Ashley Kunsa came to Rocky in 2017 from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, where she completed a PhD in English literature with a focus on contemporary American literature—specifically war literature. Prior to this, she earned an MFA in fiction writing from Penn State University and a master of library science from the University of Pittsburgh.

At Rocky, Ashley runs The Reading Series @ RMC, which brings local and regional writers to campus, and serves as faculty advisor for The Rocky Mountain Review, the annual student-run journal that publishes RMC student writing and art. She also organizes end-of-semester student readings, hosts the Writers-in-Progress (WIP) series featuring creative writing capstone students, and initiated a creative writing contest that takes place during the fall semester.

Ashley’s fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and literary scholarship have been widely published in venues such as The Writer magazine, Blue Mesa Review, juked, the Los Angeles Review, Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, and Sycamore Review. She is a recipient of the A Room of Her Own Foundation Orlando prize for flash fiction and tied for first place for the inaugural Experimental Essay Prize from Eastern Iowa Review.