Graduate Students

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 217C
•  samuel.amendolar@UND.edu

Areas of Interest

Medieval Literature; Manuscript Studies (Codicology, Paleography, and the History of the Book); Spatial Theory and Materiality; Interdisciplinary Studies (Especially Literature and Philosophy); Digital Humanities

Biography

Sam Amendolar is interested in medieval literature and manuscript studies. His work emphasizes codicology, examining texts as both literature and cultural artifacts, while also observing how they are perceived and represented in assemblages that construct the facticity of our material world(s). Exploring convergences of time, space, and intertextuality, his research demonstrates how these factors contribute to medieval material discourses both in and about literature. His published works explore these links and aim to elucidate both the tangible and intangible aspects of material culture. 

Sam’s approaches to medieval literature and codicology have been extended to his independent research projects, including the curation of various letters, texts, and a personal scrapbook belonging to Maj. Leonard S. Van Vliet, Assistant Quartermaster to then-General Ulysses S. Grant in the American Civil War.

Sam is also a hobbyist woodworker and can be found turning wood blanks at the lathe when he isn’t turning the pages of his favorite books.

Courses Taught

• ENGL 110 College Composition I
• ENGL 130 Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences
• ENGL 227: Literature and the Environment (Topic: Ecocriticism)
• ENGL 308 The Art of Writing Nonfiction

Selected Publications and Presentations

• “Sacred Space in Ælfric’s Lives of Saints: A Geosemiotic Reading of Saint Swithun's (Re)Construction." Religions. (Forthcoming, 2025).
• “Laura Cereta.” The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Medieval Women’s Writing in the Global Middle Ages, edited by Michelle M. Sauer, Diane Watt, and Liz Herbert McAvoy. Palgrave Macmillan, 2025.
• “‘Into a forest ful depe’: Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching The Works of the Gawain Poet in the Ecocritical Classroom.” Presented at the Northern Plains Conference for Early British Literature (NPCEBL) in Aberdeen, SD, April 2025.
• “‘This Precious Stone is Jesus’: Agate in Ancrene Wisse.” Early Middle English, vol. 5 no. 2, 2023, p. 101-111. Project MUSE
• Campus Building: Merrifield Hall, co-edited with Shilo Previti and Grant McMillan, The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota, 2023.

Digital Humanities Projects:

• In progress: “Leonard S. Van Vliet Digital Collection.” Principal Investigator and Curator. 

• nicholas.baldwin@UND.edu

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 240G
• davina.bell@UND.edu

Areas of Interest

American Literature; African American Literature; Afro-Caribbean Literature; African Literature; Black Women Writers; Black Feminism; Black Queer Theory; Indigenous Literature; Latinx Literature; Multicultural Literary Futurism; Speculative Fiction; Gothic Literature; Horror, Film Studies

Biography

Davina focuses on African American literature from Reconstruction to the present, with a special interest in ideological, futuristic, and utopian representation of the African diaspora in literature and film.  Within the literary aesthetic of futurism, she is interested in Indigenous and Latinx cultural representations.  She is also interested in Black feminism and Black queer theory.

She works with UND’s Black Studies Project, which fosters scholarly exchanges and community conversations about the African diaspora’s cultural discoveries, contributions, and recognitions.

Davina is from Birmingham, Alabama, and loves to travel and see the world.  When she’s not studying, she enjoys reading fiction, especially romance, and attending readers’ conferences for the romance and mystery genres.

Courses Taught

• ENGL 110 College Composition I
• ENGL 130 College Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences
• ENGL 227 Literature and the Environment (Topic: Ecocriticism)
• ENGL 231 Literature and Social Issues (Topic: Social Justice, Literature, and Film)

Selected Publications and Presentations

• Campus Building: Merrifield Hall, co-edited with Shilo Previti and Sam Amendolar, The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota, 2023.
• “Queering Black Blood: Joe Christmas, Power, Lynching, and Castration,” Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, Oxford, MS, 2023.
• “Detroit’s Black Bottom and Paradise Valley: A Multicultural Promised Land,” MELUS Conference, Indianapolis, IN, 2023.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 125
• casey.fuller.1@UND.edu

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 125
• charles.d.henry@UND.edu

Areas of Interest

Premodern Literatures; Mythology; Secular studies; Sociolinguistics; Postmodernism (especially race and gender); Public Humanities; Composition Theory; Distant Reading; Poetry Writing; Educational Philosophy.

