Pamela Gerhardt, who teaches advanced persuasive writing and narrative nonfiction in the Professional Writing Program at the University of Maryland, received the 2014 Outstanding Book Award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. She was honored for her memoir Lucky That Way: Rediscovering My Father’s World (University of Missouri Press, 2013), which tells the story of how Gerhardt and her four siblings dealt with their father after he suffered a stroke while on vacation in Las Vegas.
Professor Gerhardt is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She holds a master of fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She has taught advanced writing and editing classes at Virginia Commonwealth University, Johns Hopkins University, and Texas A&M University.