Buen Camino! My name is Nicole De Leon, and I am a poet&scholar.  I live on the Central Coast of California, and I am my cat's human. I try to infuse my poetry, scholarly writing, and photography with my experiences of walking the #everydaycamino.

I earned my B.A. & M.A.--in English--from Sonoma State University. Currently, I am working on my Ph.D. in Historical & Cultural Studies of Religion (Literature & Religion) at the Graduate Theological Union.

My dissertation focuses on two Twentieth-Century poets, Marianne Moore & Denise Levertov, and the ways in which they construct their poetic worlds so as to create imaginary spaces where readers can pilgrimage (to, from, within, and through). 

 Academic/Teaching Experience

Graduate Theological Union:

     Instructor, The Religious Imagination & 20th century American Poetry, Fall 2015

     Teaching Assistant, Art and Pilgrimage, Fall 2014 (lecture given: The Pilgrimages within Pilgrimage: The Chartres Cathedral and its Labyrinth)

     Teaching Assistant, at Sonoma State University, American Poetry, Spring 2014

Sonoma State University:

     Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Poetry, Fall 2012 (lectures given: Marianne Moore, John Ashbery)

     Teaching Assistant, California Ethnic Literature, Summer 2012

     Teaching Assistant, Survey: Imagining America—Early Period, Spring 2012 (lectures given: Jefferson and Adams, Henry D. Thoreau, Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson: The Beginnings of American Poetry)

     Teaching Assistant/Discussion Leader Coordinator, Cal. Ethnic Literature, Fall 2011

     Teaching Assistant, California Ethnic Literature, Summer 2011

     Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Poetry, Fall 2010

Newhall Teaching Fellowship 2015-2016

Presidential Scholarship 2013-2015