Excelling as a private practice writing consultant since 1991, Marylyn E. Jones Calabrese, PhD, specializes in helping people write important documents. Over the years, she has worked with students applying to college, graduate school, medical school and law school; business executives who need writing coaching; and others who just needed official statements written. She is currently in the process of writing a memoir that will explore why she chose her career. Prior to her present work, she was the chair of the English department at Conestoga Senior High School from 1982 to 1991, where she began her career as a teacher, workshop leader and consultant in 1967.
Alongside her primary responsibilities, Dr. Calabrese has been a regular contributor or articles to professional journals, including the article “I Don’t Grade Papers Anymore” in the English Journal in 1983 and several articles for American Business Communication in 2014. She has also proffered her expertise as an educator, teaching communications skills for leaders courses at the graduate level at St. Joseph University and the undergraduate level at Cabrini University. Furthermore, she offers summer courses through her local library, free seminars for those writing college essays, and has taught a course on writing college application essays at the Tredyffrin Public Library.
A member emeritus of the National Council of Teachers of English, Dr. Calabrese attributes much of her success to the wonderful mentors she has had over the course of her education and career. She was inspired to her career early on by the many teachers in her family as well as by her own love of helping people with their writing. First earning a Bachelor of Arts at Bryn Mawr College, she went on to earn a Master of Arts in teaching from Wesleyan University before joining the University of Pennsylvania, where she attained a Master of Arts in English and a Doctor of Philosophy in education.
Dr. Calabrese considers her greatest achievements to be helping others. She is very proud to hear about times when her work has helped people to get jobs or get into schools, and she loves getting to meet her students again years down the road once they’ve built successful lives for themselves. For her early work, she was presented with the Decade of Equity Award by the Mid-Atlantic Center for Sex Equity at the American University in 1982.
