Mary’s College of Maryland. He received a B.A. in Communications, with an emphasis in journalism and advertising, from Winthrop University, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, with an emphasis in poetry, from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico. Between undergraduate and graduate studies, Coleman worked on Madison Avenue as an advertising copywriter for Young and Rubicam, the largest agency in the country at the time.