Hope College | English

Faculty and Staff

ASLANIAN, JAN, Adjunct Assistant Professor.
Education: B.A., Western Michigan University (1971); M.S., University of Southern California (1976).
Interests: Expository Writing, Workplace Writing.
Selected Works: "Modern Slavery in a Global Economy Project" (2000), "Using International Students as a Learning Resource" (1999).

bartley@hope.edu
website

BARTLEY, JACKIE, Adjunct Assistant Professor (1989).
Education: B.S. Clarion University (1973, 1974); M.F.A., Western Michigan University (1988).
Interests: Poetry, Creative Non-Fiction, including Science Writing.
Selected Works: Women Fresh From Water (2005); Hobo Signs (2004); Bloodroot (2002); The Terrible Boundaries of the Body (1996, White Eagle Coffee Store Press Award); When Prayer Is Far from Our Lips (1994); More than 250 poems in more than 150 literary magazines and anthologies.
Distinctions: Finalist, University of Arkansas Press Poetry Series (2005); Finalist, Sow's Ear Poetry Review Contest (2004); Second Runner-up, New Letters Poetry Contest (2003); Many other awards for poetry.

cox@hope.edu
website

COX, JOHN, DuMez Professor of English (1979).
Education: B.A., Hope College (1967); M.A., University of Chicago (1968); Ph.D., University of Chicago (1975).
Interests: Renaissance Drama, Shakespeare.
Selected Works: Shakespeare and the Dramaturgy of Power (1989); A New History of Early English Drama (1997, Association for Theatre in Higher Education Book of the Year); The Devil and the Sacred in English Drama, 1350-1642 (2000, David Bevington Prize finalist); Co-editor, Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI, Third Arden Edition, Arden Shakespeare (2001); Seeming Knowledge: Shakespeare and Skeptical Faith (2007).
Distinctions: NEH Fellowship (2004-05); Pew Charitable Trusts Fellowship (1995-96); NEH Summer Stipend (1993); Summer Teaching Appointment (University of California, Berkeley, 1988); NEH Fellowship (1985-86); Summer Teaching Appointment (Harvard, 1979); Mellon Faculty Fellow (Harvard, 1978-79).

ndykstra@hope.edu

DYKSTRA, NATALIE, Associate Professor (2000).
Education: B.A., Calvin College (1986); M.A., University of Wyoming (1992); Ph.D., University of Kansas (2000).
Interests: American Studies, 19th-Century American Literature, Autobiography, Women's History, Photography.
Selected Works: Articles on autobiography, photography, medical history, and the American West; also in progress is a book-length study of 19th-century American visual culture and the amateur photographer, Marian "Clover" Adams (under contract with Houghton Mifflin).
Distinctions: NEH Fellowship (2005-06); Lilly/Crossroads Grant (2004); White House Historical Association and OAH Research Fellow (2003-04); Ruth R. Miller Research Fellowship in Women's History, Massachusetts Historical Society (2000).

douglas@hope.edu

DOUGLAS, KIM, Adjunct Assistant Professor.
Education: B.A., University of Arizona (1987), MFA, University of Arizona (1990)
Interests: Multi-cultural education, Race relations, Domestic violence and child abuse prevention.
Selected Works: Recent poems in Grand Valley Review, Orison, and A Room of One's Own; Short stories for children: "My Name is Ruhu'llah" and Emily's First Talk," in Core Curriculum Education Series, Baha'i Publishing, 2002; Interview of writer Susan Atefat Peckham in World Order; Interview of poet Valerie Martinez in Orison; Feature articles in Grand Rapids Press, West Michigan Today, and Holland Sentinel.
Distinctions: 2003 Semi-finalist, Elixir Press Third Annual Poetry Awards; 2002 Professor of the Year, Grand Valley State University, Educational Support Program; Co-founder of the Alliance for Cultural and Ethnic Harmony in Holland; Board member, Center for Women in Transition in Holland.

