English and Journalism
Our professors are distinguished scholars, active researchers, published writers, and faithful Christians who demonstrate what it means to be both Christ-followers and leaders in their academic fields. As mentors and role models, they play a huge role in the integration of faith and learning at Bethel.
Department Chair
![April Vinding](https://bethel-university.imgix.net//academics/faculty/images/vinding-april.jpg?w=320)
April Vinding
Professor of English and Department Chair | a-vinding@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2005
Vinding teaches a full range of writing classes from composition to creative nonfiction. Her primary interests are the creative process, the lyric essay, and creative nonfiction that explores nontraditional forms. Her essays, poetry, and creative nonfiction have been published in "Ruminate," "Geez," "get born," and "Curator," publications that probe the interplay of faith, community, and the arts. Her spiritual memoir "Triptych" examines faith as a match: a puzzle, a flame, a fight.. . . read more.
Faculty
![Marion Larson](https://bethel-university.imgix.net//academics/faculty/images/larson-marion.jpg?w=320)
Marion Larson
Professor of English | m-larson@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 1986
Larson's favorite thing about teaching English is getting to read and think about books that are so different from daily life, yet hold so many important connections; and she loves doing this with faculty and students who also enjoy it. Her most recent publication (with Bethel philosophy colleague Sara Shady) is a 2017 book, From Bubble to Bridge: Educating Christians for a Multifaith World. She has also published articles in areas related to interfaith dialogue and faculty development, and. . . read more.
![Angela Preston](https://bethel-university.imgix.net//academics/faculty/images/shannon-angela.jpg?w=320)
Angela Preston
Associate Professor of English | a-shannon@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2006
Preston is the author of the poetry book "Singing the Bones Together." Her poems have been published in a variety of journals and anthologies, including "Where One Ends Another Begins: 150 Years of Minnesota Poetry"; "Beyond the Frontier: African American Poetry for the 21st Century"; and the textbook "A Multicultural Reader, Collection One: Many Voices Literature Series." Professor Shannon's choreopoem "Root Woman" premiered at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theater in Evanston, Illinois.. . . read more.
![Scott Winter](https://bethel-university.imgix.net//academics/faculty/images/scott-winter-2024.jpg?w=320)
Scott Winter
Professor of Journalism | s-winter@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2014
Winter teaches and practices big story reporting. He's energized by journalists and writers who find new ways to tell stories to make them matter to changing audiences. The University of Nebraska Press published his book, "Nebrasketball: Coach Tim Miles and a Big Ten Team on the Rise," in 2015. He teaches high school and collegiate journalism workshops throughout the U.S. and leads students on international social justice reporting projects called Textura with graphic design professor Jessi. . . read more.
Adjunct Faculty
William Lawrenz
Adjunct Instructor of English and Journalism | wrl72642@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2024
Adjunct Instructor of English and Journalism
Emeritus/Emerita Faculty
Phyllis Alsdurf
Professor of English Emerita | p-alsdurf@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2003
Professor of English Emerita
![Thomas Becknell](https://bethel-university.imgix.net//academics/faculty/images/becknell-thomas.jpg?w=320)
Thomas Becknell
Professor of English Emeritus | t-becknell@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 1984
Becknell teaches introductory and advanced courses on American literature, environmental writing, and modern myth makers. He received the Faculty Excellence Award for teaching in 1995. He is the author of a book of spiritual lessons from nature, Of Earth and Sky, and articles on American literary history.
![Susan Brooks](https://bethel-university.imgix.net//academics/faculty/images/brooks-susan.jpg?w=320)
Susan Brooks
Professor of English Emerita | susan-brooks@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 1998
Dr. Brooks works primarily with the Communication Arts and Literature Education major, preparing students to be high school and middle school English teachers. Her scholarship focuses on best practices in reading and writing--particularly how people's underlying ideas about the nature of literature affect the ways they read, write and teach. She specializes in young adult literature and recently had a chapter published in Teens and the New Religious Landscape: Essays on Religion in Young. . . read more.
Lorraine Eitel
Associate Professor of English Emerita | lorraineeitel@gmail.com | Started at Bethel: 1974
Associate Professor of English Emerita
![Daniel Ritchie](https://bethel-university.imgix.net//academics/faculty/images/ritchie-daniel.jpg?w=320)
Daniel Ritchie
Professor of English Emeritus | d-ritchie@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 1985
During his 37 years at Bethel, Daniel Ritchie taught English literature and (in 2002) guided Bethel's efforts to begin a multi-course Humanities Program. During his career, he won grants from the the Newberry Library (2017) and from the National Endowment for the Humanities Program (2007 and 2013) to support the Humanities Program and an interdisciplinary course on leisure. He led seven study-abroad courses, including five of Bethel's "England Term" semesters. In 2001, He won Bethel's Facul. . . read more.
Daniel Taylor
Professor of English Emeritus | d-taylor@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 1977
Professor of English Emeritus