Employee Directory

First Name

Last Name

Department

Pen Pearson

Professor of English

605-626-2405

Pen Pearson

Professor of English

Technology Center 259

605-626-2405

pen.pearson@northern.edu

B.A. in English, Briar Cliff University, 1988

M.A. in English, South Dakota State University, 1995

Ph.D. in English, University of South Dakota, 2001

Resume/CV

Dr. Pen Pearson is a professor of English at Northern. Pearson also advises Northern Lights, Northern’s student literary magazine, and mentors high school English teachers in Northern’s Rising Scholar program.

Her novel about Edwardian poet Charlotte Mew, Bloomsbury’s Late Rose, was published in 2019 (Chickadee Prince Books). Dr. Pearson has also published two books of poetry: Trespass to Chattel (Atomic Press) and Poetry as Liturgy (Mellen Poetry Press). Her current project is a memoir about her late father.

Courses Taught

Engl 101 Composition I

Engl 201 Composition II

Engl 283 Introduction to Creative Writing

Engl 241 American Literature Since 1865

Engl 475 Creative Non-Fiction Writing

Engl 476 Fiction Writing

Engl 478 Poetry Writing

Engl 484 Literary Criticism

Academic Interests

American Renaissance poetry and prose

history of western poetics

stylistic linguistics

lexicography

literary theory

comparative mythology

classic Hollywood film

Eric Pulis

Associate Professor of Biology, Coordinator of Student Research

605-626-2600

Eric Pulis

Associate Professor of Biology, Coordinator of Student Research

Jewett Science Center 123

605-626-2600

eric.pulis@northern.edu

Ph.D. University of Southern Mississippi

M.S. University of North Dakota

B.S. University of North Dakota

Resume/CV

Dr. Eric Pulis joined Northern's faculty in 2018. Originally from central Minnesota, he attended the University of North Dakota, where he received his B.S. in fisheries and wildlife biology and his M.S. in biology. Dr. Pulis earned his Ph.D. at the University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Coastal Sciences, where his research focused on the taxonomy and systematics of some parasitic flat worms found in fishes. He is currently the advisor for the NSU Environmental Club.

Research Interests

Dr. Pulis's primary research interests are in the ecology, evolution, and diversity of parasites of wildlife and fishes. A large part of the work he does involves describing new species and making phylogenetic hypotheses about the relationships among species using a combination of field, microscopy, and molecular methods. Dr. Pulis has also worked on the conservation and ecology of marine mammals and turtles.

Courses Taught

Invertebrate Zoology

Vertebrate Zoology

General Biology II

Senior Seminar

Environmental Biology Labratory

Survey of Biology Labratory

Selected Publications

Pulis, E.E., Wells, R.S., Schorr, G.S., Douglas, D.C., Samuelson, M.M., Solangi, M. 2018. "Movements and dive patterns of pygmy killer whales (Feresa attenuata) release in the Gulf of Mexico following rehabilitation." Aquatic Mammals 44 (5).

Pitchford, J.L., Garcia, M., Pulis, E.E., Ambert, A.M., Heaton, A.J., Solangi, M. 2018. "Gauging the influence of increased search effort on reporting rates of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) strandings following the deepwater horizon oil spill." PloS One 13 (6), e0199214.

Heaton, A.J., Pulis, E.E., Pitchford, J.L., Hatchett, W.L., Carron, A.M., Solangi, M. 2016. "Prevalence and transience of ingested fishing hooks in Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii)." Chelonian Conservation and Research. 15: 257-264.

Pitchford, J.L., Pulis, E.E., Evans, K., Shelley, J.K., Serafin, B.J.S., Solangi, M. 2016. "Seasonal bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) density estimates in the Mississippi Sound from 2011 – 2013." Southeastern Naturalist. 15: 188-206.

Kudlai, O., Pulis, E.E., Kostadinova, A., Tkach, V.V. 2016. "Neopsilotrema n. g. (Digenea: Psilostomidae) and three new species from ducks (Anseriformes: Anatidae) in North America and Europe." Systematic Parasitology. 93: 307-319.