fike@hope.edu

FIKE, FRANCIS, Professor Emeritus (1968-1998).
A.B., Duke University (1954); M.Div,. Union Theological Seminary (1957); M.A., Stanford University (1958); Ph.D., Stanford University (1964).
Interests: Poetry.
Selected Works: Underbrush (Florence, KY: Robert L. Barth, 1986), In the Same Rivers (Florence, KY: Robert L. Barth, 1989), After the Serpent's Word (Santa Barbara: Fithian Press, 1997), Off and On (Edgewood, KY: Robert L. Barth, 2000), In Season and Out (Rockingham, WA [Australia]: Equilibrium Books, 2003), and numerous shorter publications.

gruenler@hope.edu
website

GRUENLER, CURTIS, Associate Professor (1997).
Education: B.A., Stanford University (1985); Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles.
Interests: Medieval English Literature, Mysticism, and Intellectual History; The Oxford Inklings; History of the English Language; Christianity and Literature.
Selected Works: "The Poetics of Enigma: Riddles, Rhetoric, and Theology in English Literature around 1378" (in progress); "Desire, Violence, and the Passion in Fragment VII of The Canterbury Tales: A Girardian Reading"; "Dante's Quest for Home."
Distinctions: Lilly/Crossroads Grant (2004); Sluyter Fellowship (Hope, 2000-01); Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant (Huntington Library, Summer 1999); Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship; Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation (1996-97).

hemenway@hope.edu
website

HEMENWAY, STEPHEN, Professor (1972), Director of the Vienna Summer School.
Education: B.A., College of the Holy Cross (1964); M.A., Boston College (1967); Ph.D., University of Illinois (1972).
Interests: Modern English and American literature, African-American literature, Irish literature, Drama, Creative Writing: Satire.
Selected Works: The Novel of India, Vol. 1, The Anglo-Indian Novel (1975); The Novel of India, Vol. 2, The Indo-Anglian Novel (1976); Writings on George Bernard Shaw and achieving balance in the writing curriculum.
Distinctions: Establishment of Dr. Stephen I. Hemenway Scholarship Fund for students to attend Vienna Summer School (2001); Hope College Distinguished Service Award (2001); First recipient of Hope College Vander Bush Weller Award for Extraordinary Contributions to the Lives of Students (1999); Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Technology Award, Tenth International Conference on College Teaching and Learning (1999); Hope Homecoming Professor Award (1997); C.A.S.E. (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) Michigan Professor of the Year (1992); Knight's Cross First Class, Order of Merit of the Republic of Austria (1991); Sears-Roebuck Foundation Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership Award (1990); Commencement Speaker (Hope, 1981); H.O.P.E. (Hope's Outstanding Professor-Educator) Award (1977).

huttar@hope.edu

HUTTAR, CHARLES A., Professor Emeritus (1966-1996).
A.B., Wheaton College (1952); M.A., Northwestern University (1953); Ph.D., Northwestern University (1956).
Interests: Renaissance Literature; 20th-century literature especially the Inklings; Bible in/as Literature; Christian approaches to literary study; angels in the literary imagination; words and proverbs; literature and the visual arts; local history; doubles in literature.
Selected Works: Editor, Imagination and the Spirit: Essays in Literature and the Christian Faith (1971); Co-editor, Scandalous Truths: Essays by and about Susan Howatch (forthcoming), The Rhetoric of Vision: Essays on Charles Williams (1996), Word and Story in C. S. Lewis (1991); author, "C. S. Lewis, T. S. Eliot, and the Milton Legacy: The Nativity Ode Revisted" (2002). Other publications include four edited booklets, more than 100 articles and notes, about 50 book reviews.
Distinctions: Elected to the Guild of Scholars of the Episcopal Church (1999); Mythopoeic Society Inklings Scholarship Award (1991, 1996); President, Conference on Christianity and Literature (1966-68). Also see Professional Activities.

