Diane Moon Sautter

Professor
B.A., English and Drama, Syracuse University
M.A., English and Creative Writing
Ph.D. Humanities, Danforth Fellowship
dsautter@nmu.edu

Teaching Specialties

- Mythology
- Period and Contemporary Poetry
- Myth and Literature
- Narrative and Descriptive Writing
- Technical Writing

After semiotics and deconstruction have dissolved myth into language issues, Dr. Sautter says that it may be precisely the dissolving of the ancient mythologies into language that allows myth to disperse in a new and less dogmatic manner, creating fractal patterns of myths. Dr. Sautter's graduate studies were in the Humanities (an English, Religion and Myth, and Creative Writing combination). Since interdisciplinary approaches do not settle into the usual academic niches, the "interdisciplinist" slides here and there, finding her own footing, balancing above the grooves. According to Dr. Sautter, you can boil all her teaching specialties down to one basic activity: the teaching of writing. Forays into writing are the heart of her writing classes, and forays into the results of story telling and writing are the heart of her myth and literature classes; crossovers between writing and reading find their foundation in the mythic as established in story and language. Diane has published poetry in The Mid West Quarterly, Passages North, and Paterson Literary Review. Her literary studies on the Golem and on Southeast Asian Literature have been published by Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts and Journal of Literature and Aesthetics . W.C. Williams said that "It is difficult/ to get the news from poems / yet men die miserably every day / for lack of what is found there." In her personal writing and teaching, Diane looks to the act of writing/reading to bring across news from the other side of the mind and the other side of culture. From the ancient archetype of the Muse to the Arrival of the Fifth World (which the Hopi prophecy for the present time), writing is a Shamanic skill that functions to provide metaphors that guide us. In addition to her NMU teaching, Diane's avocation is studying and teaching Yoga, which she finds an extremely clear system for personal and spiritual development. She is an advisor and teacher for the NMU Yoga organization, "Hearts of Yoga." Since the Sanskrit root of the word Yoga means "to yoke" or "to join," Yoga is a natural pursuit for a cross-disciplinist. (If Toni Morrison can be a womanist, I can be a cross-disciplinist, Diane says.) Dr. Sautter is presently working on a text for teaching writing from mythical and interdisciplinary perspectives.

James Schiffer

Professor and Head
B.A., University of Pennsylvania
M.A., Ph.D.,University of Chicago
jschiffe@nmu.edu

Teaching Specialties

- Shakespeare
- English Renaissance Literature

James Schiffer has served as the Head of the Department of English since July 2000. Among his publications are several essays on Shakespeare's poems and plays, as well as the following books: Foul Deeds (St. Martin's, 1989), an academic mystery novel co-authored with Susan Schiffer, under the pen name "Susan James"; a study of the work of contemporary novelist Richard Stern (Twayne U.S. Authors Series/Macmillan, 1993); and the edited collection Shakespeare's Sonnets: Critical Essays (Garland, 1999; paperback: Routledge, 2000). In 1999 Schiffer conceived and directed Sonnet Variations: A Performance of Shakespeare's Sonnets, which his cast performed in Virginia, in Georgia, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. In 2000 Jim directed a videotape of the show which is being distributed by Films for the Humanities and Sciences. He is currently editor of the New Variorum edition of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which will be published eventually by the Modern Language Association. In addition, he is the editor of the forthcoming collection Twelfth Night: New Critical Essays with Routledge.  In recent years he led a seminar on “Political Sonnets” at a conference of the Shakespeare Association of America, was awarded a Folger Library summer fellowship, and served as President of the Michigan Association of Departments of English.

Jaspal Singh

Associate Professor
B.A., University of Dehli and Agra University
M.A., Oregon State University
Ph.D., Comparative Literature, University
of Oregon
jsingh@nmu.edu

Teaching Specialties

- Colonial and Postcolonial Theory and Literature
- Literatures of Africa, South Asia, and the Caribbean
- Burmese Literature
- Feminist Literature and Theory
- Asian American Literature

Professional Accomplishments: Jaspal Singh teaches classes on African and South Asian literary and cultural studies, African and South Asian diaspora studies, as well as multicultural and feminist literary and cultural theory. She had held a research fellowship at the Institute for the Study of Gender in Africa, University of California, Los Angeles, and published creative work and articles in Emergences: Journal for the Study of Media and Composite Cultures and Asian American Novelists: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Source Book, among others. Singh's articles have appeared in Michigan Academician; An Anthology of Africans in India; Rethinking Modernity; South Asian Review: Globalization and Diaspora; In Other Words and Journal of Contemporary Thought. Her book project is entitled, Comparative Postcolonial/Transnational Poetics: Madness as Resistance in South Asian and African Women's Literature.

