English Faculty and Staff

Stephen Ellis holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His research interests include comparative literature, cultural studies, and critical theory. Currently he is finishing a manuscript on the ways that metaphors efface and distort important aspects of the self.

Jennifer Ervin teaches courses in methods for teaching English language arts, young adult literature, and critical reading and writing. She previously taught secondary English language arts for 11 years. Her research focuses on secondary English language arts pedagogy and curriculum; teachers’ engagement with justice-oriented teaching practices, including culturally sustaining and antibias pedagogies; and the intersection of educational policies with teachers’ classroom work.

Heather Fielding is the Director of the Mark Stephen Cosby Honors College at UW-Eau Claire as well as a professor in the English Department. Her research focuses on the theory of the novel and modern and contemporary British fiction. Her recent work explores discussions about Ukraine and Ukrainian literature in modernist Britain, at the moment when the idea of Ukrainian nationhood was first gaining currency in the west. 

Amy Fleury teaches Blugold Seminar and other courses in the English department. She is the author of two collections of poems, Beautiful Trouble and Sympathetic Magic, and a chapbook, Reliquaries of the Lesser Saints.

Isabella (Bella) Gross teaches Blugold Seminar and English courses at the Eau Claire campus. She is currently the Senate IAS representative for the English Department. 

B.J. Hollars is a professor of English, founder and director of the Chippewa Valley Writers Guild, founder of the Midwest Artist Academy, an author, a documentarian, and a columnist for The Leader-Telegram.  He lives a simple existence with his family.

Dr. Laura Jok teaches in the Blugold Seminar in Critical Reading and Writing.