Greiman, S.E., Tkach, V.V., Pulis, E.E., Fayton, T.J., Curran, S.S. 2014. "Large scale screening of digeneans for Neorickettsia endosymbionts using real-time PCR reveals new Neorickettsia genotypes, host associations and geographic records including first reports from Australia and China." PLOS ONE. 9:1-9.

Pulis, E.E., Curran, S.S., Andres, M.J., Overstreet, R.M. 2014. "Change in rank of Megaperidae (Trematoda) to Megaperinae within the Apocreadiidae and description of Haintestinum amplum n. g., n. sp." Parasitology International. 63:269-274.

Pulis, E.E., Overstreet, R.M. 2013. "Review of haploporid (Trematoda) genera with ornate muscularisation in the region of the oral sucker, including four new species and a new genus." Systematic Parasitology. 84: 167-191.

Pulis E.E., Tkach V.V., Newman R.A. 2011. "Helminth parasites of the wood frog, Lithobates sylvaticus, in prairie pothole wetlands of the northern Great Plains." Wetlands 31: 675-685.

Kelly Pulis

Biology Lab Manager

605-626-3437

Kelly Pulis

Biology Lab Manager

Jewett Science Center 120

605-626-3437

kelly.pulis@northern.edu

B.S. Biology, minor Psychology, University of North Dakota

A.A. Exotic Animal Training and Management, Moorpark College

Ms. Kelly Pulis, hailing from Vinton, Iowa, joined Northern in 2019 as biology lab manager.

Dr. Peter Ramey, M.A., Ph.D.

Professor of English

605-626-7699

Dr. Peter Ramey, M.A., Ph.D.

Professor of English

Technology Center 254

605-626-7699

peter.ramey@northern.edu

M.A., Ph.D., University of Missouri, Columbia

Dr. Peter Ramey came to NSU in August 2012 and is NSU's English Club advisor.

Courses Taught

ENGL 221 Survey of British Literature I

LING 443 Development of English

ENGL 201 Composition II

LATI 101 Elementary Latin

IDL 190 Seminar

Research Interests

Old English language and literature

Aesthetics

Liturgy

Hymnody

Publications

The Word-hoard Beowulf: A Translation with Commentary. Angelico Press, 2023.

“St. Beowulf: Hagiography and Heroic Identity in Beowulf.” Studies in Philology, 121/1, Winter 2024 (pp. 1-27).

“Reconstructing Early Beowulf: The Evidence from Andreas for the 9th-Century Form of the Text,” Modern Philology. February 2023 (volume 120, no. 3). https://doi.org/10.1086/723178

“Problems with the Dramatic Irony Theory of Beowulf,” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews (Spring 2022). DOI: 10.1080/0895769X.2022.2043141

“Crafting Strangeness: Wonder Terminology in the Exeter Book Riddles and the Anglo-Latin Enigmata.” Review of English Studies 69.289 (2017): 201-15.

“The Riddle of Beauty: The Aesthetics of Wrætlic in Old English Verse.” Modern Philology 114.3 (2017): 457-81.

“The Poetics of Caxton’s ‘Publique’: The Construction of Audience in the Prologues of William Caxton.” English Studies 96.7 (2015): 731-46.

“Writing Speaks: Oral Poetics and Writing Technology in the Exeter Book Riddles.” Philological Quarterly 92.3 (2013): 335-56.

“The Audience-Interactive Games of the Middle English Religious Drama.” Comparative Drama 47.1 (2013): 55-83.

“Variation and the Poetics of Oral Performance in Cædmon’s Hymn.” Neophilologus 96.3 (2012): 441-56.

“Beowulf’s Singers of Tales as Hyperlinks.” Oral Tradition 26.2 (2011): 619-24.

