Our award-winning English faculty at UNK model the teacher/scholar paradigm and encourage scholarship and creativity in our students, both graduate and undergraduate. Our teaching and scholarly activities are enhanced by an active commitment to our students, our campus, and our discipline. Our student-centered faculty focus on literary traditions across a broad range of texts and media, examining the structures of literary form and genre, cultural history, and critical analysis. We emphasize interpretative and critical thinking as well as creative and scholarly writing.
Our distinguished and productive teacher/scholars and creative writers practice what they teach. They publish widely in national peer-reviewed journals and have books accepted by prestigious presses. Their work is supported by national and regional awards and endowments, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Plains Humanities Alliance, the Nebraska Arts Council, the Nebraska Humanities Council, and the Research Services Council. Conference presentations have taken them to Spain, Scotland, England, France, Italy, India, China, Canada, Mexico, and across the United States. Often students, both graduate and undergraduate, accompany them on their scholarly journeys to present their own papers.
Whether you are interested in Shakepeare or popular culture, Virginia Woolf or John Updike, Western American literature or transnational literature, Chaucer or Children’s literature, short stories or poetry or graphic novels, we have a faculty member ready to share his or her expertise with you. Check out the wide-ranging specializations of our faculty.
For tenure-track faculty, see the list on the right. For lecturers, part-time faculty, and graduate assistants, see the links below.
Dr. Sam Umland, Department Chair
Dr. Martha Kruse, Director of Graduate Studies
Dr. Robert Ficociello, Composition Coordinator
Ruth Behlmann, Department Secretary