Employee Directory
Lysbeth Em Benkert
Lysbeth Em Benkert
Professor of English
Technology Center 373
- 605-626-7698
Dr. Lysbeth Em Benkert arrived at Northern State University in the fall of 1995, one year after receiving her Ph.D from Washington State University.
Her specializations include rhetorical theory and early modern literature, including Shakespeare. She also teaches creative writing. In addition to her academic scholarship, she has published original poems in a variety of literary magazines and a chapbook titled #girl stuff (Dancing Girl Press, 2018).
Erica Bobby
Erica Bobby
Instructor of Reading and English/Student Publications Co-Advisor
Technology Center 265
- 605-626-7602
Kristen Brown
Kristen Brown
Assistant Professor of English
Technology Center 255
- 605-626-7703
Ph.D. in English and American Literature, University of South Carolina, 2020
M.A. in English, Gannon University, 2009
B.S. in English/Secondary Education Track, Towson University, 2001
After teaching in the eastern and southwestern U.S., Dr. Kristen Brown joined Northern's faculty in 2022. Her approach to teaching, learning, and research is interdisciplinary, guided by a conviction that a foundation in the humanities provides fertile ground for other academic disciplines to connect and animate each other in innovative, impactful ways. While earning her Ph.D. in American literature and completing a postdoctoral fellowship, she designed and taught courses focusing on indigenous and environmental themes in composition and literature courses.
Dr. Brown’s work explores relations among indigeneity, settler colonialism, and environmental stewardship with attention to how texts from the turn of the twentieth century inform our present day. In addition to her recent scholarly contribution to Western American Literature and Resonance: The Journal of Sound and Culture, she has composed an essay for a forthcoming collection titled "Race in the Multiethnic Literature Classroom," in which she considers how Dakota author-activist Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) uses storytelling to challenge dominant narratives and carve space for common ground.
Vicki Evans
Vicki Evans
English Instructor/Tutoring Center Director
Technology Center 151
- 605-626-2665
M.S. English Education, Northern State University
B.A. English, Northern State University
Vicki Evans, a Northern graduate, teaches English and directs NSU Tutoring Services. Her graduate thesis focused on composition and rhetoric, and she holds an emphasis in teaching English as a second language.
Research Interests
Developmental writing
Composition
First-generation students
Second language learners.
Courses Taught
ENGL 033
Justin Foote
Justin Foote
Assistant Professor of Communication Studies/Director of Forensics
Technology Center 351
- 605-626-7706
Juan Gonzalez
Juan Gonzalez
Associate Professor of Spanish
Tech Center 249
- 605-626-3352
Ph.D, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Juan M. Gonzalez, originally from Salt Lake City Utah, worked for 18 years as an international public relations specialist/marketing rep for an advertising firm. Part of his responsibilities included making three to four week trips throughout South America and Mexico to meet and greet radio and TV managers and owners. He has worked and lived in every major city in that area.
An economic downturn in the mid-90s found him without work and consequently he went back to school to complete a BA and MA in Spanish at the University of Utah. He left Utah in 1998 to complete his Ph.D in Spanish at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, from which he graduated in 2005. Recently, he spent four years teaching Spanish at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado.
Juan has been teaching at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota since spring 2009. He enjoys biking, hiking, spaghetti westerns, horror and science fiction movies, and classic rock from the late 60s and early 70s.
When he refers to the language and culture of Latin America, he speaks and writes from personal experience. His research interests include business protocol in Latin America, postcolonial theory and writing, the evolution of Latin music and film, and the Spanish Civil War, which was the focus of his dissertation.
Elizabeth K. Haller
Elizabeth K. Haller
Associate Dean, Department Chair, Professor of English
Tech Center 371
- 605-626-7705
Assistant Professor of English/Director of Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
- 605-626-2241
Benjamin Harley
Benjamin Harley
Assistant Professor of English/Director of Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Technology Center 256
- 605-626-2241
B.A., Benedictine University
M.A., University of Northern Colorado
Ph.D, University of South Carolina
Dr. Ben Harley joined the Northern faculty as an assistant professor of English in 2018. His work focuses on rhetoric and composition - ways in which humans create and circulate texts in order to persuade and be persuaded. Many of his courses focus not only on creating persuasive texts but also on critically and ethically engaging with traditional and new media. His research largely focuses on public rhetorics, both digital and traditional, with his most recent work focusing on how the material nature of sound intimately affects bodies and can be used to create diverse communities. He has published in an array of scholarly journals, including Present Tense, The Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics, and Hybrid Pedagogy.
Students in all of his classes can expect to write traditional essays as well as multimodal texts that utilize a variety of communication channels (textual, visual, aural, gestural, etc.) to engage actual audiences. Students are asked to take a rhetorical approach to composition, considering their rhetorical situation in terms of audience, purpose, contexts, design, and the moment of encounter.
Learn more about his scholarship and teaching at bharleyrhetorics.com.
Nuurrianti Jalli
Nuurrianti Jalli
Assistant Professor of Communication Studies
Tech Center 262
- 605-626-2651