Department of English

126 Hoyt Hall, (307) 766-6452
FAX: (307) 766-3189
Web site: www.uwyo.edu/english
Department Chair: Kelly Kinney

Professors:

SUSAN ARONSTEIN, B.A. Seattle Pacific University 1980; M.Sc. Edinburgh University 1984; Ph.D. Stanford University 1987; Professor of English 2006, 1987.

KENT G. DRUMMOND, B.A. Stanford University 1980; M.B.A. Northwestern University 1982; Ph.D. University of Texas, Austin 1990; Professor of English 2019, 1990.

CAROLINE McCRACKEN-FLESHER, M.A. University of Edinburgh 1980; M.A. Brown University 1986; Ph.D. 1989; Professor of English 2004, 1989.

TRACEY OWENS PATTON, M.A. Colorado State University 1996; Ph.D. University of Utah 2000; Professor of English 2022.

Associate Professors:

CAROLYN ANDERSON, B.A. Auckland University 1981; M.A. 1984; Ph.D. Stanford University 1992; Associate Professor of English 2001, 1993.

MICHAEL EDSON, B.A. Virginia Tech University 2003; M.A. University of Delaware 2005; Ph.D. 2011; Associate Professor of English 2020, 2014.

SCOTT HENKEL, B.A. Western Michigan University 1997; M.A. Ohio University 2000; Ph.D. Michigan State University 2007; Associate Professor of English 2018, 2015.

KELLY KINNEY, B.A. Purdue University 1992; M.A. University of Nebraska-Omaha 1996; Ph.D. Ohio University 2005; Associate Professor of English 2015.

MICHAEL KNIEVEL, B.A. Creighton University 1995; M.A. 1997; Ph.D. Texas Tech University 2002; Associate Professor of English and Co-Director of Writing Program 2022, 2009, 2002.

CLIFFORD J. MARKS, A.B. University of Michigan 1983; M.A. State University of New York, Buffalo 1988; Ph.D. 1992; Associate Professor of English 2000, 1993.

JULIA OBERT, B.A. University of Western Ontario 2004; M.A. University of British Columbia 2006; Ph.D. University of California, Irvine 2011; Associate Professor of English 2016, 2011.

PETER PAROLIN, B.A. University of British Columbia 1988; M.A. University of Pennsylvania 1991; Ph.D. 1997; Associate Professor of English 2003, 1997.

JASON THOMPSON, B.A. Pacific Lutheran University 1996; MFA University of Arizona 2000; Ph.D. 2008; Associate Professor of English 2015, 2008.

ARIELLE ZIBRAK, B.A. University of Rochester 2003; M.A. Boston University 2007; Ph.D. 2013; Assistant Professor of English 2020, 2014.

NANCY SMALL, B.A. Texas A&M University 1992; M.A. 1994; Ph.D. Texas Tech University 2014; Associate Professor of English 2022, 2017.

Senior Lecturers:

PAUL BERGSTRAESSER, B.A. Oberlin College 1989; M.A. Northern Michigan University 2000; Ph.D. University of Illinois, Chicago 2007; Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing 2018, 2007.

RICK FISHER, B.A. University of Wyoming 2002; M.A. 2006; Ph.D. 2018; Senior Lecturer in English 2020, 2015, 2011.

APRIL HEANEY, B.A. University of Wyoming 1998; M.A. 2000. Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing 2015, 2005.

VAL PEXTON, B.A. Humboldt State University 1986; B.A. University of Wyoming 1998; M.A. 2001; M.F.A. 2008; Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing 2018, 2009.

JOYCE STEWART, B.A. Felician College 1994; M.A. Creighton University 1998; Senior Lecturer in English 2018, 2008.

Assistant Lecturers:

ASHLEY M. BURCHETT, B.A. The College at Southeastern 2016; M.A. North Carolina State University 2018; Assistant Lecturer in English and Co-Director of Writing Program 2022, 2019.

ALLISON GERNANT, B.A. Grinnell College 1996; M.A. University of Wyoming 2005; Assistant Lecturer in English & LeaRN 2015.

Study in the English department today emphasizes composition, literature, and rhetoric, creative and expository writing, and the nature and workings of language. Students in the department’s programs can learn to read with pleasure and understanding, to write with grace, clarity and force, and to think with greater depth and breadth. With these accomplishments, students are prepared for lives and work in which their power to understand, read, write and communicate will serve themselves and others, some specifically in careers in writing or teaching, some in professions of law, medicine, administration or almost any other field.

Composition, Literature, and Rhetoric are traditions that reach back through the centuries, but these intellectual traditions are continually growing and changing. New theories of language help us reshape understandings of ancient traditions and enhance our lives as critical readers and writers and creative human beings.

Assessment of English Undergraduate Learning

Through an active and ongoing assessment of our program, we have identified the following outcomes that are expected of each student graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English. We will continue to assess our curriculum to ensure these outcomes are being met:

UW students graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English will have demonstrated an ability to:

Read, interpret, and write about a diverse range of texts in English, for example literature, film, digital media, and popular culture;
Understand those texts analytically and critically;
Understand those texts on the basis of careful close reading;
Understand those texts through past and current literary and rhetorical theory;
Understand that those texts are culturally constructed in time, place, and tradition;
Understand how those texts inform culture;
Participate in the critical and cultural discourses of English;
Participate clearly and appropriately through multiple spoken and written forms.

English Honors Program

Requires a 3.500 GPA and a senior honors paper and defense. See the English department web site for information.

Teacher Certification

Students seeking the B.A. in English may also be certified for public school teaching by completing additional requirements set forth by the College of Education, via a concurrent major in English and English Education.