Biography

Charles is interested in the effects of dominant cultures on language and society. His academic work attempts to reexamine how religion, class, and power influence constructions of race, gender, and identity within literature. Beyond his theoretical bent, Charles is interested in the discourse study of English. In his teaching he is very interested in writing as a process, developing a positive rapport with his students, and ensuring that formative assessment builds his students’ skills.

Charles grew up in the Ohio Valley, and moved to Grand Forks from Pittsburgh. He loves hiking at Turtle River or biking the Greenway, going to plays and concerts, and hanging out with his partner and their chihuahua, Steve.

Courses Taught

• ENGL 110 College Composition I
• ENGL 130 Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences
• ENGL 226 Introduction to Creative Writing
• ENGL 308 The Art of Writing Nonfiction

Selected Publications and Presentations

• “Anchorites and Intersectionality (A Roundtable).” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2023.
• “The Land of Cockaigne: A Tale of Clerical Authority Questioning Clerical Identity,” Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, Bemidji, MN, 2023.
• “Indecent Anchorholds (A Roundtable),” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2022.
• “The Construction of Identity and Religious Masculinity in Saint Guthlac,” Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, Vermillion, SD, 2022.
• “The Construction of Leprosy as Identity in Robert Henryson's The Testament of Cresseid,” Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, Sioux Center, IA, 2021.

grant.mcmillan@UND.edu

Areas of Interest

Post-1945 American Prose; Environmental Literature; Climate Fiction; Anthropological Literature; Contemporary Poetry

Biography

Grant is interested in transdisciplinary ways of knowing. In particular, he focuses on contemporary climate fiction as a generative space that co-constructs scientific fact alongside natural sciences and technologies. Within this space, he explores the role of speculative fiction as a tool for imagining alternative formulations of non-hierarchical human societies in the context of an industrialized, globalized world that is currently embroiled in an interconnected system of climate disasters.

Grant is also a photographer and is passionate about walking around and looking at things. His favorite class to teach is Literature and the Environment, which he designs to complement the other courses required by UND's transdisciplinary Environmental Studies degree.

Courses Taught

• ENGL 110 College Composition I
• ENGL 130 Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences
• ENGL 227 Intro to Literature & Culture (Topic: Ecocriticism)
• ENGL 227 Literature and the Environment (Topic: Fiction in the Anthropocene)
• ENGL 230 Analyzing Worldview through Story (Topic: (Un)Making U.S. Masculinities)

Selected Publications and Presentations

• Campus Building: Merrifield Hall, co-edited with Shilo Previti and Sam Amendolar, The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota, 2023.
• Winner of the Grand Forks Public Arts Commission's Mayor's Choice Award for photo-text exhibit Autumn, In Grand Forks, displayed from December 2021 through February 2022.
• "Seeing the Chiasm: Place Theory and Ecophenomenology." Convergences: A Journal of the Southeastern Association of Cultural Studies, 2022.
• "The Wrong Side of the Wall." Photo-poem chapbook, University of North Dakota’s Greenway Press, December 2021.
• "'Become a Voice': The Tallgrass in 13 Sapphic Photo-poems." Multimedia poem, photo, and critical interpretation collection. Co-authored with Shilo Previti. Poeticanet: Winter 2021 Issue. 

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 217C
• kyle.robert.moore@UND.edu

Areas of Interest

Medieval British Literature (13th-15th centuries); Medieval Christian Monastic and Devotional Literature (especially hagiographies); Anchoresses and Hermits; Gender Studies; Feminist Theory; Queer Theory; Spatial Theory

Biography

Kyle focuses on Middle English literature and Early Christianity with specific interests in women’s religious experiences, medieval depictions of reclusion (anchoresses and hermits), saints and hagiographical literature, sexuality and same-sex relations, and constructions of monastic spaces. His current research project analyzes monastic literature and spaces as examples of gendered utopias.

He has worked as a research associate on Dr. Crystal Alberts’s digital humanities project (funded by an NEH grant) and as a graduate assistant for the University Avenue Corridor Study and for University Park Neighborhoods (programs aimed at community-built initiatives and outreach).

