What class(es) are you teaching this year? ENG 113; ENG 110; ENG 210.
What do you love about teaching? It’s gratifying when a student reads a book in my class that they would not have chosen to read themselves and end up loving it.
Do you have a favorite book or author? I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the poet Kenneth Rexroth, and twenty years later I still love to re-read his poems and incredible essays. I also really admire Marilynne Robinson’s body of work.
What makes you excited to teach at Hope? I deeply appreciate the way Hope embraces its identity as a Christian liberal arts college that is open to diversity. It’s not giving up on the things that make the traditional college experience so rich and meaningful, yet it isn’t anxiety-ridden about the ways in which the world is changing.
What’s one book you think every student should read? Walden by Henry David Thoreau. It is the most philosophical book produced by an American author, if philosophy is defined as a thorough examination of basic human values and how they shape the way we live our lives.
What are your favorite hobbies? I like painting (pictures, not houses), watching movies from the 1970’s, and rabidly following Michigan State basketball.