Languages and Cultures

Faculty

Chinese

Zhihui Sophia Geng, Ph.D. Associate Professor
B.A. Shandong Teachers' University, China
M.A. Beijing Foreign Studies University, China
Ph.D. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Research and Academic Interests: Chinese literature, safegrading of cultural heritage, Chinese immigration and Chinese American literature, U.S.-China relations and exchange

Limei Danzeisen, Instructor
B.A. English Language & Literature, Shandong Normal University, China
M.A. TESL, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Academic Interests: Chinese literature and esthetics, China-USA relations and exchange

Japanese

Masami Limpert, Instructor
B.A. English, Intercultural communication, Nanzan University, Japan
M.A. TESL, St. Cloud State University, MN

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
B.A. Latin American Studies, Carleton College
M.A. University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

French

Melanie Bowman, Instructor
B.A. French Language and Literature, Miami University
M.A. French Literature, University of Minnesota
ABD Ph.D., French Literature, University of Minnesota

Research and Academic Interests: Late sixteenth and early seventeenth-century French theater and bio-politics of early modern gender and radical theater of the French Wars of Religion.

Karen Erickson, Ph.D. Professor, Department Chair
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

Maureen McCarter, Instructor
B. A. French, College of Saint Benedict
M.A. French, Middlebury College
Academic Interests: gender studies, ecofeminism, environmental studies

Chuck Villette, Ph.D. Associate Professor
M.A. in French, University of Chicago 1967
Ph.D. in Higher Education, University of Toledo (1981)
Research and Academic Interests: 17th and 18th Century Literature, French Cultural History, and translation

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. 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
Research and Academic 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

Nathaniel Dubin, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of French
Telan Hu, OSB, Professor Emerita of Chinese
Vera Theisen, Ph.D. Professor Emerita of French