The recipient of a Fellowship in Creative Writing from the National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council, and three Pushcart Prizes, he has taught in Creative Writing Programs at Ohio University and the University of Maryland, and has been Visiting Professor of American Literature at the University of Athens, Greece, as well as Banister Writer-in-Residence at Sweet Briar College, Stadler Poet-in-Residence at Bucknell University, and Distinguished Poet-in-Residence at Wichita State University.