Millie Tullis, who got her BA in creative writing and MA in American Studies and Folklore from USU, has been doing incredible work in the world of writing and folklore post-graduation. Recently, she was named the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Exponent II.  

Exponent II was founded over 50 years ago and promotes art, voices, and stories of women and gender minorities, specifically across the Mormon spectrum. “I learned about Exponent II several years ago, and I was really intrigued by the unique history of the magazine and its community,” Millie says. “My own writing and research has been long-interested in Mormon culture, especially the lives and stories of Mormon women.” 

Millie published a poem in Exponent II and loved the magazine when they received their first contributor copy. They comment, “I was amazed by the beauty of the magazine itself. Every issue is designed, edited, and laid out with such thoughtful care. I’m really excited to continue fostering new and established writers and artists in this community by taking on the Editor-in-Chief role.” 

In addition to Exponent II, Millie also works as the Editor-in-Chief of literary journal Psaltery & Lyre, which publishes essays, stories, poetry, and hybrid works that examine and push against the sacred and secular. Millie discovered the journal by reading poetry by Dayna Patterson, founding editor of the magazine, and it was passed onto her in 2022.  

“I have loved the opportunity to work closely with so many amazing writers—both my teams of readers and editors and those whose work we read and publish,” Millie reflects.  

Working at Sink Hollow at USU was a defining moment for Millie in discovering their love of editing and publishing. They were part of the group of students who helped found the journal and worked as a poetry co-editor. When she was at George Mason University, Millie was the poetry and social media editor of the literary magazine there, Phoebe, and volunteered as an assistant editor of The Best of the Net Anthology.  

“All of these experiences have offered me new opportunities to read widely and see how publication happens,” Millie says. “What I love most about working on a literary journal is that it constantly exposes me to new work. I love encountering writers that surprise me—poems that make me think, ‘A poem can be this, too?’” 

In 2023, Millie published a micro-chapbook, Dream with Teeth, that stemmed from the project they did during their MFA.  

“I began writing poems centering the life of my great-great-great-grandmother, Martha Eccles Tullis, a young English woman who emigrated to Utah by handcart and lived polygamously with her own mother—marrying her stepfather when she was sixteen years old,” she comments. “Dream with Teeth focuses on fairy-tale variants to think about layers of stories, inheritance, and gendered violence.”  Millie also created a poetry manuscript out of this MFA project, These Saints Are Stones, which will be published by Signature Books in 2026.  

Millie’s also found great success in her award-winning folklore work. In 2023, she won the Don Yoder Prize from the Folk Belief and Religious Folklife section of the American Folklore Society for the work she did during her MA at USU. The chapter that won, “Comfort, Counsel, Money, and Livestock: Mormon Women’s Divination Communities” was part of her thesis titled, “Mormon Women’s Peepstones: Divination, Revelation, Gender and Power in Utah.”  

“Researching fairy tales and my great-great-great-grandmother’s life for my MFA thesis ignited my interest in folklore, especially Mormon women’s folklore and archival work. During my master’s in folklore at USU, my interest in the historical lives of everyday Mormon women grew,” Millie reflects. “Winning the Yoder prize really encouraged me to continue the project—I have been working on revisions and hope to publish soon!” 

Millie said her time at USU was influential in all of these achievements and opportunities: “In my first semester as an undergraduate at USU, I was lucky enough to take Dr. Jennifer Sinor’s Introduction to Nonfiction class. Dr. Sinor took me and my writing seriously, which was a new gift and one I needed. My creative writing degree taught me how to be a writer. It is hard work, joyful and disappointing. Writing is being alone and being with others. The Bull Pen and Helicon West were my first experiences of writing in community; those spaces helped me grow some of the most meaningful friendships in my life.” 

Coming back to USU after receiving their MFA was a way for Millie to reconnect with USU’s program and dive deeper into folklore, which had sparked her interest. “As I dug into the history and folklore of Mormon women’s peepstones, the folklore faculty were amazingly supportive of my work. Dr. Jeannie Thomas was especially enthusiastic, teaching me to recognize patterns and continually ask deeper questions about what I’d uncovered,” she says. “In short, I couldn’t be the writer or researcher I am today without the mentors and friends I found in Ray B. West. I have been so lucky to have learned from and with this community.” 

When asked if they had any advice for students, Millie brought up poet Amorak Huey’s writing-life advice: “Find your people and hold onto them…don’t think of it in any kind of mercenary or reciprocal sense—what can I get out of this—but because you value the kind of connection, the kind of relationships that art makes possible.” 

To this quote, Millie added, “Don’t hedge your ambition, but write because you love writing.”