Dean Bakopoulos is an Associate Professor of Cinema and Screenwriting Arts. He teaches Topics in Screenwriting and Advanced Screenwriting I. 

He is the author of the novels Please Don’t Come Back from the Moon, My American Unhappiness, and Summerlong. The winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship and NEA fellowships in both fiction and nonfiction, Bakopoulos is also a WGA screenwriter. He co-wrote the film adaptation of his first novel, which went on to become a New York Times Critics' Pick and receive prizes at three international film festivals. He is also co-creator and executive producer of the HBO MAX series Made for Love. Bakopoulos is currently developing several new projects for film and television, including Goodwinter, which he co-created with bestselling author Michael Perry and Grammy-winning musician Justin Vernon, and The Off Weeks, a show set in Iowa City, which will be directed by Michael Showalter.