Wesley J. Hellman, PhD

Professor of English

School of Arts & Sciences

About Me

A native of North Dakota, I began teaching at the University of Mary in 1991. Since then, I have taught over 120 sections of Composition and more than 20 different courses throughout the English department's curriculum. In addition, I have directed five theater productions, two Bush Foundation faculty development grants, and served as a board member for the Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching and Learning. I am the proud father of three grown daughters, and my wife and I love to spend time with our seven grandchildren. I relax by cooking and taking long walks.

Why I’m At Mary

Leadership that exists to serve the greater good of persons in individual courses, major programs, institutions, and communities, and which radiates outward into all of one's areas of contact without undue and ultimate self-interest, is servant leadership. This type of leadership is possible, therefore, for all students, faculty, staff, administrators ⁠– indeed for all humankind.

Expertise

I have long been interested in rhetorical theory, cultural history, and criticism, writing across the curriculum, and 19th and 20th century Irish history and literature. I especially love to teach the Modernist novel and to conduct analyses that expose and subvert the dominant ideological view.

Hellman, Wesley. (2022). Read, Write, Think: A Rhetoric for the Real World. Kendall Hunt Publishing.

Hellman, Wesley. (2016). “Surveillance of the Body: Women in Caleb Williams,” in Published Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, available at http://www.npcebl.org/pdf/NPCEBL2016.pdf

Hellman, Wesley. (2011). “Corruption and Light: The Slave and the Individual in Jonson’s Sejanus His Fall,” in Selected Proceedings: The Nineteenth Annual Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature, available at http://www.npcebl.org/pdf/NPCEBL2011.pdf

Hellman, Wesley. (2009). “Surveillance and Fetishism: Desire for the Forbidden,” in Proceedings of Northern Plains Conference of Early British Literature, available at http://www.npcebl.org/pdf/NPCEBL2009.pdf

Hellman, Wesley. (2006). "Review: Creating Significant Learning Experiences: An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses," in On Teaching & Learning 20:2.

Education

PhD: Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2013
MA: Fort Hays State University, 1989
BS: North Dakota State University, 1982