Index of University Press Releases

Nov. 24, 2007

Driedger and Qvarnemark join DWU faculty

Derek Driedger

Linda Qvarnemark

MITCHELL – Derek Driedger, assistant professor of English, and Linda Qvarnemark, assistant professor of biology, joined the DWU faculty this fall.

“Derek’s focus on Midwestern literature fits well with our desire to focus attention on regional contributions,” said Don Watt, vice president for academic affairs and academic dean. “For the past few years Linda used her botany background by conducting research in Nebraska.”

Driedger earned his bachelor’s degree in communications and English, and his master’s degree in English at the University of North Dakota; his master’s thesis was on Willa Cather. He earned his doctoral degree at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where he focused on novelists who also worked as journalists. Driedger joins Vince Redder, Joe Ditta and Gretchen Rich in the English department.

Qvarnemark received her bachelor’s degree in biology with an emphasis in ecology from Winona State University and her doctorate in ecology from Idaho State University. She worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Qvarnemark joins Tim Mullican and Tony Cole in the biology department.

“New faculty members always bring excitement with them, relating to the new ideas and their fields of study,” said Watt. “Both of these individuals also add an international aspect to the faculty, as Derek is originally from Canada and Linda is from Sweden.”