james@hope.edu
website

JAMES, DAVID, Adjunct Associate Professor (1987) and Director of Writing and Study Skills Tutoring, Academic Support Center.
Education: B.A., Hope College (1976); M.A., University of Iowa (1980).
Interests: Expository Writing, Teaching Writing, World Literature, and Contemporary Poetry.
Selected Works: Psychological Clock (Pudding House, 2007), Lost Enough (Finishing Line, 2007), A Little Instability without Birds (Finishing Line, 2006).

janzen@hope.edu
website

JANZEN, RHODA, Associate Professor (2000).
Education: B.A., Fresno Pacific University (1984); M.A., Creative Writing, University of Florida, Gainesville (1989); M.A., UCLA (1997); Ph.D., UCLA (2002).
Interests: Creative Writing (poetry), American Literature 1865-1925.
Selected Works: Babel's Stair (Word Press, 2006); Poems in many anthologies and journals, including American Literary Review, Gettysburg Review, and Yale Review.
Distinctions: Luckman Fellowship for Innovation and Excellence in Pedagogy (UCLA, 2000); Outstanding Graduate Student Award (UCLA, 2000); Wilson National Foundation Fellowship for the Charlotte Newcomb Award (2000); Chancellor's Fellowship for Academic Distinction (UCLA, 2000); William Butler Yeats National Poetry Competition, First Prize (1999); UC California Poet Laureate Award (1994, 1997).

kipp@hope.edu
website

KIPP, JULIE, Associate Professor (1998).
Education: B.A., University of Notre Dame (1984); M.A., University of Notre Dame (1992); Ph.D., University of Notre Dame (1997).
Interests: 18th and 19th-century British Literature, Irish Studies, Women's Studies.
Selected Works: Romanticism, Maternity, and the Body Politic (Cambridge University Press, 2003).
Distinctions: Towsley Research Scholar (Hope, 2001-2004); National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend (2001); Shaheen Graduate Student Award in the Humanities (1997-98); Award for Excellence in Teaching (Notre Dame, 1997).

klooster@hope.edu

KLOOSTER, DAVID, Professor (2000) and Chair of the Department; Faculty Moderator (2007-09).
Education: B.A., Calvin College (1975); M.A., University of Chicago (1976); Ph.D., Boston College (1985).
Interests: American Literature (esp. 19th Century); Composition; Pedagogy; Literature of the American Civil War; American Conversion Narratives; American Travel Narratives; Hawthorne and Melville.
Selected Works: Co-author, The Writer's Community (1985); Co-editor, Ideas Without Boundaries: International Education Reform Through Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking (2000); Co-editor, Phantoms of a Blood-Stained Period: The Complete Civil War Writings of Ambrose Bierce (2002).
Distinctions: Ruth and John Reed Faculty Achievement Award (Hope, 2008); Fulbright Fellow in American Studies, Austria (2005); Fulbright Fellow in American Literature, Czechoslovakia (1992-93).

kohsel@hope.edu
website

KOHSEL, MYRA, Department Manager (1973).
Interests: Creative Writing (non-fiction).
Selected Works: Essays in Holland Sentinel, The Banner, Opus, Christian Reformed Church publications.

lunderberg@hope.edu

LUNDERBERG, MARLA, Adjunct Assistant Professor.
Education: B.A., Hope College (1982); M.A., University of Chicago (1986); Ph.D., University of Chicago (1996).
Interests: Expository Writing, Cultural Heritage.

mezeske@hope.edu
website

MEZESKE, BARBARA, Associate Professor (1978); Coordinator, First-year Composition; Director, Faculty Mentoring Program.
Education: B.A., Hope College (1970); M.A., Michigan State University (1978).
Interests: Expository Writing, Western World Literature, 20th-Century African Literature, Teaching Pedagogy, Information Literacy.
Selected Works: Co-editor, Beyond Tests and Quizzes: Creative Assignments in the College Classroom (Jossey-Bass, 2007); Co-editor, Finding Our Way: Reforming Teacher Education in the Liberal Arts Setting (Peter Lang, 2004).
Distinctions: Provost's Award for Teaching Excellence (1998); Staff, Teaching Enhancement Workshop (1996-Present).

