Cassi Miller
Cassi is an Iowa native who earned her B.A. in English in 2007 from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. Her current research interests include establishing a place for collaborative writing in first-year composition classes and examining the language used to describe “group work” in a classroom setting. Her passions are varied but include teaching, writing, classic rock/blues music, traveling, laughter and an inexplicable addiction to Guitar Hero.
Ross Kurtis Tangedal
Ross currently researches and composes material on th Southern Gothic period of 20th Century American literature. He is specifically interested in the “misfit-outcast-other” ideology found in the period with particular focus on William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy, Flannery O’Connor, Truman Capote, and Carson McCullers, to name a few. The South gives him everything he needs in terms of interest, breadth, and emotion. He also reads and writes poetry voraciously, serving as poetry editor for Read This Magazine (MSU’s Literary Arts Publication). Nothing interests him more, however, than the research, passions, and ideas of his colleagues. Working as part of an overall department allows for a wealth of ideas, something he finds most helpful in his own research.
Lauren DeGraffenreid
Lauren received her bachelors degree from Tulane University in 2008, and is currently working toward her Masters in English at MSU. Having spent many years abroad in both Malaysia and Venezuela, she is an avid traveler and seeker of novelty. Her current professional interests involve the work and life of Stephen Jay Gould and the writing of science. She also studies geopolitics (particularly McCarthyism) of the graphic novel, superheroism in postcolonial literature, and psychosocial implications of the 1980’s slasher film. She enjoys zydeco music and a heaping plate of red beans and rice.
Lisa Bullard
Lisa returned to Montana in 2005 after being away for seven years and is now beginning her first year as a graduate student. Her academic interests include fiction and creative non-fiction works from non-western writers which have been perceived as, or used to promote, activism. She was inspired to return to school partially because of the experiences she had in India working with Tibetan refugees, who made the perilous journey over the Himalayas on foot for an education. Also she hopes to nicely combine her interests in writing and non-violent ways of obtaining social justice. She graduated from The Evergreen State College with a “major” in Creative Writing and a “minor” in Spanish. Some of her personal interests include outdoor activities, her family, travel and organic gardening.
