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Who can I talk to?
Jim Grove
Professor of English
B.A. University of Minnesota
M.A.T. College of St. Thomas
M.A., Ph.D. Southern Illinois UniversityJim as been teaching in the English Department at Mount Mercy since 1980, when he finished his Ph.D. by writing a dissertation on Mark Twain. Since then he has taught many courses in American and English Literature, as well as honors courses on the World Wars, the American City, and the Holocaust. His favorite writers are Phillip Roth, Toni Morrison, Herman Melville, and Virginia Woolf; and his favorite books are Moby-Dick and One Hundred Years of Solitude. He also has a great interest in films, and this has led to his teaching classes on Writing and Film and on the Great American Films (his favorite being Godfather I). He also loves baseball (and tries to travel every year to a different major league ball park) as well as traveling overseas. He has twice been a Fulbright scholar to the Czech Republic, and this has allowed him to visit nearly every country in Europe. Finally, he has published and presented papers on a number of American, English, and Czech writers -- his writing often revolving around the themes of place, the problem of evil, and postmodernism. His method of teaching is to discuss, discuss, discuss.
Jim McKean
Professor of English
B.A., M.A. Washington State University
Ph.D. University of IowaAs an undergraduate, Jim McKean attended Washington State University where he majored in English and played basketball. After graduating, he played basketball in Europe for a short time and then taught at Columbia Basin College, in Pasco, Washington. In 1981, he earned an M.F.A. in poetry from the Iowa Writers Workshop and then a Ph.D. from Iowa in American Literature and writing. Having taught at Mount Mercy since 1990, he’s now a full professor, who enjoys teaching all his classes and creative writing in particular. When there’s time, he works on writing poems and essays and has published two books of poems, Headlong, from the University of Utah Press and Tree of Heaven, from the University of Iowa Press. A book of his essays, Home Stand: A Memoir of Growing Up in Sports, is forthcoming from Michigan State University Press. One of those essays, “Playing for Jud,” appeared in the 2003 Best American Sports Writing. His favorite poets include Mary Oliver, James Wright, Stephen Dunn, Anne Sexton, and Philip Levine, among many others. He supervises Mount Mercy's student literary magazine, The Paha Review, and invites all students to contribute by reading and writing and joining Mount Mercy's community of writers.
Joy Ochs
Assistant Professor of English
B.A. University of Wisconsin
M.A., Ph.D. University of MichiganJoy Ochs came to the Mount Mercy English Department in 2001. She was attracted by the environment of a small college and the chance to work one-on-one with students. In 2001 she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan for her dissertation on the 17th-century playwrights Beaumont and Fletcher, Shakespeare’s successors. At Mount Mercy she teaches Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, and the survey of British literature, as well as introductory courses in writing, literature, and linguistics. Her favorite authors (there are many!) include William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Madeleine L’Engle, and Isabel Allende; she can also be caught reading science fiction in her spare time. A seasoned traveler, Joy has studied in France and done research in England; her most recent excursions have been in and around Iowa to introduce her children to their new home state. Prior to becoming an English professor, Joy earned a degree in geology and has worked as a park ranger and a fossil preparator on a dinosaur dig. She is still thinking about ways to integrate science and literature, and has designed courses that use scientific thinking to engage non-English majors in the pleasures of reading and writing.
Carol Tyx
Associate Professor of English
B.A. Otterbein College
M.A. Wright State University
Ph.D. University of Iowa“There is no frigate like a book,” wrote Emily Dickinson. Ever since Carol Tyx read her first novel, Black Beauty, she has been hooked on exploring the world through literature. Relishing writers as diverse as Emily Dickinson, Annie Dillard, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Louise Erdrich, Carol teaches courses in U.S. multicultural literature, American drama, and writing. Carol received her Ph.D. from The University of Iowa in 2000 with a focus on American literature and creative nonfiction writing and continues to teach the university’s nonfiction correspondence course to students around the world. Her dissertation, a book-length memoir, investigates the challenges of finding one’s way in the world as a young adult. In addition to nonfiction, Carol writes poetry. Her two latest publications include the prose poem “The Pleasures of Reading” in the 2002 Wabash Magazine and “Oregon Coast in April” in Kalliope 2003. Besides the world of reading and writing, Carol participates in a community supported agriculture project that raises organic vegetables. She practices yoga and Spanish and is part of a faith community.
Mary Vermillion
Associate Professor of English
B.A. St. Mary College
M.A., Ph.D. University of IowaMary Vermillion began teaching English at Mount Mercy in 1994 after earning her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Her dissertation examined last wills and eighteenth-century novels, and she continues to explore the connections between law and literature in many of the courses she teaches. Mary’s teaching also enables her to share her love of writing. She has published and presented papers on topics ranging from Beowulf to post-feminism. Her mystery novel, Death by Discount (forthcoming Fall 2004) portrays Wal-Mart’s impact on small-town America, a place where Mary herself grew up, a fledgling bookworm enchanted by Harriet the Spy and Nancy Drew. Although Mary still loves mysteries (especially those of Sara Paretsky and Ellen Hart), she also adores satire, Shakespeare, and the Bronte sisters.
For information or questions about admission, please visit the admissions Web site or e-mail admission@mtmercy.edu. Have questions about Mount Mercy's English major? You can contact Mary Vermillion, department chair, at vermill@mtmercy.edu.
What classes should I take to enter the program?
What will it take to graduate?
Four-Year Plan for English
How will I gain experience?
What can I do with an English degree from Mount Mercy College?
Who can I talk to?
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