Megan Christensen

Manager of Grants and Corporate Relations

• Phone: 309-794-7189
• Email: meganchristensen@augustana.edu
• Office: Sorensen Hall

Specializations: Advancement

Kristina Hein ’94

Director of Advancement Services

• Phone: 309-794-7413
• Email: kristinahein@augustana.edu
• Office: Sorensen

Specializations: Advancement

Amanda R. Wilmsmeyer

Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Robert W. Beart Chair in Chemistry

• Phone: 309-794-3468
• Email: amandawilmsmeyer@augustana.edu
• Office: Hanson 406

The endowed Robert W. Beart Chair in Chemistry supports the research of Dr. Amanda Wilmsmeyer and several chemistry and biochemistry students each year.

Specializations: Chemistry

Linda Warne

Alumni Relations Assistant

• Phone: 309-794-7589
• Email: lindawarne@augustana.edu
• Office: Sorensen Hall

Specializations: Advancement

Shelley Cooper

Associate Professor of Theatre Arts

• Phone: 309-794-7194
• Email: shelleycooper@augustana.edu
• Office: Brunner 223

Shelley Cooper is an actor, director, choreographer, singer, and educator specializing in musical theatre. Her previous teaching engagements include musical theatre voice and performance professor at Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand, and musical theatre voice specialist at the University of Central Florida.

Shelley Cooper made her Off-Broadway debut with her original one woman show "La Divina: The Last Interview" at United Solofest on Theatre Row. Her Off-Broadway debut performance won her "Best One Woman Show" 2022.

Cooper has performed and directed all over the world for a number of companies such as Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Orlando Fringe, Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Monroe Symphony, Chicago Summer Opera, Opera Quad Cities, Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse, Orlando Repertory Theatre, Shawnee Summer Theatre, Redhouse Arts Center, Varna Opera Theatre, Bangkok Theatre Festival, and the Simbiose Produções (MOVE Studio) in São Paulo, Brazil, and the Venetian Macao in Macau, China.

Most noted performances are Johanna in "Sweeney Todd," starring Tony-Award-winning actress Faith Prince; Nellie in "South Pacific," Cinderella in "Into the Woods," Ariel in "The Little Mermaid," Armida in "Rinaldo," Edith in "Pirates of Penzance," Berta in "Il barbiere di Siviglia" at the Varna Opera Theatre in Bulgaria, and the soprano soloist in Handel's "Messiah" with the Bangkok International Orchestra. 

Cooper is also an accomplished director/choreographer specializing in musical theatre and is a proud associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Some of her favorite credits include "The Drowsy Chaperone," "Big River," "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," "The Light in the Piazza," "Company," "Elegies for Angels Punks and Raging Queens" and "Beehive." She has former students working around the world, including the Broadway production of “Holiday Inn,” NBC’s “Hairspray Live,” “The Festival of the Lion King” in Hong Kong, national tours of “Rock of Ages,” “Wizard of Oz,” “Flashdance,” “Beauty and the Beast” and the West End revival of “Miss Saigon.”   
 

Specializations: Musical theatre, Choreography

Nick Dobson

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Classics

• Phone: 309-794-7178
• Email: nicholasdobson@augustana.edu
• Office: Denkmann 129

My interest in the ancient world developed early in life out of reading mythology and Tolkien and playing Dungeons and Dragons.

I majored in linguistics at Rice University with an emphasis on Indo-European and studied at the University of Texas at Austin for my MA and PhD. Along the way, I became interested in ancient poetry and humor and received a little archaeological training at a dig in Chersonesos, Ukraine, and at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

I have taught at Bucknell University, Cornell College, Monmouth College, and Augustana. As a testament to the power of a liberal arts education and training in Classics I offer the fact that I have taught at Augustana for the following departments and programs: Classics, FYI, German, and CSD.

Mark Safstrom

Associate Professor of Scandinavian Studies

• Email: marksafstrom@augustana.edu
• Office: Denkmann 111

Scandinavia and the Nordic region may be a small corner of the world, yet are dynamic societies with rich histories, literatures, and cultures.

From the Viking age over 1,000 years ago to the present day, these northern societies have had a global presence, and continue to shape the discourse of the international community in terms of social policy, technological innovation, the arts, and popular culture.

The courses and study abroad opportunities that we offer at Augustana serve to provide students with a broad, thorough understanding of what has shaped Scandinavian distinctiveness through various historical periods.

Scandinavia is also where Augustana begins! Scandinavian studies offers students the opportunity to explore the rich history of the college, from its founding by Swedish immigrants a century and a half ago, as well as participate in its ongoing traditions and partnerships with Scandinavian schools.

My interest in Scandinavia was solidified while studying abroad in Sweden in college. Following the sage advice of my professors, I combined my undergraduate degree in history with a double major in Swedish, which led to graduate school and many research visits in Stockholm, Uppsala, Northern Sweden, and even Svalbard.

At Augustana, I teach courses in Swedish language and Scandinavian literature and history. Before coming to Augustana, I previously taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2010-2017) and the University of Washington (2007-2010).

My research has focused on 19th and early 20th century Scandinavian history, with emphasis on the so-called "folk movements" (the temperance and labor movements, and the religious revivals), and I have written on various aspects of Scandinavian-American history, polar exploration, Lutheran Pietism, and Scandinavian religious history.

