NMU English Department

Congratulations to our faculty members Professor Lynne Johnson and Dr. Kel Sassi on their NMU 2026 Excellence in Teaching Awards! We're so fortunate to have these two amazing instructors in our department! 🤩

Pictured: Prof. Lynne Johnson (Part Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient), Dr. Rob Winn - Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Kel Sassi (Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient)

Congratulations to senior English Secondary Education major and Writing minor, Kailey Buettner! Her poster on The Winter's Tale at the Stratford Festival, a live theater trip several English students take each summer, is on display at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research! ⭐️

Happening tonight! Two time NMU English alum, Dr. Miranda Findlay, will give the Gender Fair Keynote in Jamrich 1320 at 6PM. See you there! ⭐️🏳️‍🌈

⭐️ Alumni Spotlight! ⭐️

What can you do in our MFA program? Get an agent and a book deal!

MFA alum Ari Koontz's middle grade book, Just Ask Elsie, is available for preorder! During the Barnes & Noble Preorder sale, happening now through tomorrow 3/26, sign up for a free B&N rewards membership and enter code PREORDER25 at checkout to receive a discount on your preorder!

OR support Ari by preordering through your local bookstore and/or submitting a purchase request at your local library.

Congratulations, Ari! We can't wait to read your book!

The NMU Giving Day Power Hour is over, but you can still give! Below are several funds you can gift to that directly support NMU English Students:

⭐️ English Department
⭐️ Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
⭐️ The North Wind Student Newspaper
⭐️ Passages North - English Dept
⭐️ Sigma Tau Delta
⭐️ English Endowment
⭐️ Stratford Festival Program Endowment
⭐️ Raymond J. Ventre Memorial Scholarship
⭐️ Karla Bester English Scholarship
⭐️ James Cloyd Bowman Scholarship Fund
⭐️ Myrle E. Wahtera Memorial Scholarship

Questions about what these funds do? Ask your questions in the comments! We appreciate your support! Make your gift here:

NMU Giving Day 3.19.2026 Join me and make a gift for NMU Giving Day!

Today is NMU Giving Day, and you can give directly to the English Department! ⭐️📚🖊️

Your gift supports amazing opportunities for our majors, minors, and graduate students: conference travel, the Granite Island writing experience, trips to live theater performances, and so much more!

Give now at nmu.edu/giving OR wait to give during the 12-1 PM Power Hour for a chance to win $5000 for English!

We appreciate your support! 💚💛🐾

Second year MFA candidate Ellen Fee has a new piece out now with Cincinatti Review! Give this MICRO-essay a read! 😉

miCRo: "Reconnaissance" by Ellen K. Fee In a fascinating miCRo essay, Fee takes us on a tour of the microwave's unexpected origin story.

Check out our graduate Programs in the Department of English at Lakenenland for a Fall Welcome!
Pictured: Students & Faculty from English M.F.A. and M.A. programs. Wishing you all a very wonderful (and very literary) semester.

Dr. Lehmberg has added more information meeting dates for her Faculty Led Study Abroad opportunity! Interested in traveling to China and taking a course on Chinese literature? Make sure to attend one of these upcoming meetings!

We've settled into the fall semester, and now we're reminiscing on last winter. If you missed the opportunity to attend our 2025 MA English Graduates Thesis Reading, you can watch the full event at the link below!

English Masters Thesis (Edited).mp4