Mark Smith

Professor
B.A., University of Notre Dame
M.A., Seattle University
D.A., University of
Michigan
masmith@nmu.edu

Teaching Specialties

- The teaching of writing (undergraduate and graduate)
Composition
- Ancient Greek and Biblical Literature and Cultures
- Mythology

Mark Smith began his teaching career at NMU in 1970. His publications include "Using Markings to Respond to Student Writing," English Journal, 86.2 (February 1997), 79-80; "From Expressive to Transactional Writing: A Case Study," English Journal, 81.8 (December 1992), 42-47; and "Writing Whole-istically," Journal of Teaching Writing, 2.1 (Spring 1983), 12-28. From 1978-82 Mark served as one of the two co-directors of the Upper Peninsula Writing Project, an authorized site of the National Writing Project; during the past 5 years he has continued his involvement in the Project in other capacities. In 1974 he established a peer tutoring program for NMU's Writing Center and served as its director for 17 years. His other professional pursuits include working with at-risk students and teaching an interdisciplinary course on ancient Greek and Biblical cultures. When he's not writing and working on writing with his students, Mark enjoys doing things with his children, bicycling (even through the UP's harsh winters), playing basketball (despite his many air balls), and camping.

John Smolens

Professor
B.A., Boston College
M.A., University of New Hampshire
M.F.A. in Writing, University of Iowa
jsmolens@nmu.edu
Visit his Homepage

Teaching Specialties

- Fiction Workshop
- Creative Nonfiction
- Good Books
- Composition

John Smolens has been teaching in the English Department since 1996.  He teaches a variety of writing fiction workshops at the graduate and undergraduate level; he has also taught Good Books, Composition, and writing workshops devoted to Creative Nonfiction, Memoir, and Travel Writing. 

He has published five novels (Cold, The Invisible World, Fire Point, Angel’s Head, and Winter by Degrees), and one collection of short stories (My One and Only Bomb Shelter).  Cold was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and the Detroit Free Press selected Fire Point as the best book by a Michigan author in 2004.  His new book, a historical novel set in 1901, will be published by Shaye Areheart Books/Random House in 2008.  His short stories and essays have appeared in various magazines and newspapers, including:  the Virginia Quarterly, the William and Mary Review, the Massachusetts Review, Yankee, Redbook, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe.  His work has been translated into Dutch, Greek, Italian, and Turkish, and has been published the United Kingdom by Hodder & Stoughton, London. 

He holds degrees from Boston College, the University of New Hampshire, and the University of Iowa.  In 2006 he was the recipient of a Distinguished Faculty Award from Northern Michigan University.  You can visit his dedicated website at www.johnsmolens.com.

Laura Soldner

Professor
B.S., M.S.,University of Wisconsin-Madison
lsoldner@nmu.edu

Teaching Specialties

- Developmental reading and study skills
- Remedial and developmental composition
- Pedagogy courses in the teaching of reading
- Adult learning styles and strategies
- Freshman seminar and transition issues

Laura Soldner, the department's developmental reading and learning specialist, has been at NMU since 1987. Her post-secondary background includes graduate, undergraduate, and community college teaching as well as middle school, high school, and high school completion experience. She holds degrees in Secondary Education English and Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Reading and is a licensed Reading Specialist.

Across campus, Laura is also well-known for her advocacy of freshmen success. Laura was NMU's original Director for the First Year Experience (FYE) Program from its inception in 1995 until her return to the classroom in 1998. The program's impact on student retention as well as performance has been featured in national publications such as The Freshman Year Experience Newsletter and Exploring the Evidence: Reporting the Outcomes of First-Year Seminars. Laura was nominated for and was a finalist for the national award recognizing first-year student advocates in 1999.

