Meet Patricia Powell
Professor, Author, Publisher
...baker...chef...lecturer...lector...bus driver...retreat master...
Education:
Northwestern State Univ of LA
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Certification, Gifted and Talented
Seattle University
Seattle, Washington
Masters in Ministry
University of Louisiana
Lafayette Louisiana
Masters, ABD, PhD work, Creative Writing
Louisiana College
Pineville, Louisiana
B.A. English Educ, Social Studies
Central Texas College
Fort Polk, Louisiana
English Professor
October 1996 - Present
Patricia Ellyn Powell was born in Alexandria, Louisiana and has remained in her home state all of her life. Her love for Louisiana is natural, with a French mother and a country father.
Patti graduated from Louisiana College and taught English in the Rapides Parish School District, but soon saw blatant injustices in the school system which she chronicled in her locally popular book, "Rotten Apples."
She attended Seattle University and earned a masters in ministry in their famous SUMORE program. She studied catechesis on love with Mother Teresa of Calcutta in Rome. She did her Writing Project and Gifted Certification at Northwestern in Natchitoches, and completed ABD for her masters in Creative Writing at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she studied fiction with American bestseller and Academy Award winner, Earnest J. Gaines.
After teaching in the parochial system for almost a dozen years, Patti returned to the public schools and also began to teach at Central Texas College, the Ft. Polk base, where she remains today. She also does private tutoring, something she had done throughout her teaching career. She currently tutors online at Tutuor.com.
Patti has published a book of poems and art collected from people around the country who needed to reflect on the storm [Katrina] for healing and forward movement. She published a children's book, Coute Le LuLu, which is a cajun folk tale. She continues to meet new writers and collaborates with them on various publication projects. She has collected all her life's poems (and some songs) into a book called, Vivisection. She wrote a regular column for Art With Words and contributes to a wide variety of works. She recently wrote her first novel,"Goodbye Candy Gold".
Patti has been president of both The Rapides Coucil of Teachers of English and The Writers Guild of Cenla. She has traveled around the state for many years giving teaching and writing workshops, including The Louisiana Writing Project in Baton Rouge.