BIO AND BACKGROUND -- REDO with images of diss (guthlac roundel), series flyers, mentions of websites, grad college, etc... images from amsterdam, leeds, and Kzoo!!!! KEEP IT SHORT.
Image of my name on door for grand valley? put in links to eng dept as well.
I received my Ph.D. in English from Western Michigan University in December 2013, after defending my dissertation, “Old English Ecologies: Environmental Readings of Anglo-Saxon Texts and Culture,” for which I was awarded a Dissertation Completion Fellowship by the WMU Graduate College. I also hold an M.A. in medieval studies from the University of York, specializing in Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse literatures and cultures. Presently, I am a Visiting Assistant Professor at Grand Valley State University, where I teach courses in world mythology, literary criticism, genre, and theory, world literatures, and environmental writing. I have taught at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, at Western Michigan, and at the University of Michigan-Dearborn on topics including early British literature, J.R.R. Tolkien’s use of medieval literatures and myth, and contemporary American nature writing. Beyond my work as a faculty member at GVSU, I work as a freelance commissioning editor for Amsterdam University Press and freelance editor for the Applied Research Centre for the Humanities.
While finishing my dissertation, I worked as the WMU Graduate College’s Social Media Specialist, developing the College’s digital profile via Facebook and Twitter (@wmugradcollege), and creating The Grad Word, a blog dedicated to student essays, posts, videos, and other content describing the graduate experience at WMU and abroad. I also collaborated with University Libraries and the Center for the Humanities to offer a series of workshops for students and faculty interested in learning about digital research, and co-moderated a working group in the Digital Humanities. I am co-author (with Kate Langan of University Libraries) of a book chapter on “Deciphering and Moderating Meaningful DH Conversations for Graduate Students” in a collection on DH and subject librarians; I am also co-author (along with Dr. Karen Vocke, Dr. Brooks Applegate, and Dr. Carl Westine) on a forthcoming article about assessing education initiatives for Michigan’s migrant farmworker population.
In addition to my experiences researching, writing, and editing a master's thesis and a doctoral dissertation, I have over ten years of experience working in editorial and proofreading roles for university publications (undergraduate and graduate), as well as for international academic / university presses. I offer copy-editing, proofreading, and other editorial services for theses, dissertations, grants, proposals, academic articles and book-length manuscripts. Contact me to discuss the details of your project and your requirements!
More personally...
I am married to Curtis VanDonkelaar and am thrilled that my new, awesomely Germanic name uses 16 out of 26 letters in the alphabet. Extra points for the "V" and the "Z." A proud and committed nerd, I enjoy anything medieval (especially mead, mystics, and manuscripts), sci-fi lit and movies, documentaries, stupid comedies, loose-leaf tea, cats, period dramas of the Jane Austen persuasion, musical theater, knitting simple patterns in garishly bright colors, and making jewelry. I also love being outdoors, especially walking in the woods, and am constantly surprised by the beauty of Michigan's various landscapes-- Sleeping Bear Dunes, the Kalamazoo Nature Center, Celery Flats, Mackinac Island (where we went for our honeymoon), and the farmland and vineyards of southwest Michigan. I love to travel, having recently lived in Prague for a month and York and Aberdeen for a year each, and cannot wait to explore new places.
While finishing my dissertation, I worked as the WMU Graduate College’s Social Media Specialist, developing the College’s digital profile via Facebook and Twitter (@wmugradcollege), and creating The Grad Word, a blog dedicated to student essays, posts, videos, and other content describing the graduate experience at WMU and abroad. I also collaborated with University Libraries and the Center for the Humanities to offer a series of workshops for students and faculty interested in learning about digital research, and co-moderated a working group in the Digital Humanities. I am co-author (with Kate Langan of University Libraries) of a book chapter on “Deciphering and Moderating Meaningful DH Conversations for Graduate Students” in a collection on DH and subject librarians; I am also co-author (along with Dr. Karen Vocke, Dr. Brooks Applegate, and Dr. Carl Westine) on a forthcoming article about assessing education initiatives for Michigan’s migrant farmworker population.
In addition to my experiences researching, writing, and editing a master's thesis and a doctoral dissertation, I have over ten years of experience working in editorial and proofreading roles for university publications (undergraduate and graduate), as well as for international academic / university presses. I offer copy-editing, proofreading, and other editorial services for theses, dissertations, grants, proposals, academic articles and book-length manuscripts. Contact me to discuss the details of your project and your requirements!
More personally...
I am married to Curtis VanDonkelaar and am thrilled that my new, awesomely Germanic name uses 16 out of 26 letters in the alphabet. Extra points for the "V" and the "Z." A proud and committed nerd, I enjoy anything medieval (especially mead, mystics, and manuscripts), sci-fi lit and movies, documentaries, stupid comedies, loose-leaf tea, cats, period dramas of the Jane Austen persuasion, musical theater, knitting simple patterns in garishly bright colors, and making jewelry. I also love being outdoors, especially walking in the woods, and am constantly surprised by the beauty of Michigan's various landscapes-- Sleeping Bear Dunes, the Kalamazoo Nature Center, Celery Flats, Mackinac Island (where we went for our honeymoon), and the farmland and vineyards of southwest Michigan. I love to travel, having recently lived in Prague for a month and York and Aberdeen for a year each, and cannot wait to explore new places.
