A 1990 alum, Karen Marsalek did her graduate work at Oxford and the University of Toronto before returning to St. Olaf to teach early English literature. Her passion is the study and performance of medieval and Renaissance drama; she directed, produced, and performed in a number of early plays in Toronto, and has worked as a dramaturg for the Guthrie Theater. At St. Olaf she has team-taught "Literatures in English to 1650," and has offered electives in Renaissance literature, Shakespeare, and linguistics, as well as the off-campus Interim "Theater in London."

When she isn't rhapsodizing about mystery plays, saints' lives, or the Great Vowel Shift, Karen is busy planning the biannual Undergraduate Shakespeare Colloquium. In Spring 2003, she will be on leave to finish two scholarly projects: an edition of two Tudor comedies, and an article on reformist biblical drama. Avocationally, she loves to cook and to haunt auctions with colleagues Mary Titus and Karen Cherewatuk. She lives in Northfield with her husband John and their neurotic cat, Oliver.