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Portrait of Ann Pelelo

Ann Pelelo, Ph.D.

Professor of English,
Chair of Society, Culture and Discourse

Educational Background

Doctor of Philosophy in English and Spanish, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 2003

Master of Arts in English and Spanish, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, 1993

Bachelor of Arts in English and Spanish, Briar Cliff University, Sioux City, IA, 1989

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Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy relies upon the following assumptions:

  • Learning is a two-way street. Student input during class sessions may take us in directions I hadn’t dreamed of. I’m comfortable exploring unimagined terrain because it offers me different perspectives and I learn from the new visions. Clearly knowledge is the commodity exchanged in this classroom.
  • Education is challenging and uncomfortable. Rigor is a necessary part of this uncomfortable challenge. Education is an expansion of knowledge horizons, and it is often difficult to change something (our current horizon, for example) with which we are comfortable. But I feel it is my job to offer other horizons, other shoes to walk in, if the goal is education.
  • All disciplines are connected to one another, and all of these disciplines are connected to our “real lives.”

‘Part of teaching is helping students learn how to tolerate ambiguity, consider possibilities, and ask questions that are unanswerable.’ Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, United Statesian sociologist at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Ann Pelelo

Profile

Professional Background

I began teaching full-time at the college level in 1994.  Each institution at which I’ve taught has offered me insights into teaching and learning, and has made me the teacher I am today.

My learning has taken place outside of the classroom as well, via such experiences as founding a student literary magazine, facilitating student travel abroad, instituting a Spanish Club, coordinating an annual language and literature conference and participating in National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institutes and National Humanities Center Workshops.

Research Interests

My research interests lie firmly in language. I continue to work with people across the U.S. on issues surrounding composition.  In addition, I continue to teach classes that illustrate how the literatures of the Americas speak to one another and how we continue to encounter “the other” in life and literature.

Courses Taught

  • Focused Inquiry: Modern British Literature
  • Literary Criticism
  • Global Voices
  • Literary Voices: U.S. Authors
  • Literature of the Southern Hemisphere
  • Literary Ventures