Penn State Altoona professor to serve as guest speaker for residency program

ALTOONA, Pa. - Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, professor of English at Penn State Altoona, has been invited to serve as the guest writer to open Carlow University's 2025 MFA Dual Residency Program in Creative Writing. In her role, Jabbeh Wesley will read from her poetry, speak to her poetics, and sign books on Friday, January 3, 2025.

Carlow's MFA in Creative Writing is a dual-residency program in the U.S. and Ireland. The program hosts two annual residences: one in Pittsburgh in January and one at Trinity College, Dublin, in June.

Previously, Jabbeh Wesley has served as an invited and featured guest writer and poet more than four times. The residency often involves meeting with MFA non-traditional students who are writers. Additionally, Jabbeh Wesley has served as an external reviewer for the MFA theses of graduating students and was invited to serve on the MFA final thesis defense committee of a graduating student.