“Oral Theory and Medieval Literature.” Co-authored with John Miles Foley. Medieval Oral Literature. Ed. Karl Reichl. 71-102. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2011.

Jodie Ramsay

Professor of Biology/Science Fair Director

605-626-3384

Jodie Ramsay

Professor of Biology/Science Fair Director

Jewett Science Center 125

605-626-3384

jodie.ramsay@northern.edu

Ph.D. University of South Dakota

M.S. North Dakota State University

B.S. North Dakota State University

Dr. Jodie Ramsay started at NSU in 2001. Her area of expertise is plant science. She grew up in Minnesota and spends much of the summer there, where she co-owns a greenhouse. Dr. Ramsay is the director of NSU Regional Science Fair and serves as the faculty mentor for Rising Scholar (dual credit) biology courses taught across eastern South Dakota.

Courses Taught

Biogeography

Ecology

Environmental Biology

Environmental Science and Conservation

Freshman Seminar

General Biology I

General Biology II

Plants and Civilization

Plant Structure and Function

Plant Systematics

Senior Seminar

Soils and the Environment

Success in Science

Select Publications

Jodie Ramsay and Julie Schroer. “Environmental Biology” 2020. Kendall Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, IA.

Jodie L. Ramsay. 2012. "An Overview of Plant Anatomy and Diversity: A Botany Lab Manual, 2^nd edition." Kendall Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, IA. 104 pgs.

Jodie L. Ramsay. 2009. "An Overview of Plant Anatomy and Diversity: A Botany Lab Manual, 1^st edition." Bent Tree Press, Reno, NV. 104 pgs.

Jodie L. Ramsay. 2008. "Landscaping Habitat for Humanity Homes: A Community Outreach Project." Journal of College Teaching & Learning 5(4): 7-11.

Jodie L. Ramsay. 2005. "Landscaping Habitat for Humanity Homes: A Community Outreach Project (Abstract)." Proceedings of the American Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA. Page 318.

Richard Faflak and Jodie Ramsay. 2004. "Dust Fraction in Catchment Sediments, Prairie Pothole Region, South Dakota (Abstract)." Proceedings of the South Dakota Academy of Science 83:259.

Karen L. Koster, Nicole Reisdorph, and Jodie L. Ramsay. 2003. "Changing desiccation tolerance of pea embryo protoplasts during germination." Journal of Experimental Botany 54(387):1-8.

Jodie L. Ramsay, Donald S. Galitz, and Chiwon W. Lee. 2003. "Basal Medium and Sucrose Concentration Influence Regeneration of Easter Lily in Ovary Culture." HortScience 38:404-406.

Jodie L. Ramsay and Karen L. Koster. 2002. "A Comparison of Anhydrous Fixation Methods for the Observation of Pea Embryonic Axes (Pisum sativum L. cv. Alaska)." Seed Science Research 12(2):83-90.

Ricardo Rojas

Associate Professor of Mathematics

605-626-2468

Ricardo Rojas

Associate Professor of Mathematics

MeWaldt-Jensen 213

605-626-2468

ricardo.rojas@northern.edu

Ph.D. Mathematics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

B.S. Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Dr. Ricardo E. Rojas is currently an associate professor of mathematics at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He has been serving NSU and the state of South Dakota since 2008.

Courses Taught

MATH 095 Pre-College Algebra

MATH 101 Intermediate Algebra

MATH 114 College Algebra

MATH 361 Modern Geometry

Research Interests

Euclidean geometry

Incidence geometry

(Finite) affine planes

(Finite) projective planes

Jon Schaff

Professor of Government/Director of the Center for Public History and Civic Engagement

605-626-2356

Jon Schaff

Professor of Government/Director of the Center for Public History and Civic Engagement

Technology Center 356

605-626-2356

jon.schaff@northern.edu

B.A. St. John's University

M.A. University of Wyoming

Ph.D Loyola University Chicago

Professor Schaff specializes in the study of American political thought and institutions. He has published on the presidency and political thought of Abraham Lincoln, politics and literature, and politics and popular culture. He has been a department Chair, faculty athletic representative, and Chair of the NSU Promotion and Tenure committee. In 2005 he received the Outstanding Faculty Award from NSU.

