The Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Board of Trustees has appointed Chloe Schwenke AWP’s interim executive director.     

Dr. Schwenke is an author, educator, researcher, international development practitioner and human rights activist with extensive leadership and management experience in academia, government, non-profit and for-profit organizations.

Her work draws on extensive international and multicultural experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment, social inclusion, diversity and leadership training, results-based human rights programming, LGBTQ issues, and international development ethics. She is author of “Reclaiming Values in International Development” (Praeger, 2008), and a memoir, “Self-ish: a transgender awakening” (Red Hen Press, 2018), as well as many chapters in various edited collections. She also teaches at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.

She recently concluded a one-year research grant where she served as the inaugural director of the Global Program on Violence, Rights and Inclusion at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in Washington, D.C. Prior to this position she served as vice president for global programs at Freedom House, where she worked alongside the board and staff to expand the organization’s reach and to increase fundraising. Schwenke was appointed senior human rights advisor for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development under former U.S. President Barack Obama; served as the founding managing director at the South African town and regional planning offices of Louis Berger International; and as co-founder and managing director of the U.S. registered development firm Landplan Group Africa with offices in four African countries.

“Chloe has an impressive portfolio of leadership and management experience for nonprofit organizations,” said David Haynes, AWP board chair. “AWP’s Trustees are thrilled to be moving forward under her direction.”

Schwenke earned her doctorate from the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she was chosen as the 2013 Alumna of the Year. In that same year she was awarded a National Public Service Award by the National Center for Transgender Equality, and in 2016 she was awarded the Global Advocate Award by DC Center – Global.

Schwenke assumed the interim executive director role with AWP on April 5, 2018, and will serve for six months as the AWP board conducts a national search for a new executive director.

About AWP

AWP provides support, advocacy, resources and community to nearly 50,000 writers, 550 college and university creative writing programs, and 150 writers’ conferences and centers. Our mission is to foster literary achievement, advance the art of writing as essential to a good education, and serve the makers, teachers, students and readers of contemporary writing. awpwriter.org