Faculty Profiles

Professor Knoeller serves as Professor in secondary English Education. He has published book chapters and articles widely on both critical and pedagogical topics, including internationally in Canada and Australia. In recent years, his scholarship on environmental history as well as Midwestern and Native American Literature has appeared in leading ecocritical journals, such as articles on Ojibwe author Louise Erdrich in Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment from the Association for Literature and Environment (published by Oxford University Press), and on John James Audubon in Journal of Ecocriticism in Canada. His pedagogical publications have also appeared internationally including articles on teaching Native American literature in both English in Australia and the English Quarterly from the Canadian Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. Current scholarly work focuses on environmental and Native American literature, including his most recent book Reading Environmental History: Ecological Memory in the Wake of Landscape Change, from the University of Nevada Press (2017). His first collection of poems, Completing the Circle, was awarded the Millennium Prize from Buttonwood Press. He has received both the Midwestern Heritage Prize for Literary Criticism (2007) and the Gwendolyn Brooks Prize for Poetry (2011) from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature and is a past President of the organization (SSML). Work in progress includes the book manuscript Journeys in Search of Environmental History: Retracing Expeditions of Preeminent Naturalists. Professor Knoeller is Past President of Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature.

Selected Publications

• Knoeller, Christian.  Reimagining Environmental History: Ecological Memory in the Wake of Landscape Change. University of Nevada Press, 2017.
• Knoeller, Christian. “Poetics of Place in Theodore Roethke’s ‘North American Sequence.’”  In Ron Primeau (ed), American Road Literature. Salem Press/EBSCO Critical Insights Series, 2014, 190-211.
• Knoeller, Christian. “Landscape & Language In Erdrich’s Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country.”  Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment, vol 19.4, 2013: 645-60. (Oxford University Press)
• Knoeller, Christian. “The Making of a Conservationist: Audubon’s Ecological Memory.” Journal of Ecocriticism:  Nature, Society and Literature, 2013.  (This Canadian journal is an open-access, peer-reviewed electronic review of ecocriticism and ecological literature published since 2008)
• Knoeller, Christian.  “Bearing Witness:  Ecological Memory in the Essays of Scott Russell Sanders.”  MidAmerica, 2012: 135-44.  East Lansing, Michigan:  Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature:  The Midwestern Press.
• (2010/In Press) “Landscape & Language In Erdrich’s Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and the Environment. (Oxford University Press).
• (2011). “Nature Remains: The Conservationist Manifesto of Scott Russell Sanders.” Midwest Miscellany, XXXIX, 8-21. East Lansing, Michigan: Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature: The Midwestern Press. (Knoeller was also exclusive guest editor for this special issue of the journal devoted to the writing of Scott Russell Sanders).
• (2010). “Writing in the Wake of History: Audubon’s Journey on the Missouri.” Midwest Miscellany, XXXVIII, 37-53. East Lansing, Michigan: Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature: The Midwestern Press.
• Knoeller, C. (2006). ‘A Hopi basket full of photographs:’ Interpreting visual art in multi-genre works by contemporary Native American writers.” Indiana English. Indiana Council of Teachers of English.
• Knoeller, C. (Ed.). (2005). An Oasis for Writers: Anthology of National Writing Project Teachers. Berkeley, CA: National Writing Project.
• Knoeller, C. (2005). “Not one voice, but many: Reading contemporary Native American writers.” In Exploring culturally diverse literature for children and adolescents: Learning to listen in new ways, May, J. and D. Henderson (eds.) Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
• Knoeller, C. (2005). “Engaging indigenous voices in the classroom.” [Essay review of the book Reading Native American literature: A teacher’s guide]. English Quarterly, 37.4, 18-21. Canadian Council of Teachers of English Language Arts.
• Knoeller, C. (2005). “A Profession Older than Writing”: Echoes of Huckleberry Finn In Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley in Search of America. Midwest Miscellany XXXIII, 22-35. Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature: The Midwest Press.
• Knoeller, C. (2004). “Recognising Indigenous Voices: Contemporary Multi-genre Works by Native American Authors.” English in Australia 141, 21-30. The Australian Association for the Teaching of English.
• Knoeller, C. (2004). “Narratives of rethinking: The inner dialogue of classroom discourse and student writing.” In Bakhtinian Perspectives on Language, Literacy, and Learning. Freedman, S. and A. Ball (eds.) Cambridge University Press. 148-71.
• Knoeller, C. (2004). “Driving home at midnight in a dense fog: Using metaphor to explore writing processes.” Berkeley, CA: The Quarterly of the National Writing Project 26.2, 21-27, 39. National Writing Project.
• Knoeller, C. (2003). “Imaginative response: Teaching literature through creative writing.” English Journal 92 (5), 42-48. (Themed issue on “The Power of Imagination”). National Council of Teachers of English.
• Knoeller, C. (2002). “Teaching Contemporary Native American Writers.” Indiana English 25.1:55-60. Indiana Teachers of English.
• Knoeller, C. (2000). Completing the Circle. Champaign, Illinois: Buttonwood Press, (Millennium Prize winner). Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
• Knoeller, C. (1998). Voicing Ourselves: Whose Words We Use to Talk About Books. SUNY series, Literacy, Culture, and Learning: Theory and Practice. Series Ed. Alan C. Purves, Albany, New York: State University of New York Press.
• Knoeller, C. (1998). “Negotiating interpretations of text: The role of student-led discussions in the understanding of literature.” In Michael Opitz (ed.) Literacy Instruction for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Newark, Delaware: International Reading Association.
• Knoeller, C. (1994). “Negotiating Interpretations of Text: The Role of Student-led Discussions in the Understanding of Literature.” Journal of Reading, 37 (7), 572-580. International Reading Association.
• Knoeller, C. (1988). Office Communication. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall/Regents, (textbook, 150 pp.). [10,427 copies sold worldwide]

• EDCI 42200 — Teaching English in Secondary Schools
• EDCI 43400 — Teaching English in Middle School
• EDCI 49800F — Supervised Student Teaching Seminar (Secondary English)
• EDCI 50900 — Writing in Middle and Secondary School
• EDCI 61300 — Reading the Midwest: Engaging Place in Literature and Teaching
• ENGL 23400 — Ecological Literature
• ENGL 39100 — Composition for English Teachers
• ENGL 49200 — Literature in the Secondary Schools