Faculty

Asian Languages

Zhihui Sophia Geng, Ph.D.   Assistant Professor of Chinese
B.A.   Shandong Teachers' University, China
M.A.   Beijing Foreign Studies University, China
Ph.D.  University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Research and academic interests: U.S.-China relations and exchange, Chinese immigration and Chinese American literature, contemporary Chinese literature

Yuko Shibata, Ph.D.   Assistant Professor of Japanese
B.A. in International and Cultural Studies, Tsuda College, Tokyo
M.A. in Literary and Cultural Studies, The University of Hong Kong
Ph.D.  in East Asian Literature, Cornell University
Research and academic interests: Modern Japanese literature, war and gender, nationalism and colonialism, East Asian popular culture, trans-Pacific configurations of race, gender, class and nation

Classics

Margaret Cook, Ph.D.   Professor
B.S. in Physics from the University of Michigan
B.A. in Classics from University of Washington
M.A. in Classics from University of Washington
Ph.D. in Classics from University of Washington, 
Research and academic interests: Greek and Roman historiography, 5th and 4th century BC Greek history, history of Ancient Science

Scott Richardson, Ph.D.   Professor
B.A. in Classics, Harvard University, summa cum laude
M.A. in Comparative Literature, Stanford University
Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, Stanford University
Academic interests (general): Greek literature, Scandinavian literature, English and American literature
Academic interests (specific): Homer, Icelandic sagas, Greek tragedy, Joyce, Dostoevsky, Pynchon, modern Scandinavian literature, British and American novels

English as a Second Language

Sarah Pruett   ESL Director
M.A. University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

French

Nathaniel Dubin, Ph.D.   Professor
B.A., Cornell University,
M.A., University of Washington
Ph.D, University of Washington

Karen Erickson, Ph.D.   Professor
B.A. French, Gustavus Adolphus College
Ph.D. French, Yale University
Research and academic interests: Nineteenth Century French Literature; Salome in art, music, and literature; women in the Bible;  folk music and oral traditions

Camilla Krone, Ph.D.   Professor
B.A. French, University of Wisconsin-Madison
M.A. French, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ph.D. French, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Research and academic interests: 19th and 20th century French literature, gender in literature, women’s writing in French, world Francophone cultures and literatures

Chuck Villette   Assistant Professor

German

Andreas Kiryakakis, Ph.D.   Associate Professor
B.A. Political Philosophy, Midwestern University, Texas
M.A. German, University of Tübingen, Germany
Ph.D. German & Classics (Greek), University of Texas, Austin
Research and academic interests: Historical and Theological Perspectives on Evil, The Function of Space and Place in German Literature,Quantum Reality

Lisa Ohm, Ph.D., Department Chair   Professor
B.A. International Relations, University of Colorado/Boulder
M.A. German Language & Literature, University of Colorado/Boulder
Ph.D. German Language & Literature, University of California/Santa Barbara
Academic and research interests: Goethe, 19th-century literature, fairy tales and child heroines, feminist criticism, and the analysis of literature in context.

Wendy Sterba, Ph.D.   Professor
B.A. German, Reed College
M.A. German, Rice University
Ph.D. German Media secondary in Medieval, Rice University
Research and academic interests: Contemporary Film, Theory, Weimar Republic, Medieval German, Film History

Mark Thamert, OSB, Ph.D.   Associate Professor   
B.A. German, Saint John's University
M.Div. Theology, Saint John's University
Ph.D. Germanic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University
Research and academic interests: German Poetry, Romanticism and Medieval Studies, Great Books Pedagogy, World Poetry (Rilke, Rumi, Neruda emphases), Literary Theory (Barthes, Bahktin emphases), Personality Theories and Student Motivation in the Classroom, Uses of Technology and its Effect on Student Motivation and Learning in German Studies

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Otmar M. Drekonja, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of German
Telan Hu, OSB, Professor Emerita of Chinese
John Kulas, OSB, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of German
Vera Theisen, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of French