Originally from San Diego, Kyle enjoys the ocean and swimming but has a soft spot for North Dakota’s cold winters and snow. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, baking, and playing with his sassy Miniature Schnauzer, Chloe.

Courses Taught

• ENGL 110 College Composition I
• ENGL 130 College Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences
• ENGL 230 Analyzing Worldview through Story (Topic: Labeling Personal Identities)
• WGS 225 The Study of Women

Selected Publications and Presentations

• “Antisemitism and Blood in Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love.” Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures, expected 2024.
• “Stick it to the Man: Constructions of Female Masculinity and Authority in the Old English Legend of Saint Margaret.” Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, Bemidji, MN, 2023.
• “Julian of Norwich and Studying Race.” New Visions of Julian of Norwich Conference, Oxford, England, 2022.
• “Labeling Identity and Queerness in the European Middle Ages.” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2022.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 240G
• damilola.olobaniyi@UND.edu

Areas of Interest

African-American Literature; Gender Studies; Feminist Studies; Interdisciplinary Studies

Biography

Damilola is interested in comparative literature, African literature, and African-American literature, with a special focus on gender studies and interdisciplinary studies.

Damilola is passionate about singing and volunteering, and always cherishes time spent with her family.

Courses Taught

• ENGL 110 College Composition I
• ENGL 130 Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences

mark.l.patterson@UND.edu

Areas of Interest

Medieval Literature (especially Northern Europe, 12th-15th centuries); Chivalric and Arthurian Romances; Gender Studies; Feminist Theory; Queer Theory; Monster Theory.

Biography

Mark specializes in Middle English and Anglo-Norman literatures, with interests including sexual practices (especially sodomy), representations of masculinity, queer literature, and the works of Marie de France. Within queer studies, Mark’s research explores queer masculinities, LGBTQIA+ history, drag performance, and queer sub-communities. He is passionate about public scholarship, and after taking Digital Humanities, Mark was a research associate for Dr. Crystal Alberts on her NEH grant project.  Most recently, he worked for Humanities North Dakota as a digital humanities intern to revitalize their Read ND program.

Outside of school, Mark loves to create fiber art, and you’ll rarely find him without a mug of tea. Whenever time allows, Mark heads up to Manitoba where he explores provincial parks and enjoys the French bakeries and francophone community in Winnipeg.

Courses Taught

• ENGL 110 College Composition I
• ENGL 130 Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences
• ENGL 228 Diversity in Global Literatures (Topic: Monster Literature)
• ENGL 230 Analyzing Worldview through Story (Topic: Masculinity and Culture)
• ENGL 230 Analyzing Worldview through Story (Topic: Movement and Freedom)
• WGS 200 Introduction to Gender Studies

Selected Publications and Presentations

• “(Re)Visioning Male Homosexuality in the Middle Ages,” with Robert Clark in Companion to Sexuality in the Medieval West. Eds. Michelle M. Sauer and Jenny C. Bledsoe. ARC Humanities, expected 2024.
• “‘And the dragoun meekly shall obeye’: Virgin Martyrdom and Spiritual Marriage as Models for Lay Chastity in John Lydgate’s Legend of St. George,” expected 2024.
• “‘Beautiful Monster’: Queer Lineage and Monstrous Hybridity in the Romans of Partenay,” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 2023.
• “The Ruined Female Body: Vampirism, Lesbianism, and Social Transgression in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla,” Red River Valley Women’s Studies Conference, Moorhead, MN, 2023.

jenifer.polson@UND.edu

Areas of Interest

Comic Books and Graphic Novels (especially DC and Marvel); Post-1945 American Fiction; Cultural Rhetoric; Disability Studies; Gender Studies (especially Masculinity); Racial Studies.

Biography

Jenifer was born and raised in Massachusetts. She is currently working on her dissertation, which looks at the representations of judicial and medical systems in the eighty-year run of Batman comics. Specifically, she is interested in how the depiction of diegetic judicial and medical institutions, as well as the persons within those institutions (both patients and staff), influence audiences’ perceptions of the non-diegetic versions of those institutions. 

Jenifer is also the Assistant Coordinator of the UND Writing Center. Prior to taking on this role, she was a Graduate Writing Consultant for just over six years.

