Debra Coleman Jeter

Debra Coleman Jeter has published both fiction and nonfiction in popular magazines, including Working Woman, New Woman, Self, Home Life, Savvy, Christian Woman, and American Baby, and has co-authored two textbooks. The Ticket was a finalist in 2013 Operation First Novel. Her story, “Recovery,” was awarded first prize in a short story competition sponsored by Christian Woman; and her nonfiction book “Pshaw, It’s Me Grandson”: Tales of a Young Actor was a finalist in the 2007 USA Book News Awards in the category History: Media & Entertainment. She is a co-writer of the screenplay for Jess + Moss, a feature film which premiered in 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival. Jess + Moss screened at nearly forty film festivals around the world, including Sundance, The Berlinale, Hong Kong International, and Melbourne International, and captured several awards including the prize for Best Feature at the 2011 Fresh Films Fest in Prague, the best narrative feature at the 2011 Dallas International Film Festival; and the Best Tennessee feature at the 2011 Nashville Film Festival. She holds a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, as well as a B.S. and an M.B.A from Murray State University. She studied creative writing at Vanderbilt University and at Austin Peay State University (with Howard Stein, a former dean of the Yale School of Drama). A native of Mayfield, Kentucky, she resides most of the year in Clarksville, Tennessee, with her husband Norman Jeter. She is the mother of two, a daughter Nikki and a son Clay. An Associate Professor in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University, she has been awarded both the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Webb Award (chosen by the MBA graduating class) for Excellence in Teaching. She holds a joint appointment as a Visiting Research Professor at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.