Graduate Study

The M.A. graduate program in English offers three concentrations leading to the master of arts degree: Literary Studies, Composition and Rhetoric, and Public Humanities.

Program Specific Admission Requirements

In addition to the minimum requirements set forth in this Catalog, the Department of English requires that students demonstrate by means of an official transcript that they have a solid undergraduate record with course work in English. That said, the department welcomes degrees in English or other disciplines from four-year colleges or universities.

Depending on their undergraduate preparation, some successful applicants may be required to take additional or specific courses toward the English master’s degree.

Candidates must submit GRE general test scores, a writing sample, a 500-word statement of purpose, a CV/resume, and three letters of recommendation.

English offers both a campus-based M.A. degree and a low-residency/online M.A. degree. Students should consult the M.A. web site or contact the department for specific admission information and deadlines for both M.A. programs.

Program Specific Graduate Assistantships

Teaching assistantships are available to qualified applicants in the campus-based M.A. degree. Full assistantships carry an annual stipend and a remission of full-time tuition and fees, and require the teaching of one course per term.

Each fall the department conducts a week-long orientation for new teaching assistants and a subsequent series of colloquia for all graduate assistants. Each assistant is assigned an experienced teacher in the department as a mentor, to be available throughout the semester for consultation on teaching and grading techniques.

Creative Writing Program

126 Hoyt Hall, (307) 766-6452
FAX: (307) 766-3189
Web site: www.uwyo.edu/creativewriting/
Program Director: Val Pexton

Professors:

ALYSON HAGY, B.A. Williams College 1982; M.F.A. University of Michigan 1985; Professor of Creative Writing 2008, 1996.

HARVEY HIX, B.A. Belmont College 1982; M.A. University of Texas, Austin 1985; Ph.D. 1987; Professor of Philosophy and Creative Writing 2015.

FRIEDA E. KNOBLOCH, B.A. Cornell University 1985; Ph.D. University of Minnesota 1994; Professor of American Studies and Creative Writing 2014, 1997.

JEFFREY A. LOCKWOOD, B.S. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology 1982; Ph.D. Louisiana State University 1985; Professor of Philosophy and Creative Writing 2006.

Associate Professors:

KATE NORTHROP, B.A. University of Pennsylvania 1991; M.F.A. University of Iowa 1995; Associate Professor of Creative Writing 2008.

Senior Lecturers:

APRIL HEANEY, B.A. University of Wyoming 1998; M.A. 2000. Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing 2015, 2005.

VAL PEXTON, B.A. Humboldt State University 1986; B.A. University of Wyoming 1998; M.A. 2001; M.F.A. 2008; Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing 2018, 2009.

PAUL BERGSTRAESSER, B.A. Oberlin College 1989; M.A. Northern Michigan University 2000; Ph.D. University of Illinois, Chicago 2007; Senior Lecturer in English and Creative Writing 2018, 2007.

Creative Writing

We are writers. Our principles follow from what claims us as writers as we guide our students in the creation of their own work. We offer a commitment to art and to the development of community through art. We offer an immersion in making, a chance to discover, to create serious work without pretense, to collaborate, to shake off assumptions and anxieties.

To be first and foremost concerned with making does not mean we take refuge from the world. It means we begin by supporting the deepest, most intelligent engagement with what matters to us as writers. A critical distance from the literary and academic marketplaces allows us to engage with them in a more thoughtful manner once we have found our authentic calling-that which we are truly compelled to explore. Our values will never map perfectly onto the concerns of institutions, and that is good. We strive to create the finest conditions for the making of art when we remain in an eccentric orbit of our own, one that overlaps with the other orbits, yet remains, as much as possible, guided by our own principles which include:

Making: we require the serious, committed, ongoing process of writing and revision.

Range: we cultivate a diversity of taste, form, genre, experience, and background, as well as an open understanding of what might constitute professional accomplishment.

Flexibility: we invite our writers to pursue their own creative and intellectual goals, to tailor the program in individual ways.

Curiosity: we urge creative and intellectual roaming: cross-genre work, interdisciplinary study, the movement across what are usually understood as boundaries; we encourage students to imagine possibilities beyond what is already imagined for them by the program and the university.

Community: we foster an environment that sustains listening, investment in the work of others, collaboration, rigorous expectation, generosity and, at the same time, respect for solitude.

Integrity: we challenge students to engage in deep investigation, to find their intent as a writer and to commit to it fully.

Graduate Study

The Creative Writing Master of Fine Arts offers two areas of concentration: fiction and creative non-fiction.

Program Specific Admission Requirements

In addition to the minimum requirements set forth in this Catalog, the Creative Writing M.F.A. Program requires that students demonstrate by means of an official transcript that they have a solid undergraduate record. The M.F.A. program welcomes degrees in any discipline from four-year colleges or universities. Candidates submit three letters of recommendation, a writing sample consisting of no more than 25 pages of prose, a 500-word statement of purpose and a vita. Students should consult the M.F.A. web site or contact the department for specific admission information and deadlines.

Program Specific Graduate Assistantships

We are a fully-funded program, meaning that we accept only as many students as we can support with graduate assistantships. Full assistantships carry an annual stipend and tuition waiver, and require the teaching of one section per semester, or equivalent work assignment. M.F.A. students are expected to teach freshman English.

Each fall, the English department conducts a week-long orientation for new teaching assistants and a subsequent series of colloquia. Each graduate assistant is assigned to an experienced teacher in the English department as a mentor, to be available throughout the semester for consultation on teaching and grading techniques.

Programs

Major

English, B.A.

Minor

Graduate

Courses

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