A graduate of Yale University with a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University, he has been awarded a Certificate of Excellence for Ann Arbor District employees for his teaching and organizing of poetry programs; and was also named the 1995-96 California Education Placement Association’s New Teacher of the Year for Northern California Secondary Schools. In April of 2007, he was recognized by the American Civil Liberties Union as Michigan’s Wendy Joyrich Teacher of the Year and was also selected the 2007 Michigan Youth Art’s Festival’s Artist-in-Residence. ﻿