montano@hope.edu

MONTANO, JESUS, Associate Professor (1999).
Education: B.A., University of Texas at Austin (1991); M.A., The Ohio State University (1996); Ph.D., The Ohio State University (1999).
Interests: Latina/o Literature, Medieval English Literature.

wmoreau@remc7.k12.mi.us

MOREAU, WILLIAM, Adjunct Associate Professor (1983).
Education: A.B., Hope College (1976); M.Ed., Grand Valley State Colleges (1982).
Interests: Creative Non-fiction.
Selected Works: Various feature articles on teaching and family life in the Grand Rapids Press, the Holland Sentinel, the Muskegon Chronicle, and elsewhere.
Distinctions: Chair, English Department, Hamilton High School; Fulbright Teacher Exchange--Farlingaye High School, Woodbridge, England (1994-95).

pannapacker@hope.edu
website

PANNAPACKER, WILLIAM, Associate Professor (2000); Chair, Academic Affairs Board; Academic Computing Advisory Team; Advisor, Newberry Library Program.
Education: B.A., St. Joseph's Univ. (1990); M.A., Univ. of Miami (1993); M.A., Harvard (1997); Ph.D., Harvard (1999).
Interests: Literature in English (esp. 19th-century American); Literary and Cultural Theory; Interdisciplinary Studies; Auto/biography; Censorship; Instructional Technology; Environmental Writing; Photography, Painting, and Film; Urban Studies; Walt Whitman.
Selected Works: Revised Lives: Walt Whitman and Nineteenth-Century Authorship (Routledge, 2004); more than 130 shorter publications; Columnist, Chronicle of Higher Education (1998-). Currently writing On Procrastination (Simon and Schuster, by 2008), Walt Whitman's Cities, and Legacy of the Rural Cemetery Movement.
Distinctions: Towsley Research Scholar (Hope, 2003-2006); NY Emmy-nominated PBS Program, American Originals (2005); Whiting Foundation Fellow (1998-99); Bowdoin Prize (Harvard, 1994, 1999); Bell Prize (Harvard, 1995, 1998).

portfleet@hope.edu
website

PORTFLEET, DIANE, Adjunct Associate Professor (1988).
Education: B.A., Pennsylvania State University (1969, Summa Cum Laude); A.B.D., University of Georgia (1980); Ph.D., Columbia Pacific University (1984); Teaching Certification (K-12), Grand Valley State University (1996).
Interests: Interdisciplinary Studies; World Literature; Milton; Walter Wangerin, Jr.; Children/Adolescent Literature; Far Eastern Religions.
Selected Works: The Adventure Mining Company Since 1850 (Greenleaf-Witcop Press, 2005); Michigan's Copper (2005); Shaping Our Lives with Words of Power: A Study of the Major Works of Walt Wangerin, Jr. (1996); Articles on L'Engle and Wangerin.
Distinctions: H.O.P.E--Hope Outstanding Professor-Educator (2006); Outstanding Hope Woman Award (2003).

rappleye@hope.edu

RAPPLEYE, GREG, Lecturer.
Education: B.A., Albion College (1974); J.D., The University of Michigan Law School (1976); M.F.A. in Creative Writing, Warren Wilson College (2000).
Interests: Contemporary Poetry and Poetics, Contemporary Fiction.
Selected Works: Holding Down the Earth: Poems (1995); A Path Between Houses (2000, Brittingham Prize in Poetry).
Distinctions: Mississippi Review Prize in Poetry (1999); Pushcart Prize in Poetry (2000); Paumanok Poetry Award (2001); Bread Loaf Fellow in Poetry (2002).

