“Retreat within the Pages: A Reading Retreat” on

Whitney Taylor, PhD is an educator, writer, and certified professional coach, and her experience spans academic and professional realms. She received her PhD in English literature from Northwestern University, where she taught literature and writing courses on topics from Shakespeare to fairy tales and action heroines as a professor. Whitney is originally from Atlanta, where teaching for the Urban Debate League first developed her love of facilitation, teaching, and empowering people to be curious and confident. Upon working in executive leadership coaching for non-profits and medical companies, she discovered her love of coaching and pursued her coaching certification from Coactive Training Institute in 2021. Her prior experience also includes supporting students in business writing and communications at Emory University's Goizueta School of Business and working with student athletes as a learning strategist at Northwestern. Whitney moved to Nashville in 2022 to help graduate students and postdoctoral fellows find jobs that align with their values, interests, and skills as a career coach. She now works as an educational development specialist at Vanderbilt University. Her current teaching interests are in the field of narrative medicine, which centers storytelling, close listening, and communication between doctors and patients for more humane, ethical healthcare. She loves reading and writing, live music, and getting to know the wonderful people and places in the Nashville community.