John Mauk began professional life as a liaison between university initiatives and school curricula. As a graduate student in rhetoric and composition, he worked closely with public school teachers and their students. Later, with a PhD, he taught writing and rhetorical theory at three different colleges. He was twice elected professor of the year and received numerous commendations for teaching excellence and student support. He also served as co-director of a National Writing Project site and as the coordinating advisor for Professional Writing majors at Miami University. Mauk also wrote three successful college textbooks: The Composition of Everyday Life (Cengage Learning), Inventing Arguments (Cengage Learning), and Culture: A Reader (Oxford University Press). His pedagogical approach became known for its practical application across curricula and institutions. In recent years, Mauk took up literary writing, publishing stories, essays, and articles about multi-genre writing. He now teaches for adult continuing education programs.