Passion and Practicality: A Liberal Arts Podcast
Passion and Practicality is a podcast series produced by Southern New Hampshire University‘s online Liberal Arts department, which includes academic programs and courses in Communication, Composition, Creative Writing, English, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, History, Literature, and Philosophy. In this podcast series, faculty, staff, and guests discuss the career paths open to graduates of those programs, the research and creative work of practitioners in the field, and other interesting stuff.
Passion and Practicality is a podcast series produced by Southern New Hampshire University‘s online Liberal Arts department, which includes academic programs and courses in Communication, Composition, Creative Writing, English, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, History, Literature, and Philosophy. In this podcast series, faculty, staff, and guests discuss the career paths open to graduates of those programs, the research and creative work of practitioners in the field, and other interesting stuff.
Episodes

4 days ago
4 days ago
Our guest Aimee Terravechia shares her “zigzag” career journey from a bachelor’s in English literature to roles in sales, marketing, journalism, nonprofit leadership, and advocacy. She illuminates how academic skills like critical analysis and storytelling became professional strengths that help her navigate complex legislation to make real community impact.

Friday Feb 06, 2026
Friday Feb 06, 2026
Word for Word opens a new season with our annual Instructor Spotlight event! We are thrilled to welcome MA instructor Dan Gleason and Online MFA instructor Tracy Crow as our special guests! Dan is a graduate of the famed Iowa Writers' Workshop who has worked as a journalist for an array of top national magazines. His new true-crime book, "Life Without: The Wrongful Conviction of Sandy Shaw," was just published from Bloomsbury. Tracy is an author of fiction and nonfiction, a literary agent, an editor, a publisher, and a veteran. She is the president and CEO of the MilSpeak Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting creative writing in the military community. Her award-winning memoir "Eyes Right" provided an uncensored look at the Marines from a woman’s perspective.

Friday Jan 23, 2026
History Speaker Series with Roger Newman
Friday Jan 23, 2026
Friday Jan 23, 2026
In this History Speaker Series event, Roger Newman discusses his recent book, Boys. Dr. Newman is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology, specializing in the care of women with multiple gestations. He has authored hundreds of papers, chapters, and books. At this event, Dr. Newman discusses his approach to historical fiction, how the book reflects real events in his family’s past, and the book publication process.

Friday Jan 09, 2026
Wireside Chat Featuring Special Guest Cindy Skaggs
Friday Jan 09, 2026
Friday Jan 09, 2026
Join us as Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA Instructor Cindy Skaggs! Cindy is the author of seven novels, two novellas, and, most recently, a guidebook for new novelists, "Dear Someday Writer." She holds an MA and an MFA in creative writing and has ten years of experience teaching writing and creative writing in higher education. She is an advocate for military and veteran issues, and in 2019-2020 spearheaded the Veteran Expressive Writing Workshop in conjunction with the Colorado Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Friday Dec 26, 2025
Wireside Chat, Featuring Special Guest Jerico Lenk
Friday Dec 26, 2025
Friday Dec 26, 2025
Join us as Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA Instructor Jerico Lenk! Jerico's fiction and poetry combine formal experimentation, queer identities and mythological reimaginings. His current work in progress is a novel adaptation of the Apollo and Hyacinth myth. He is the author of The Missing, a YA novel set in the Victorian-era and featuring queer ghost-hunters, and his novel In the Pines was shortlisted for the First Pages Prize in 2020.

Friday Dec 12, 2025
History Speaker Series with Aly Riley and She Spies
Friday Dec 12, 2025
Friday Dec 12, 2025
In this History Speaker Series event, historian Aly Riley discusses her recent book, She Spies: Women of the American Revolution, Their Heroic Missions, and Agent 355 Revealed, her experience with self-publication, and her future projects.

Friday Nov 28, 2025
Wireside Chat featuring Cynthea Liu
Friday Nov 28, 2025
Friday Nov 28, 2025
Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA instructor Cynthea Liu! Cynthea has published with Penguin Random House, Disney/Marvel, S&S, Sterling, and Scholastic in formats including picture books, transitional readers, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult novels. She has also written film adaptations and audiobook scripts for full-cast narration. As a consultant and editor, she takes on publishing projects requiring a story architect, project manager or managing editor for private clients and companies that represent independent authors, musicians, social media influencers and celebrities. In short, she does it all! Tune in to learn her success secrets!

Friday Nov 14, 2025
Wireside Chat featuring Holly Cornetto
Friday Nov 14, 2025
Friday Nov 14, 2025
Wireside Chat welcomes Online MFA instructor Holley Cornetto! Holley is a writer, librarian, professor, book reviewer for Publisher's Weekly, and transplanted Southerner who now calls New Jersey home. She is the author of the novels They Are Cursed Like You (with S. O. Green, 2023) and We Haunt These Woods (2022). Join us as we talk about the horror genre, book reviewing for fun and profit, the joys and challenges of literary collaboration, and more!

Friday Oct 31, 2025
History Speaker Series with Beth van Duzer
Friday Oct 31, 2025
Friday Oct 31, 2025
In this History Speaker Series event, public historian Beth Van Duzer, a recent graduate of SNHU’s graduate program in History, discusses her career as a historian and her work with local government in preparation for the America250 celebration.

Friday Oct 24, 2025
Wireside Chat featuring Marianna Boncek
Friday Oct 24, 2025
Friday Oct 24, 2025
Wireside Chat welcomes MFA instructor Marianna Boncek! Marianna is an author, teacher, performance poet, playwright, researcher, and Egyptologist--yes, that means mummies! She has published poetry, nonfiction about ghost-hunting and missing persons, and works of fiction, both YA and adult. Join us as we talk about her writing journey and her love of mystery and the macabre! And mummies!







