SUNY Adirondack professor honored by Who's Who

QUEENSBURY, New York (June 9, 2025) — P. Kathleen McCoy, a distinguished professor of English at SUNY Adirondack, was selected for inclusion in Marquis Who's Who. 

McCoy taught courses on poetry writing, women's literature, public speaking, American literature since World War II and world literature. She served as director of the college's Writer's Project and was division chair from 2014 to 2017.

Before teaching at SUNY Adirondack, McCoy was a freelance writer at Bedford-St. Martin's, during which time she penned instructor's annotations for all five volumes of Kathleen McWhorter's influential "Successful College Writing" series. Earlier in her career, she was a research analyst and writer for Research in Media dba Publisher's Research, analyzing focus group data and compiling reports and summaries for educational textbook publishers. 

A longstanding expert in poetry, McCoy is widely recognized as an influential figure in various literary circles. She is affiliated with Adirondack Center for Writing, the Academy of American Poets, the Modern Language Association, the National Council of Teachers of English and World Poetry Society. She is an accomplished writer and author of books including "Ringing the Changes," "More Water Than Words" and "Green and Burning." She also co-edited Inscape literary magazine and published numerous poems and articles in professional journals.

McCoy graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgetown College, and earned a Master of Arts in creative writing and a Ph.D. in modern literature from the University of Missouri. She holds multiple SUNY Learning Network online teacher certificates.

McCoy has been recognized with numerous accolades, including a SUNY Chancellor's Award for scholarship and creative activities, and the President's Award for excellence in teaching. She was named a finalist in the Book Excellence Awards, the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition and the Fish International Poetry Competition. 

In addition to establishing the American Association of University Women's student branch at SUNY Adirondack, she also initiated the school's 100 Thousand Poets for Change initiative — a nonprofit organization dedicated to literary arts, poetry and music.

McCoy retired at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.

About Marquis Who's Who®
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. The suite of Marquis® publications can be viewed at the official Marquis Who's Who® website, www.marquiswhoswho.com.