Faculty Bios

Dr. Allen Learst
Senior Lecturer, English
L-116, 715-735-4344

PhD, Oklahoma State University
MA, Northern Michigan University
BS, Northern Michigan University

Dr. Learst joined the English Department in the Fall of 2009 following teaching positions at Northern Michigan University, Gustavus Adolphus College and Minnesota State University at Mankato among others.

In July of 2011, he won first prize in the Leapfrog Fiction Contest.

Dr. Learst has published fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in War, Literature and the Arts, Alaska Quarterly Review, Chattahoochee Review, Hawaii Review, Passages North, Ascent, The Literary Review, Pisgah, and Water~Stone. His essay, “The Blood of Children,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and received a “Special Mention” in the 2008 Pushcart Prize XXXII Best of the Small Presses, and a “Notable” in the 2007 The Best American Nonrequired Reading.

"My stories reveal the aftermath of war through the voices of Vietnam veterans and their families. These stories take place in Detroit, a bleak environment that backgrounds the edgy, violent, and often dysfunctional motivations of my characters, who manage throughout their wanderings to exhibit moments of tenderness and compassion. My intention is to show my audience parallels between all wars, the suffering those who return from combat must confront and the suffering of those who survive war’s consequences: threats of violence, suicide, anxiety, alienation, and depression. These stories are about loss and redemption; they are about survival."

He was chosen Instructional Academic Staff of the Year in 2010.

Spring 2012 Schedule