Current Position
Associate Professor of English, Viterbo University
Faculty Development Coordinator, Viterbo University
Education
PhD English,
University of Iowa, 1993
MA Utah
State University, Logan, Utah, 1979
BA Idaho State University, Pocatello,
Idaho, 1975, summa cum laude.
"This Awakening Heart: Masculine, Feminine, and DivineRecent Scholarly Presentations
Images in Susa Young Gates's John Stevens' Courtship,"
Sunstone Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 18, 1994"Of Women and Landscape: The Body as Political Discourse in
Terry Tempest Williams's Refuge," Western Literature
Association Conference, Salt Lake City, October 8, 1994"Every Picture Tells a Story Don't It: Calvin Klein's Phallic
Narrative," Popular Culture Association, Philadelphia, April,
1995"What's Frightening about Fear Street: Images of Teen-age
Girls in R. L. Stine Gothic Romances," Popular Culture
Association, Las Vegas, Nevada, March 25-28, 1996"The Legacy of Mormon Letters," University of Iowa Institue of
Religion, Iowa City, Iowa, July 19, 1996"Stories that Cling: Finding Ethical Practice in Storytelling and
Exploring School Violence for Insight and Reflection," National
Conference of National Council of Teachers of English, Chicago,
November 23, 1996"So What Do We Do with R.L. Stine? Teaching Values and
Ethics in the Classroom," National Council of Teachers of
English Conference, Detroit, Michigan, November 21, 1997"Her Story: Gender Representation in Young Adult Sports
Fiction," National Council of Teachers of English, Nashville,
Tennessee, November, 1998."I Hate This Book Now: Re-imagining the Role of 'Packets' in
Teaching Reading and Writing," National Council of Teachers of
English, Denver, Colorado, November 19, 1999"Symptoms of Emerging Violent Behavior," Who's Coming to College?
Preparing for the Students of Tomorrow, January 28, 2000, Alverno
College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin."Merging Into One: Teaching the Sacred in A River Runs Through
It," Spritual Frontiers 2000: Belief and Values in the Literary West,
March 30, 2000, Provo, Utah."Who Cares? Integrating an Ethic of Care in the Classroom." Institute
for Ethics in Leadership, Viterbo University, November 2, 2000."Alternative Ways to Stop Bullying in the Classroom." Caribbean Association
of Principals of Secondary Schools 18th Biennial Conference. July 26,
2001. Belize City, Belize.Civic Presentations
"School Violence: What We Can Do about Bullying," Bangor
Library Community Talk, Bangor, Wisconsin, March 8, 1997"Sarah Orne Jewett's Country of the Pointed Firs," Let's Talk
about It, La Crosse Community Library, La Crosse, Wisconsin,
April 12, 1997"How to Bully-Proof Your School, "West Salem Parent/Teacher
Organization, West Salem, Wisconsin, November 4, 1997"School Violence: A Community Concern," Rotary Club, June,
1998, La Crescent, Minnesota.Guest Lecturer at La Crosse Upward Bound, University of
Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, Wisconsin, summer, 1998"Remembering the Victims of School Violence," Rotary Club,
May 13, 1999, La Crosse, WisconsinGuest Lecturer on School Violence, Holmen High School, January 4, 2000.
"How to Bully-Proof Your School." Family Resource Center. November 29,
2000.Recipient of Wisconsin Humanities Council Grant to create Young Adult
Literature Reading Groups in the La Crosse area.Guest Lecturer at "Learning in Retirement," winter, 2001.
North Central Association Accreditation consultant for St. Scholastica College,
April 20, 2001.Viterbo College Faculty Presentations
"What About Me? Or, What's Wrong with a Faculty-Centered
Universe/University," Faculty Development Symposium, Viterbo
College, La Crosse, Wisconsin"Becoming a Peacemaker in the Classroom," Education
Convocation, Viterbo College, May, 1998"How Can I Teach Peace?" Graduate School in Education
Pro-Seminar, Viterbo College, July 16, 1999"Teaching with an Ethic of Care" Graduate School in Education
Pro-Seminar, Viterbo College, July 14, 2000.Recent Publications
"Women Together: Kate Alexander's Search for Self in Virginia
Sorensen's The Evening and the Morning," Annual of the
Association for Mormon Letters, 1992"Additional Sacred Mormon Texts," book review of Bright
Angels and Familiars: Contemporary Mormon Stories,
Exponent II 19.4, 1994"An Approach to Teaching Peace," Strides, February, 1996.
"How do we explain racism to a 3-year-old?" La Crosse Tribune,
May 7, 2000."Thoughts on the loss of a friend to suicide." La Crosse Tribune, August 6,
2000."Good Book about the Good Book." Review of
An American Bible: A History of the Good
Book in the United States, 1777-1880 by Paul
C. Gutjahr, Stanford U P, 1999. Dialogue: A
Journal of Mormon Thought. 33.2. 199-201."The Pigman's Story: Teaching Paul Zindel in
the 21st Century." Censored Books: Critical
Viewpoints. Ed. Nicholas J. Karolides.
Scarecrow Press, January, 2002."English: A Wonderful, Exasperating Language." Guest Column in the
La Crosse Tribune, December 24, 2000.Faculty Development
Successfully completed the Computers in Writing-Intensive Classrooms
Institute, Humanities Department, Michigan Technological University,
June 19 - June 30, 2000Successfully completed Computer Workshop on "Blackboard" at Viterbo
University, July 5-10, 2000.Completion of Workshop on School Violence by National School Safety Center,
March 6-8, 1996, Honolulu, Hawaii.Completion of Workshop on bullying at Wellesley College, June, 1997.
Honors:
Recipient of Wisconsin Humanities Grant, 2000-2001.
Recipient of Wisconsin Humanities Grant, 2001-2002.Recipient of Wisconsin Humanities Grant, 2002-2003
Academic Advisor of the Year, 2001.
Civic Responsibilities:
Member of Franciscan Skemp Healthcare Community Board, 2001