reynolds@hope.edu
website

REYNOLDS, WILLIAM, Dean for the Arts and Humanities and Professor (1971).
Education: B.A., Xavier University (1966); M.A., Columbia University (1967); Ph.D., The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1971).
Interests: Medieval and Renaissance English Literature; Detective/Mystery Fiction, Dorothy L. Sayers.
Selected Works: Co-editor, It's a Print: Detective Fiction from Page to Screen (1994); Numerous articles and reviews.

ridl@hope.edu
website

RIDL, JACK, Professor Emeritus (1971-2006).
B.A., Westminster College (1967); M.Ed., Westminster College (1970).
Interests: Contemporary Poetry, Memoir, Poetics, Teaching of Poetry Writing.
Selected Works: The Same Ghost (1985); After School (1987); Be tween (1988); Poems from the Same Ghost and Between (1993) Broken Symmetry (2006); Co-author, Approaching Poetry: Perspectives and Responses (1997); Against Elegies (2001); Co-editor, 250 Poems: A Portable Anthology (2002), Literature: A Portable Anthology (2004), Approaching Literature in the 21st Century: Fiction, Poetry, Drama (2005); more than 200 poems in more than 75 literary magazines and anthologies.
Distinctions: Distinguished Alumnus Lifetime Achievement Award (Westminister College, 2005); Winner of the 2001 Letterpress Chapbook Competition sponsored by the Center for Book Arts of New York City; C.A.S.E. (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) Michigan Professor of the Year (1996); H.O.P.E. (Hope's Outstanding Professor-Educator) Award (1976).

schakel@hope.edu
website

SCHAKEL, PETER, The Peter C. and Emajean Cook Professor of English (1969).
Education: B.A., Central College, Iowa (1963); M.A., Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (1964); Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison (1969).
Interests: English Literature of the Restoration and 18th Century, Jonathan Swift, C. S. Lewis.
Selected Works: The Longing for a Form: Essays on the Fiction of C. S. Lewis (1977); The Poetry of Jonathan Swift: Allusion and the Development of a Poetic Style (1978); Reading with the Heart: The Way into [C. S. Lewis's] Narnia (1979); Reason and Imagination in C. S. Lewis: A Study of "Till We Have Faces" (1984); Co-editor, Word and Story in C. S. Lewis (1991); Co-author, Approaching Poetry: Perspectives and Responses (1997); Co-editor, Eighteenth-Century Contexts: Historical Inquiries in Honor of Phillip Harth (2001); Imagination and the Arts in C. S. Lewis: Journeying to Narnia and Other Worlds (2002); Co-editor, 250 Poems: A Portable Anthology (2002), Literature: A Portable Anthology (2004); Co-author, Approaching Literature in the 21st Century: Fiction, Poetry, Drama (2005); The Way into Narnia: A Reader's Guide (2005); Numerous scholarly essays and reviews.
Distinctions: National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) fellowship for college teachers (1979-80); NEH summer seminars (1981, 1987, 1997); Mythopoeic Society Scholarship Award (1984, 1992, 1996).

sellers@hope.edu
website

SELLERS, HEATHER, Professor (1995).
Education: B.A., Florida State University (1985); M.A., Florida State University (1988); Ph.D., Florida State University, Tallahassee (1992).
Interests: Creative Writing (Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction); Creative Writing (Pedagogy); American Literature (Contemporary Short Story, Story Cycles, Linked Stories); History and Theory of the Short Story; Journals (Illustrated, Creative, Nature-Journaling); Children's Literature.
Selected Works: Your Whole Life (1995, poetry chapbook); Georgia Underwater (2001, stories); Drinking Girls and Their Dresses (2002, poems); Spike & Cubby's Ice Cream Island Adventure! (2003, childrens'); Page After Page: How to Start Writing and Keep Writing No Matter What! (2004, self-help/creative writing); Chapter After Chapter: Discover the Dedication And Focus You Need to Write the Book of Your Dreams (2006, self-help/creative writing); The Practice of Creative Writing (forthcoming, textbook).
Distinctions: National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (Fiction, 2001); Barnes and Noble New Discover Award (2001).

