Employee Directory

Christopher Near

Associate Professor of Criminal Justice

Technology Center 355

Ph.D., Sociology, University of Michigan, 2016

B.A., Sociology, Indiana University, 2010

Dr. Christopher Near joined Northern State University in 2020 as an assistant professor. He taught previously at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Courses Taught

CJUS 201 Introduction to Criminal Justice

CJUS 203 Policing in a Free Society (online)

CJUS 380 Research/Data Analysis in Criminal Justice

CJUS 401 Law and Society (online)

CJUS 433 Criminal Procedure (online)

SOC 351 Criminology

SOC 455 Juvenile Delinquency (online)

Research Interests and Recent Publications

Google Scholar: Christopher E. Near

Jessica Ness

Academic Advisor

Jewett Science Center 117

I am academic advisor for science, math, global languages, English, and communication studies. With degrees in business management and English literature and creative writing from Northern, I have been on campus intermittently since 2002.

I grew up in the Aberdeen area and worked for the South Dakota Board of Regents for 10 years. As a lifelong learner, I have always been a great supporter of education from childhood to adulthood. My goal in advising is to help students plan their path to graduation and help them look outside their major to become well-rounded applicants for future opportunities. I hope students will be able to look to me for guidance and reassurance in reaching their goals. Whether it is a smile and an encouraging word, or a referral to a resource, I want my advisees to know I am here for them.

In my spare time, I can usually be found reading a book, writing, baking, or spending time with my nieces, nephews, and dog.

George Nora

Associate Professor of Chemistry/Safety Officer

Jewett Science Center 217

Dr. George Nora began at Northern State University in 2010 and has been promoted to associate professor of chemistry.

Pen Pearson

Professor of English

Technology Center 259

Resume/CV

Professor Pen Pearson teaches introduction to creative writing, poetry writing, fiction writing, and creative nonfiction writing, as well as early American literature, literary criticism, and composition. Pen also advises Honors students with creative theses. She currently serves on the campus-wide assessment committee and the three-year tenure-review committee for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Pen’s publications include One Wing Should Float (2023), winner of the South Dakota State Poetry Society’s chapbook contest, Bloomsbury’s Late Rose (2019), a historical novel about Edwardian poet Charlotte Mew, Poetry as Liturgy (2010), and Trespass to Chattel (2009). Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have also appeared in various anthologies and journals. 

Josie Portz

Assistant Professor of English

Technology Center 264

Eric Pulis

Associate Professor of Biology, Coordinator of Student Research

Jewett Science Center 123

Kelly Pulis

Biology Lab Manager

Jewett Science Center 120

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

Technology Center 254

Courses Taught

Research Interests

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

Jewett Science Center 125

Ph.D. University of South Dakota

M.S. North Dakota State University

B.S. North Dakota State University