Outside of work and school, Jenifer is a lifelong New England sports fan and pop-culture enthusiast. She enjoys watching (and rewatching) the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, various Batman adaptations, Dr. Who, Sherlock Holmes adaptations, and the like. She also enjoys diamond painting, painting-by-numbers, and jigsaw puzzles.

Courses Taught

• ENGL 110 College Composition I
• ENGL 130 College Composition II: Writing for Public Audiences
• ENGL 229 Diversity in U.S. Literatures (Topic: History of Black Panther Comix)

Selected Publications and Presentations

• “Ironheart: Bringing Female Education out of the Gutter.” Graduate Research Achievement Day, Grand Forks, ND, 2019. (College of Arts & Humanities Finalist)
• “Drawing Borders: The Borders of War and the Graphic Novel.” Midwest Modern Language Association Convention, St. Louis, MO, 2016.
• “Savage! Vanished! Appropriated!: Misrepresentations of Native Americans in Green Arrow.” Cultural Rhetorics Conference, East Lansing, MI, 2014.
• “Marked Bodies: Physicalist Manifestations of Superhero Strength, Character Evolution, and Emotional and Mental Dis/Abilities.” Crippling the Comic Con, Syracuse, NY, 2014.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Currently in the Ph.D. Program in Education, Health and Behavior Studies
• Merrifield Hall Room 224
• sharmin.rahman@UND.edu

• Academic Advisor, AVP Student Success
• McCannel Hall Room 280
• yashari.nunez@UND.edu

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 240G
• sasha.battrell@UND.edu

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 224
• rodger.belyea@UND.edu

Biography

Rodger was born into a military family and thus considers the open road his true home. He spent his formative years in rural Kentucky, Germany, and Kansas, and abhors big cities. After a bad first experience with college, it took many years for him to try again. Rodger obtained a B.A. in psychology, with minors in anthropology and philosophy, at Emporia State University in Kansas. While obtaining an M.S. in clinical psychology there, he discovered a disdain for being a therapist and a love for teaching.; during quarantine he tried a few classes on Dracula and Frankenstein and found that all of his previous studies intersected in the field of literary criticism. While he wants to be a professor, he is open to where the road takes him. His current academic interests are written and film narratives that explore the posthumanism, the metaphysics of consciousness, and the phenomenology of the numinous and the uncanny.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 240G
• duhita.chowdhury@UND.edu

Biography

Duhita is primarily interested in literature and film focusing on women and gender issues. She has worked as a university lecturer in Bangladesh, teaching Victorian poetry, modern English fiction, and women’s writing. She is motivated to understand the language of literature and visual representation of it, and is planning to pursue her Ph.D. in English. In addition to reading, Duhita loves listening to music, watching movies and television series, and travelling.  She also spends some of her time journaling and scrapbooking.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 210
• tanvir.chowdhury.1@UND.edu

Biography

For Tanvir, literature is a medium through which we can observe life and our surroundings in a different way. He is interested in gender studies, sexuality, women’s education, and film theory, and is eager to explore digital humanities. Tanvir has been a photographer for eight and a half years, and tries to connect literature to visual art so that his words can be expressed and perceived in new ways.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 224
• annastecia.ebisike@UND.edu

Biography

Annastecia is primarily interested in psychoanalytic literary criticism, and her journey is marked by an insatiable curiosity and a commitment to unraveling the intricate connections between the human psyche and literary expression. Her interests include dystopian literature, gender studies, African American literature, the African diaspora, and postcolonial theory. Her first article on “Individuation and the Dystopian Experience in Veronica Roth’s Divergent” was published in the journal The Muse.

Annastecia is equally focused on enhancing her expertise in technical writing, and plans to delve into the dynamic field of digital humanities, which she believes will allow her to integrate her love for technology and literature.

Beyond the literary realm, her professional experience spans both public- and private-sector organizations. She possesses a diverse skill set encompassing writing, research, computing, policy development, and public speaking.  Annastecia believes in maintaining a well-rounded life and takes great delight in cooking, knitting, and playing chess.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 210
• ayanda.gasela@UND.edu

Biography

Ayanda is deeply interested in the way in which literature or storytelling seems to be a formative part of human history; history seems to be created, shaped, and reflected upon through the medium of storytelling.