Selected publications

Clio’s Abode in Swedish America: Essays from the Journal of the Swedish-American Historical Society. Edited by Philip J. Anderson, Byron J. Nordstrom, Kevin Proescholdt, and Mark Safstrom. (Swedish-American Historical Society 2023)

Sacred Migrations: Borderlands of Community and Faith. Edited by Hauna Ondrey and Mark Safstrom. (Swedish-American Historical Society 2020)

God's Glory, Neighbor's Good: The Story of Pietism. Documentary film co-written with Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom, narrated by G. Timothy Johnson. (Vision Video 2017)

The Religious Origins of Democratic Pluralism: Paul Peter Waldenström and the Politics of the Swedish Awakening 1868-1917. (Wipf & Stock 2016)

The Swedish Pietists: A Reader: Excerpts from the writings of Carl Olof Rosenius and Paul Peter Waldenström. Edited, translated and introduced by Mark Safstrom. (Wipf & Stock 2015)

Articles and chapters

"The Polar Hero’s Progress: Fridtjof Nansen, Spirituality, and Environmental History" in "Arctic Environmental Modernities: From the Age of Polar Exploration to the Era of the Anthropocene." Eds. Lill-Ann Körber, Scott MacKenzie, and Anna Westerståhl Stenport. (Palgrave MacMillan 2016)

“Writing History Together; Norwegian- and Swedish-American Historians in Dialogue” in "Friends and Neighbors? Swedes and Norwegians in the United States." Eds. Dag Blanck and Philip J. Anderson. (Minnesota Historical Society Press 2011)

Translations in edited volumes

Viktor Rydberg. “Starlight on sea and sand/Gläns över sjö och strand” in Swedish hymns and the stories behind them. Edited by Per Harling. (Verbum 2016)

P. Waldenström. “Squire Adamsson” in Scandinavian Pietists: Spiritual Writings from 19th Century Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland. The Classics of Western Spirituality Series. Edited by Mark A. Granquist. (Paulist Press 2015)

Courses taught

Swedish, all levels (SWED 101-380)
SCAN 242 - Crime Fiction
SCAN 250 - Vikings to Volvos: Scandinavian History
SCAN 341 - Arctic Narratives
SCAN 350 - Immigration History
HIST 114 - Medieval Europe: 200-1300
RELG 204 - Christian Theology
RELG 206 - Reformers and Radicals
RELG 270 - Martin Luther: Life, Thought and Legacy

Pamela J. Trotter

Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry

• Phone: 309-794-3469
• Email: PamTrotter@augustana.edu
• Office: Hanson 407

Dr. Trotter is the academic advisor for biochemistry students.

After earning her Ph.D. she went on to the University of Texas at Austin where she served as a professor and research fellow in the university’s Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology. She joined the Augustana College faculty in 2001.

Specializations: Yeast, Saccharomyces, Lipids, Metabolism, Biochemistry, Fat metabolism

Kiki Kosnick

Associate Professor of French; Chair of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

• Phone: 309-794-7217
• Email: kikikosnick@augustana.edu
• Office: Denkmann 126

A collection of gender-inclusive French language resources is available here.

I use they/them pronouns or proper pronouns in English; in French I use the non-binary pronouns iel/læ/ellui. 

I completed my Ph.D. in French with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016. Before starting at Augustana in the fall of 2017, I was a visiting faculty member at Grinnell College for three years.

I teach courses on francophone literary and cultural studies and all levels of French language. I also regularly offer a queer theory course for the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program. I am active in the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education and was a member of their 2019 Teaching Vocational Exploration seminar cohort. 

My recent scholarship centers queer and feminist approaches to (teaching) gender-inclusive French. My article “The Everyday Poetics of Gender-Inclusive French: Strategies for Navigating the Linguistic Landscape” won the 2019 Florence Howe Award for outstanding feminist scholarship. In 2021, my essay “Inclusive Language Pedagogy for (Un)Teaching Gender in French” appeared in Teaching Diversity and Inclusion: Examples from a French-Speaking Classroom.

I grew up in northern Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac area and was a first-generation college student. I have since lived abroad in France and Switzerland and spent a year working odd jobs while traveling the U.S. in a motorhome.

I value opportunities to engage with student researchers. Examples of interdisciplinary projects I have mentored include:

Coming Out Culture and LGBTQ+ Teachers — Maddie Schaefer '22

Embracing écriture inclusive: Students Respond to Gender Inclusivity in the French Language Classroom — Rebecca Garbe '20

Looking Beyond Binaries to Avoid Polarization in the Sex Work Debate — Laura Keenan '22

The Morphology of Sex: Tracking Change in the Sex Discourse at Augustana College — Robert Burke '20

Not Queer Enough: How Current Medical School Curriculum is Failing the LGBT+ Community — Vanessa Iroegbulem '21

Queer Even in Safe Spaces: Homelessness, Shelter Failures, and the Queer Community — Kara West '24

Why the Binary?: Cisnormativity in Athletics — Iliana Smiser '22

Specializations: French, Language education, Francophone literature, Queer Studies, Gender and feminist theory, Postcolonial literature