English/Communication: Joyce McClure, B.F.A.

Throughout her life, Joyce has traveled extensively, including living in Iran when she was a child. Early on, exploring back roads became a passion and has taken her on trips to remote areas of America, Europe, Tibet, India, South Africa, Eswatini, and China among others. After graduating from Stephens College (Columbia, MO) with a B.F.A. in liberal arts, Joyce moved to New York City where she launched a long career as a senior marketing executive for some of the largest advertising and public relations agencies and brands in the world. After the first 20 years in New York, she continued her career in Boston, Los Angeles and Seattle before joining the Peace Corps in 2016 as a Response Volunteer. The small, remote island of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia became her home for the next five years. Her assignment was to provide marketing services and capacity building for the 2018 Micronesian Games and the Yap Visitors Bureau. When that service ended, she turned to freelance writing for regional news and international travel media. In 2021 she moved to the U.S. Territory of Guam where she continued writing for the Pacific Island Times and still writes a monthly column titled Inside the Reef. Returning to the “mainland” in the summer of 2023 with the intention of returning to New York City, Joyce instead landed in Charlottesville where she joined our team to teach immigrants working at UVA. Joyce has a certificate in ESL from the New School in New York City and one in paralegal studies from Boston University. Based on her many years in the corporate world, she is also adept at teaching business English, providing presentation skills training, and other business-related skills. In addition to being a published writer, she is an experienced editor, proofreader, and award-winning photographer.