Who Writes Shmoop?

We're from Ph.D. and Masters programs at Stanford, Harvard, UC Berkeley, and other top universities

  • A majority of our writers are Ph.D.s and Ph.D. candidates from top universities
  • 85% of our writers are graduates or students from top Ph.D. and Masters programs
  • 2/3 of our editorial team come from Ph.D. and Masters programs at Stanford, Harvard, and UC Berkeley

We're teachers

  • 91% of our writers have taught at the college or high school level

We're hopelessly devoted to our topics

  • Our writers are academic specialists in everything from Shakespeare to Victorian literature to
    African literature to 1800s American politics to the history of hip-hop.

We choose our team carefully

  • Shmoop has a rigorous and highly selective process to select new contributors.
    Do you have stellar academic chops and a sense of humor? Check out our jobs page.

Content Leads

David Siminoff, Shmoop Literature lead:

Honors in English from Stanford; studied English literature at Oxford; MFA from USC School of
Cinema and Television; MBA from Stanford; published author and award-winning screenwriter

Deb Tennen, Shmoop Literature lead:

BA (summa cum laude) in religion and Italian from Middlebury College; MA from Middlebury College School in Italy
Ph.D. work in Italian literature at Stanford; published research author; published People magazine letter-to-the-editor author.

Michelle Dohm, Shmoop Math, Science, and Test Prep Lead:

BS with highest honors in Chemistry from DePaul University; Ph.D. in the Chemistry of Life Processes from Northwestern University; postdoctoral work in Bioengineering at Stanford University; published research scientist, writer, and editor all rolled into one.