Program Team

Brighde Mullins is the Director of the Master of Professional Writing Program. She has taught writing for 18 years at institutions such as Harvard University, where she was the Briggs-Copeland Lecturer in Dramatic Writing and the Director of the Creative Writing Program; Brown University, where she was a Visiting Associate Professor of Playwriting; and San Francisco State University, where she held a tenured position as Associate Professor of Playwriting. She has won significant awards for her writing, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (2012), United States Artists Fellowship in Literature (2010), Pinter Review Gold Medal (2003), the Whiting Foundation Award for Playwriting (2001), the Will Glickman Award for Playwriting (2001), a Pushcart Prize nomination for her poetry (2003), and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting (1991). She has had over ten plays that have reached full production in New York, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other venues. She holds and MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama and an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Natalie Inouye is the Student Services Advisor for the Master of Professional Writing Program. She also works with other programs, including the Master of Liberal Studies Program and USC Dornsife College graduate certificate programs. Natalie has a BA in Psychology from Chapman University and an MS in Counseling and Student Development in Higher Education from California State University–Long Beach. She has been with the University of Southern California since 2003, working previously with the USC Marshall School of Business.

Howard Ho is the Program Specialist for the Master of Professional Writing Program. He holds a BA in Musicology and Communications Studies from UCLA. As a writer, he has been published in the Los Angeles Times and Entertainment Weekly, and is developing an original musical. He has also been Assistant to the Producers on the Warner Bros. feature film TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and has worked as a sound designer for Company of Angels, as well as worked in various capacities with several other Los Angeles theatres, including East West Players and Lodestone Theatre Ensemble.

Cort Brinkerhoff is the Program Assistant for the Master of Professional Writing Program. His plays have been produced in Los Angeles, Oakland, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Salt Lake City, and aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach. He has worked as a literary intern with Center Theatre Group, La Jolla Playhouse, and Sundance Theatre Lab. He serves as Literary Manager for A-Z Productions and evaluates scripts for the BlueCat Screenplay Contest. Cort holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from USC.