Laura is currently collaborating on a textbook with colleagues at Indiana State University-Terre Haute on human communication and the freshmen year experience slated to be published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. Her latest research focuses on the role of reflection in metacognition and strategies to enhance freshmen success and retention. Her most recent articles have been published in International Journal of Journal of the Humanities; The Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory, and Practice; and Journal of College Literacy and Learning.

Cate Terwilliger

Assistant Professor
M.A.,University of Michigan
cterwill@nmu.edu

Teaching Specialties

- Journalism

Cate Terwilliger joined the English Department in Fall 2004 after 20 years as a print journalist, including staff positions with The Associated Press and The Denver Post. She was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing, and shares in the 2000 Pulitzer Prize awarded The Denver Post for its coverage of the Columbine High School shootings. Cate also worked as a reporter and editor at The Colorado Springs (Colo.) Gazette and The Colorado Springs Independent, where her work won numerous awards. Her freelance articles have appeared in regional and national magazines; she also is the author of numerous technical reports. Cate holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree in animal science from the University of Minnesota.

Ray Ventre

Professor
B.A.,Providence College
PhD, Brown University
rventre@nmu.edu

Teaching Specialties

- Victorian Poetry & Literature
- Early Twentieth Century British Literature
- Nineteenth Century American Literature
- Early Twentieth Century American Literature
- Remedial and Technical Writing

Ray Ventre came to Northern Michigan in 1979 after two years as the English Consultant for the Civic Education Project at Carnegie-Mellon University, where he developed curricular materials and trained teachers in implementing the Kohlbergian stages of cognitive moral development in the classroom. While at Northern Michigan University, he also incorporated those concepts into the associates degree programs he helped to develop at Marquette Branch Prison. He has served in a variety if administrative roles, but his first love is teaching, from remedial and technical composition to various introductions and surveys of literature, as well as his areas of specialization. He has presented papers and published articles on curriculum development and implementation, cognitive moral development, and various literary figures. Currently, he is working on the incorporation of web technology into the teaching of literature. His newest article, on one of his old favorites, Gerard Manley Hopkins' dark sonnets, will be featured in the fall 2000 issue of ANQ.

Robert Whalen

Associate Professor
B.A., York University
M.A., Ph.D., University of Toronto
rwhalen@nmu.edu

View his homepage

Teaching Specialties

- Shakespeare
- Renaissance Literature
- British Literature Surveys

Robert Whalen received his Ph.D. (1999) from the University of Toronto where he studied British Renaissance literature. He is the author of The Poetry of Immanence: Sacrament in Donne and Herbert (U of Toronto P, 2002) as well as (selected) articles in Renaissance Quarterly, Early Modern Literary Studies, Text Technology, and Centered on the Word: Literature, Scripture, and the Tudor-Stuart Middle Way (U of Delaware P, 2004). His current research includes an electronic edition of George Herbert’s English verse, The Digital Temple (U of Virginia P, forthcoming).

Rob lives in Marquette with Eva and their sons, Joel and Michael, and two cats, Freja and Sif. In addition to interests in music and cooking, he is actively cultivating a taste for swimming in Lake Superior.

David Wood

Assistant Professor
B.A., Skidmore College
M.A., University of Alaska Fairbanks
Ph.D., Purdue University
dwood@nmu.edu

David Wood began teaching at Northern in 2007.  He completed his Ph.D. at Purdue University in Renaissance Studies in 2004, and earned his other degrees at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (MA) and Skidmore College (BA), respectively. 

In addition, he also lived for a year in the Peoples' Republic of China, teaching reading, writing, and literature at Qufu Normal University.  His current book manuscript is tentatively entitled "Very Now: Timing the Subject in English Renaissance Literature," which traces the relationship between representations of character emotion and experimentation with narrative form in the literature of the period, and he has published related essays on writers and artists such as Shakespeare, Sidney, and the Italian baroque painter Caravaggio. 

David continues to serve as co-Chair for Purdue's annual Renaissance Prose Conference, and he comes to Northern after three years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he won numerous teaching awards from the English Department Honor Society.