English Department

English Department
Good reading and writing skills are valuable to everyone, whether you plan a business career or are studying nursing. The English Department teaches students to think critically, understand the materials they read and express their ideas in writing.
Who We Are
English students and faculty form a community of engaged thinkers and writers who present their ideas to each other and the world. We work in diverse fields and pursue varying outlets for our ideas, but we share a common goal of critical thinking and expression. We welcome you to our community!
Course Descriptions
Department Directory
Admissions | 763-433-1300
Dean Hannah Oliha-Donaldson |
763-433-1186
Meet Catherine Bean

Meet Angerise Carter

Degrees & Certificates We Offer
Courses offered range from freshman composition classes to historical literature and creative writing classes.
The department offers three degrees that can be earned entirely online:
More About The Department
Students can explore their literary interests and develop their writing talents outside the classroom, too. The English Department presents students with a variety of engaging literary opportunities. On our Cambridge Campus, students can hear meet well-known writers through the citywide Minnesota Authors Reading Series. On the Coon Rapids Campus, the Two Rivers Reading Series allows students to study a book then interact with the published author. Both campuses host student and faculty readings and have active creative writing clubs that publish the student literary magazines.
Recent Faculty News and Recognition
Scott Wrobel published his story, “Charcoal,” in Blue Lake Review.
Katie Berg’s book, Rock Climbing Minnesota: 3rd edition, will be published June 1, 2022.
Yuan Ding published the following articles:
“‘Asian Pride Porn’: Neoliberal Multiculturalism and the Narrative of Asian Racial Uplift in Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians Trilogy” in MELUS, Fall 2020.
“Ruth Ozeki,” in Asian American Literature: An Encyclopedia for Students, in August 2021.
Tracy Youngblom’s second full-length collection of poems, Boy, will be published in Spring 2023 by CavanKerry Press.
Her short story, “Three Wines,” was published in Blue Mountain Review, Summer of 2020.
Melody Heide published the following articles:
"On Teaching Students to Love Their Darlings" in Whale Road Review (December 2021)
"On Continuing to Love and Support My Favorite Literary Journals That Have Rejected Me and Knowing When It's Time to Cancel" in Brevity Magazine (April 2021)
Kathryn Kysar has the following news:
She has been awarded sabbatical residencies at Tofte Lake Center and Write On, Door County, where she will lead a workshop in July 2022 with poet April Gibson.
With essayist Sayantika Mandel, she co-chaired a roundtable discussion on the boundaries of the lyric essay for the December 2021 NonfictioNow conference.
She has poems and essays recently published or forthcoming in the The Mollyhouse, About Place Journal, Slag Glass City, Sleet, The Under Review, and Voicemail Poems.
She has been accepted for a summer workshop with poet Douglas Kearney at the Northwoods Writers’ Conference in Summer 2022.