Ayanda was born and raised on the east coast of South Africa in a province called Kwa-Zulu Natal, and that continues to be one of her favorite places in the world. When she is not tinkering away on her guitar, you will find her drinking coffee with friends, talking on the phone with her siblings or in a museum. If she’s feeling adventurous, you may also spot her on a bicycle or a longboard.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 224
• sanjida.kalam@UND.edu

Biography

Sanjida is a Bangladeshi student, and is interested in postcolonial literature, especially the literatures of South Asia and Africa.  Her work engages with media studies and environmental studies; she has presented papers at several international conferences, and recently published her first article, on V. S. Naipaul’s novel A Bend in the River.  Being a South Asian woman, she feels a call to work on the problems that women face in that region, and she wants to learn more about the field of gender studies.  Sanjida also finds peace in nature, and she loves to be with her family.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 224
• tasrif.mahmud@UND.edu

Biography

Aivan’s interests include comparative literature, gender, and religion.  He wants to explore the ways gender is portrayed in different literary works, the cultural influences behind those depictions, and the impact of literary representations of gender on social theories.  He is also interested in the ways religion and mythology represent cultures and social behaviors.  Aivan is developing a presence in digital humanities, as well as in film studies and literary adaptation. He is a creative writer, and works in the genres of gothic horror and metaphysical fiction.  He considers himself a spider in the literary web, believes that every life is literature, and feels that the world is just a bigger version of The Canterbury Tales.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 210
• mdsabere.montaha@UND.edu

Biography

Saber is interested in exploring the interdisciplinary intersections of cultural studies, particularly the ways in which literature reflects the complexities of identity formation. His research interests include intersectionality, displacement, trauma theory, identity theory, and the influence of virtual spaces on identity. During an eight-year career teaching English literature in Bangladesh, he presented several pieces at conferences and published others in scholarly journals. Saber loves translating prominent works of Bengali literature to English, and has published many of those translations as well. A native of Bangladesh, he finds peace in nature’s serenity, often seeking inspiration from the wilderness and its mysterious depths.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 240G
• danika.ogawa@UND.edu

Biography

Dani studied English and communications at UND, and earned her bachelor’s degree in 2024.  During her time as an undergraduate, her love of all things literary pushed her to obtain one certificate in creative writing, and another in writing, editing, and publishing.  She has published poetry and creative nonfiction in undergraduate literary magazines such as Beyond Thought, Quirk!, and UND’s own Floodwall.  Dani finds joy in creating an experience by writing, whether it be a poem about wizards, or a nonfiction piece about the struggles of loss.  As a graduate student she is also excited to continue her pursuit in the worlds of writing and editing, and hopes to explore a newfound interest in literary criticism, broadening her understanding of the subject.

Dani is from Grand Forks; when her nose isn’t inside a book, you can find her writing at a local coffee shop, teaching dance, or spending time with her one-eyed dog, Oscar.

• Graduate Teaching Assistant
• Merrifield Hall Room 224
• arafath.simon@UND.edu

Biography

Saimom is interested in postcolonialism, and especially in important issues of the current moment such as border studies, diasporas, refugees, multilingualism, political resistance, and social justice.  While he was concerned about choosing English literature over engineering as an undergraduate major, he was inspired by reading texts that explore human life and suffering.  Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and Khaled Hosseini’s A Kite Runner made him think about the reasons the world is the way it is.  Motivated by these writers, Saimom aims to be a voice for people who aren’t allowed to speak.  He wants to focus on refugee crises and discrimination, being aware of such concepts as a resident of Bangladesh, where millions of Rohingya people have fled after being forced to leave their homeland in Myanmar.  Saimom also hopes to help reshape the teaching of language and literature in Bangladesh after studying other countries where English is spoken as a second language.

• Web Writer, Rural Health
• brendan.stermer@UND.edu

Biography

Brendan grew up in Montevideo, Minnesota, and studied philosophy at the University of Minnesota, Morris. His chapbook, Forgotten Frequencies (NDSU Press, 2023) was selected as the winner of the 2023 Poetry of the Plains & Prairies Award and named a 2024 Midwest Book Awards finalist. He is the host and producer of Interesting People Reading Poetry, a short-form podcast where artists and luminaries read a favorite poem and share what it means to them. He works for the UND Center for Rural Health as a writer exploring emerging rural health issues across the country. His interests include letterpress printing, independent publishing, and the literary history of the Upper Midwest.