Jan C. Hill brings to the English Department a background in writing and the media, having worked as an editor and newspaper reporter, and written user guides for Microsoft and Minnegasco, commentary pieces for the Star-Tribune, and encyclopedia articles on the literature of the Spanish Civil War. She has recently turned to creative nonfiction writing, her essays appearing in Moxie Magazine, Midday Moon, and the South Dakota Review.
Jan teaches a variety of writing courses for the department, including journalistic writing, first-year writing, and creative nonfiction. She also teaches Children's Literature, which covers classic and contemporary fiction ranging from picture books to young adult novels, and explores popular genres such as realism, historical fiction, magical realism, science fiction, and fantasy. She maintains, and often persuades her students, that children's books are among the best literary works of the past two centuries.
She moved to Minnesota from California, a geographical and cultural leap that caused her to be interested in how region shapes people's lives, a topic that she and her students take up in "American Literary Regionalism." In this course students explore literature from various geographic regions and consider such questions as, "Is 'regionalism' merely a false construct, an excuse to discriminate against outsiders; or is it the essential value behind land stewardship?"
Jan is currently the director of the Women's Studies program and advisor to the off-campus HECUA programs "Writing for Social Change" and "City Arts."
Office Hours Fall Semester:
Monday - 1:30-3:00
Wednesday - 2:30-4:30
