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Jeffries, Kathleen M.

Koch, Kevin J.

Livingston, Dana J.

McCarthy-Gilmore, Kate

Merrill, Jean.

Pollock, James

Raschke, Elizabeth

Stone, Susan

Wilson, Raymond

Strickler, Breyan

Jablonksy, William

Koch, Kevin J.
Professor of English
B.A., Loras College, 1981
M.A., University of Iowa, 1983
Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1992
At Loras since: 1983
(563)588-7536
Room 535 Hoffmann Hall
kevin.koch@loras.edu

Courses Taught: Creative Nonfiction Writing, Literary Nonfiction & Workshop, Nature Writing, Thesis Seminar, Article & Essay Writing, Language Theory & Teaching of Writing, Monastery Voices, Modes of Inquiry (Rural America & the Family Farm), Critical Writing, College Writing, English Composition Skills, Writing About Literature, Business & Technical Writing.

Research & Creative Writing Interests: Nature writing and other forms of creative nonfiction; Composition Theory.

Selected Publications:
Books:
• Rising With Christ: Catholic Women's Voices Across the World.  (Compiler/Editor). Fortkamp Publishing/Rosehill Books, 1997.
• Skiing At Midnight: A Nature Journal from Dubuque County, Iowa.  Loras College Press, 2002.
Selected Articles:
• “The Rivers That Bring Us Together.”  Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley.  7 (Spring 2008): 22-38. 
• “Manitoumie. Sinsinawa.” Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley.  6.1 (2006): 75-90.
• “Savanna Army Depot: Production & Prairie in the Former Home of Bombs.”  Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley.  April 2005.
• “Time on the Mississippi.”  North American Review.  January 2002.
• Quarterly column, “Off the Beaten Path,”  Telegraph-Herald Tri-State Outdoors Magazine, 2005-Present.
 Manuscript In-Progress: The Driftless Land: Spirit of Place in the Upper Mississippi Valley

Selected Presentations & Workshops:
• “The Driftless Land.”   Multimedia presentation of written work by Kevin Koch, music by Robert Dunn, and photography of the Driftless Area.  Presented at Loras College, Spring 2007 and Spring 2008.
• Sinipee Writers Workshop: “What’s So Creative About Creative Nonfiction?” April 2005.
• “First-Year Students Sow Seeds for Community Supported Agriculture.”  Conference on College Composition & Communication, Denver, CO, March 11, 2001.
• “Applied Ethnography: Future Teachers Interviewing Students Writers.”  National Council of Teachers of English, Milwaukee, WI.  November 17, 2000
• "The Reader-Writer Event: Social Cooperation in the Work of Gertrude of Buck,"  at Conference on College Composition and Communication, Milwaukee, WI, March 27, 1996.
• Nature Writing Workshops: various, 2002-present, including Sinsinawa Mound, Savanna Army Depot, Sinipee Writer’s Workshop.

Why would you encourage a prospective student to come to Loras for a Major in English (Literature / Creative Writing)?  The Loras English program—both in Literature and Creative Writing—offers a “large-school” array of courses in a small-school environment.  Here you’ll have a wide array of challenging literature courses and writing workshops in a setting where you’ll work closely with your professors from Day One.

What is the best part about being a faculty member at Loras? What could be better than teaching subjects that I’m passionate about to students whom I get to know very well, working with great colleagues, and having a supportive environment in which to further my own writing?