Courses Taught

POLS 100 American Government

POLS 250 Introduction to International Relations

POLS 432 The Presidency

POLS 361 American Political Thought I

POLS 362 American Political Thought II

PHIL 270 Philosophy of Religion

Select Publications

Schaff, Jon D. “Lincoln’s Domestic Policy.” In Lincoln Lore. No. 1925, Spring, 2020.

Schaff, Jon D. 2020. “The American Constitution and Statesmanship: An Argument From Lincoln” In From Reflection and Choice: Political Philosophy of the Federalist Papers and the Ratification Debate, Will R. Jordan editor. Mercer University Press.

Abraham Lincoln's Statesmanship and the Limits of Liberal Democracy. Southern Illinois University Press. 2019.

Age of Anxiety: Meaning, Identity, and Politics in 21st Century Film and Literature. With Anthony M. Wachs. Lexington Books. 2019.

Liz Sills

Associate Professor of Communication Studies

605-626-7700

Liz Sills

Associate Professor of Communication Studies

Technology Center 264

605-626-7700

elizabeth.sills@northern.edu

Ph.D. Communication Studies, May 2015, Louisiana State University

Focus in Rhetoric, Secondary Focus in Performance Studies

Advisor: Dr. Nathan Crick

Dissertation Committee: Nathan Crick, Bridgette Davis, Andrew King, Gregory Schufreider

M.A. Communication Studies, The University of Montana, 2011

Focus in Rhetoric and Public Discourse, Secondary Focus in Organizational Communication

Advisor: Dr. Sara Hayden

Thesis Title: Assessing the balance: Burkean frames and Lil’ Bush

B.A. Political Science, Transylvania University, 2008

Advisor: Dr. Don Dugi

Minor in Communication

Resume/CV

Dr. Liz Sills' work may be found in Comedy Studies, Empedocles: European Journal for the Philosophy of Communication and in the 2013 Eisner Award-winning volume Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation. She also enjoys teaching standup comedy skills to her students and hosting workshops that teach community members how to understand and make use of the funniness of their everyday lives.

Dr. Sills is president of the Lighthearted Philosophers’ Society, a group of scholars dedicated to studying philosophies of humor in funny ways. She is also serving a two-year term as president of the Speech Communication Association of South Dakota. On campus, she is the advisor for the communication studies honorary, Lambda Pi Eta, and a co-advisor of Northern's Feminist Club.

Courses Taught

GLC 405 Comedy Humor and Culture

IDL 190 Seminar – Black Social Justice Movements

IDL 190 Seminar – Seeing Persuasion

CMST 101 Fundamentals of Speech

CMST 101 HNRS Fundamentals of Speech Honors

CMST 150 Introduction to Public Relations

CMST 215 Public Speaking

CMST 222 Argumentation & Debate

CMST 335/INDG 335 Native Identity & Resiliency

CMST 390 Seminar – Comedy & Humor

CMST 405 Theories of Communication

CMST 416 Rhetorical Criticism

CMST 434 Small Group Communication

Interests

Her interests lie in rhetorics, philosophies, and cultural consequences surrounding comedy, humor, and any other catalysts of mirth that constitute The Funny.

Samantha St. Clair

Assistant Professor of Biology

605-626-7707

Samantha St. Clair

Assistant Professor of Biology

Jewett Science Center 119

605-626-7707

samantha.stclair@northern.edu

Ph.D., Nutrition Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

B.S., Nutrition Science, Indiana University-Bloomington

Courses Taught

Genetics
Cell and molecular biology
Nutrition and disease
Human health and biology

Research Interests

Mechanisms of type II diabetes and diet-induces obesity in zebrafish (Danio rerio)
Development of biological reasoning skills in undergraduate biology majors and non-majors

Pagination

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