisory Board Members
Jessica Ashurst, CUWP ’21
Copper Hills High School (Jordan) – English/Lat. in Action
Dr. Liz Thackeray Nelson, CUWP ’15
Utah Valley University – English Education
Rillene Nielsen, CUWP ’13 + ’18
Spanish Fork Junior High (Nebo) – English
Dr. Jon Ostenson, CUWP ’11
Brigham Young University – English Education
Zachary Searle, CUWP ’20
Olympus High School (Granite) – English
Denee Tyler, CUWP ’09
Mountain Ridge Junior High (Alpine) – English/SPED