As a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota, when I sat in graduate seminars on Shakespeare’s sonnets, I would never have guessed that I’d finish my teaching career leading students to Antarctica.  Across forty years of teaching at Pacific Lutheran University, I followed my deepest passions in some surprising directions. 

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I focused early on PLU’s writing program and founded the Writing Center, which won a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.  I began experimenting with nature literature and study abroad courses.  Long before there was a specialty in environmental literature, I created a Wild Reading course and took students to frozen northern Minnesota in January. 

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That adventure evolved into 35 courses to Ecuador, Costa Rica, England, Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Mexico, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, Tanzania, Uganda, and most spectacularly Antarctica.  I love these courses where we put texts in dialogue with places and creatures, and all become more meaningful.  I think no one has ever taught Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner crossing the Drake Passage until my students and I did it together. 

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I began my career thinking I’d teach poetry.  By the end of my career, I realized I was teaching not poems but people.  I love working closely with students, getting to know them, and watching the transformational power of literature and nature.  As a pilgrim of my own passions, I invite students to explore theirs.