After earning her bachelor’s degree from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, Elizabeth Leer spent 6 years teaching English and German to middle- and high-schoolers and coaching track and cross-country. Her experience as a public school teacher led to her research interest in how to infuse multicultural education (especially multicultural literature) effectively into largely homogeneous environments.

Leer earned her M.A. in English literature at Northern Illinois University and completed doctoral work in English education at the University of Minnesota. She taught for two years in the Education Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth before settling in Northfield with her husband and three sons.

At St. Olaf Leer has taught Principles of Education, communication arts and literature methods courses, and the Interim courses Perspectives on Teaching and Multicultural Education in Hawaii.