College of Arts & Sciences

Graduate Students

The English department offers the Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

Both degrees allow students flexibility to pursue their own interests in literature, writing, rhetoric, or linguistics. Many graduate students serve as instructors while completing their degrees.

Master of Arts

Students in the M.A. program take two years of coursework and are able to enroll in any of our graduate seminars, which have an average size of just eight students and thus allow individual attention from faculty members. M.A. candidates read a wide range of literary texts while honing their skills in researching, reasoning, writing, and teaching. The capstone experience of our M.A. degree is a portfolio in which students revisit projects started earlier in their careers and polish them for precise rhetorical situations. Past portfolios have included traditional literary criticism designed for an academic audience, creative work intended for submission to literary magazines, and pedagogical proposals that might be pursued in future teaching careers. Current M.A. Students

Doctor of Philosophy

Students in the Ph.D. program take three years of coursework,practicing the same skills M.A.s do, while gaining additional experience in the disciplinary conventions that guide work in English studies. As they finish coursework, Ph.D. candidates develop one or more specializations, and take comprehensive exams in the fields of their choice. Some of our students specialize in recognized literary fields and work closely with professors in those fields; others choose hybrid specialties and work with a range of faculty members to develop interdisciplinary expertise. The final step in the Ph.D. program is a dissertation, in which students demonstrate the ability to conduct independent and original research in the field of English. Current Ph.D. Students

Teaching Opportunities

Eligible graduate students have the opportunity to teach while they pursue their studies; M.A. students teach in the composition program, while Ph.D. students have the opportunity to teach undergraduate literature or creative writing courses on topics they select, from syllabi of their own design. Our department encourages students to develop their pedagogical skills. We support them with composition pedagogy courses in the fall and spring of their first year. We frequently offer advanced classes in the teaching of literature and creative writing. And many of our literature seminars include pedagogical assignments that encourage students to think not only about the texts they’re reading in class, but about how to teach those texts to others.

Career Options

Graduate degrees in English aren’t only for future teachers, however. The writing skills you’ll develop are invaluable in the journalistic and publishing worlds. Using rhetoric to effectively communicate to an audience is essential to careers in marketing, government, and law. The ability to undertake and complete a major research project is helpful in any field that involves processing large amounts of information. The verbal, rhetorical, and analytical skills that graduate students in English possess are some of the most sought-after skills in the job market today.

Contact Us

Interested in joining us? Contact our director of graduate studies, Dr. Mike Flynn, at 701.777.3321 or michael.flynn@UND.edu, or apply today!

Doctoral Students

sam amendolar

Sam Amendolar

Areas of Interest

Interdisciplinary Literary Studies (especially literature and philosophy); Materiality in and of Literature; Traditions of Scrapbooking; Digital Humanities.

Biography

Sam is interested in materiality in, and the materiality of, literature. His research regarding convergences of time, space, and intertextuality has been augmented by his curation of various letters, books, and scrapbooks belonging to Maj. Leonard S. Van Vliet, assistant quartermaster to then Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the American Civil War. Sam’s work considers not only how literary texts are read, but also how they are perceived and represented in assemblages, sets of things that construct the facticity of our material world(s).

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 308 The Art of Writing Nonfiction

Selected Publications and Presentations

  • Leonard S. Van Vliet digital collection, in progress.
  • Campus Building: Merrifield Hall, co-edited with Shilo Previti and Grant McMillan, The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota, 2023.
  • “Sacred Space and Lives of Saints: Proximity in Ælfric’s Account of Saint Swithun,” Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, Vermillion, SD, 2022.

Charles Henry holding a mug

Charles Henry

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

grant mcmillan

Grant McMillan

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 Literature and the Environment (Topic: The Art and Science of Observation)
  • ENGL 227 Literature and the Environment (Topic: Threshold Concepts in Climate Fiction)
  • 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. 

Kyle Moore

Kyle Moore

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.

yashari.nunez@UND.edu 

damilola Olobaniyi

Damilola Olobaniyi

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

Mark Patterson

Mark Patterson

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)

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.

Master's Students

rodger belyea headshot

Rodger Belyea

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.

annastecia ebisike headshot

Annastecia Ebisike

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.

Ayanda Gasela

Ayanda Gasela

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.

English Graduate Student Association

The English Graduate Student Association (EGSA) is a student-organized club and aims to support English graduate students in their research, promote their academic freedom, and foster an environment of collaboration and community.

To accomplish this, EGSA hosts regular professional development seminars on topics related to graduate work and career development, such as writing teaching statements, presenting at conferences, diversity in the classroom, and careers beyond academia. Additionally, to foster a close community of graduate students, the club has several social events each semester, such as trivia nights, pizza and bowling, and restaurant crawls. With EGSA’s efforts, the club hopes that graduate students feel supported during their degree, experience an encouraging community, and prepared for life after graduation. 

EGSA on Facebook 

EGSA Officers and Faculty Advisor

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