Academic History
Ph.D. in Literature, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987
M.A. in Linguistics, University of Illinois-Champaign, 1980
B.A. in English, summa cum laude, Aquinas College (MI), 1978

Expertise
Catholic literature
Early American literature
Women’s literature
Midwest/Regional literature
Autobiography

Awards & Honors
University Scholar’s Grant, 1999-2002
Aquinas Foundation Grant, 1998
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Grant, 1990
University of Wisconsin-Madison Excellence in Teaching Award, 1987

Selected Publications
Encyclopedia of Catholic Literature.  2 vols. (Greenwood 2004)

Exploring Catholic Literature: A Companion and Resource Guide (Sheed and Ward/Rowman and Littlefield, 2003)

Catholic Women Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook (Greenwood, 2001)

Mary Wilkins Freeman: A Study of the Short Fiction (Macmillan, 1997)
A Mary Wilkins Freeman Reader (University of Nebraska Press, 1997)

A Web of Relationship: Women in the Short Fiction of Mary Wilkins Freeman (University Press of Mississippi, 1992

The Uncollected Stories of Mary Wilkins Freeman (University Press of Mississippi, 1992)

More than 15 published articles and book reviews on topics in Catholic literature, American literature, and teaching.

Selected Presentations
“Imagining Faith: The Enduring Vitality of the Catholic Literary Tradition,” St. Paul’s College, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, 2005

“Literature and Catholic Culture,” Catholic Studies Lecture series, John Carroll University, Cleveland OH, 2005                   

“Catholic Literature and the Catholic Imagination,” inaugural event of the Albertus Magnus Institute, Purdue University, IN, 2004

“The State of Research on Catholic Writers,” St. Charles Borromeo Conference on Catholicism and Literature, Little Rock, Arkansas, 2000

“Ruth Hall, Intertextuality, and the American Dream,” Midwest Modern Language Association, St. Louis, MO, 1998

“19th Century American Women Realists,” American Women Writers Conference, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, 1996

“‘Faint Implications and Pale Delicacies’: Gender and Moral Code in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence,” Midwest Modern Language Association, Chicago, IL, 1994

“Catholic Studies and the Multiversity,” St. Charles Borromeo Conference on Catholicism and Literature, Little Rock, Arkansas, 1993

“The Freshman Common Text Program: Fostering Community and Diversity at the University of St. Thomas,” Midwest Modern Language Association, Minneapolis, MN, 1993

“American Women's Autobiography,” Midwest Modern Language Association, St. Louis, MO, 1992

“Native American Genres and the Canon: Theory and Practice,” Midwest Modern Language Association, Chicago, IL, 1991

“Native American Life and Culture: the Experiences of Early American Explorers and Writers in Narrative and Fiction,” Modern Language Association, Chicago, IL, 1990

“Eddy L. Harris, the Mississippi, and the American Dream,” Midwest Modern Language Association, Kansas City, MO, 1990

“American Literature and the Changing Canon,” Minnesota Teachers of English Conference, Minneapolis, MN, 1990

“Hamlin Garland's Noshonoc: A Sense of Place,” Midwest Modern Language Association, Minneapolis, MN 1990

“Women as Daughters in the Family: Mary Wilkins Freeman and ‘The Web of Self-Strangulation,’” Midwest Modern Language Association, Minneapolis, MN, 1989

“‘Ah. . .What is it I Have Lost?’: Five Easy Steps to Abandoning Cherished Texts Without Scruple,” Midwest Modern Language Association, Minneapolis, MN, 1989

Professional Activities
Coordinator of Beyond Career to Calling, a Lilly Grant project, 2005--
Director of the Catholic Studies Master’s Program, 2000-2005
Freelance editor and writing consultant for several Twin Cities publishing firms, 1992-present
Rome program faculty director, 2000, 2004
Advisory Board Member, Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, 1990-present
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Evaluator for American Literature Proposals, 2004

Membership in Professional Organizations
American Literature Association
ALA Christianity and American Literature Association
Midwest Modern Language Association
Society for the Study of American Women Writers