Academic director and instructor Peter Sapira received his bachelor of arts in English from San Francisco State University and his master of fine arts in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In addition to his work with the summer programs, Sapira also teaches composition and public speaking at Smith College. As part of his work in the Smith College Writing Center, he helps students write grant proposals, graduate school and internship applications and cover letters, as well as essays for classes across the curriculum. He has had short stories published in Anarchy, Inkwell, The Carolina Review, The Black River Review, The Literary Review and Pleiades. Folio Literary Management currently represents his first novel, Billy Hill.