smithr@hope.edu

SMITH, RICHARD K., Adjunct Associate Professor (1984).
Education: B.A., Hope College (1973); M.A., University of Michigan (1978).
Interests: Expository Writing.

trembley@hope.edu
website

TREMBLEY, ELIZABETH, Associate Professor (1988), Director of FOCUS/SOAR Programs.
Education: B.A., Hope College (1985); M.A., University of Chicago (1986); Ph.D., University of Chicago (1991).
Interests: Creative Writing (fiction and nonfiction); Expository Writing; Popular Culture; Pedagogy; Literary Theory; Learning and Thinking Styles; and Faculty Development.
Selected Works: Michael Crichton: Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers (1996); Co-editor, It's a Print: Detective Fiction from Page to Screen (1994); Contributor, The Guide to U.S. Popular Culture (2001); Women Three Times Three: Writers, Detectives, Readers (1995); Great Women Mystery Writers: Classic to Contemporary (1994).
Distinctions: Certified Practitioner of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, as applied to creative thinking, teaching, and learning.

verduin@hope.edu
website

VERDUIN, KATHLEEN, Professor (1978).
Education: B.A., Hope College (1965), M.A., George Washington University (1969), Ph.D., Indiana University (1980).
Interests: American Literature (esp. 17th-19th Centuries); Medievalism; Reception of Dante; Modern Fiction; Herman Melville; Stephen King.
Selected Works: Co-editor, A. James Prins: A Life in Literature (2007); Associate Editor, Studies in Medievalism, 1982-1999; True Things: The Writings of R. Dirk Jellema (1996); Numerous shorter works on Dante, Emerson, Forster, Fuller, Hemingway, Lawrence, Medievalism, Melville, Puritanism, Sayers, Updike, and the Dutch in American literature.
Distinctions: Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching (Hope, 2005); Organizer, with Leslie Workman, International Conference on Medievalism (1985-2000); Co-organizer, Four-week Summer Institute on Medievalism, University of York (UK, 1996, 1998); Annual Sessions on Medievalism, International Congress on Medieval Studies (1982-89); Hope College Faculty Development Grants (1981, 1983, 1985-87, 1992, 1998).

Carla Vissers
vissers@hope.edu
website

VISSERS, CARLA. Adjunct Assistant Professor (1988).
Education: B.A., Hope College (1988), M.F.A., Western Michigan University (1998).
Interests: Creative Writing (Fiction and Non-fiction); Contemporary American, Irish, and Australian Short Fiction; Third-Wave Feminism.
Selected Works: Stories and essays in various literary magazines; winner of the 1999 Florida Review Editor's Prize and the 1999 GSU Review Prize for Fiction.

young@hope.edu

YOUNG, JENNIFER, Assistant Professor (2002).
Education: B.A., Douglass College of Rutgers University (1997), M.A., City College of City University of New York (1999), Ph.D., Howard University (2004).
Interests: Early writers of the African Diaspora (pre-1865); Contemporary Journalism and Mass Media, Jazz and Hip-Hop as literature; Creative Writing (Fiction and Creative Nonfiction).
Selected Works: "'We sweep the liquid plain:' Wheatley's Travel Poems about the Sea" (2004); Contributor, Included in English Studies: Learning Climates that Cultivate Racial and Ethnic Diversity (2002).
Distinctions: PFF Fellow (Hope, 2002-03), Doctoral Scholar (Howard, 1999-2003), Summer Research Fellowship (Washington State, 2001), Lincoln Teaching Fellow (University of Nebraska, 2002).