Our Grads

Doctor of Philosophy degrees since 1999

Sharon Berg works for the US Department of State, Washington, D.C.  Her PhD dissertation is “Magic in the North: Magical Realism in Contemporary Fiction" (2005; directed by Dr. Jan Sjåvik).

Claudia Berguson is Associate Professor of Norwegian at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.  Her PhD dissertation is "Challenging Authority: Saga, Gossip, Ballad, and Legend as Narrative Voices in Sigrid Undset's Kristin Lavransdatter" (2003; directed by Dr. Jan Sjåvik).

Tara Felicity Chace is a professional translator of Scandinavian languages with a translation agency in Seattle.  Her PhD dissertation is "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass: Ontological Metamorphoses in Norwegian and Finnish Fiction" (2003; directed by Dr. Jan Sjåvik).

Adriana Margareta Dancus is Associate Professor of Nordic and Media Studies at the University of Agder, Norway.  Her PhD dissertation is "Screening the Norwegian Heart: The Cultural Politics and Aesthetics of the Emotions in Norwegian Cinema 2000-2008" (2009; directed by Dr. Andrew Nestingen).

Elizabeth Denoma is Senior Acquisitions Editor at Amazon Crossings. Her Ph.D. dissertation is "Multiple melodrama: The making and remaking of three Selma Lagerlof narratives in the Silent Era and the 1940s." (2000; directed by Dr. Lotta Gavel-Adams).

Melissa Gjellstad is Associate Professor of Norwegian at University of North Dakota.  Her PhD dissertation is "Mothering at Millennium's End: Family in 1990's Norwegian Literature" (2004; directed by Dr. Jan Sjåvik).

Renessa Osterberg Jessup is Assistant Professor and Program Director of Scandinavian Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Her PhD dissertation is “Literary Anxiety in Contemporary Norwegian Metafiction: Hanne Ørstavik, Lars Saabye Christensen, and Dag Solstad.” (2012; directed by Dr. Jan Sjåvik).

Maren Anderson Johnson is Assistant Professor of Norwegian at Luther College.   Her PhD dissertation is “Staging Genius: Henrik Ibsen and Biographical Theater” (2014; Directed by Dr. Andrew Nestingen).

Tom Johnson's PhD dissertation is "Tidebast och Vändelrot: Magical Representations in the Swedish Black Art Book Tradition" (2010; Directed by Dr. Guntis Šmidchens).

Kevin Karlin is an independent scholar.  His PhD dissertation is"Man måste avsluta det för att kunna gå vidare: Alterity, Authenticity, and Angst in Göran Sonnevi's Det oavslutade språket” (2006; directed by Dr. Jan Sjåvik).

Kirstine M. Kastbjerg is a faculty member in Danish and English at N. Zahle Gymnasieskole in Copenhagen.  Her Ph.D. dissertation is “Reading the Surface: The Danish Gothic of  B.S. Ingemann, H.C. Andersen, Karen Blixen and Beyond”  (2013; directed by Dr. Marianne Stecher).

Kyle Korynta is Visiting Assistant Professor of Norwegian at St. Olaf College.  His PhD dissertation is “Jon Fosse in the Light and Shadow of Ibsen: Writing Styles, Affect, and Reception” (2012; directed by Dr. Jan Sjåvik).

Kristin Kuutma holds a position in the Estonian Folklore Archives in Tartu.  Her PhD dissertation is "A Sami Ethnography and a Setu Epic: Two Collaborative Representations in Their Historical Contexts" (2002; directed by Dr. Thomas Dubois and Dr. John Toews)

Ralitsa Lazarova is Lecturer in Germanic languages at Columbia University. Her PhD dissertation is "True stories: the politics of emotions in works of performative realism in recent Swedish fiction" (2014; directed by Dr. Lotta Gavel Adams).

Peter Leonard is Director of Digital Humanities at the Yale University Library.  His PhD dissertation is “Imagining Themselves: National Belongings in the Post-EthnicNordic Literature” (2011; directed by Dr. Lotta Gavel Adams).

Melissa M. Lucas is an independent scholar in digital humanities and teaches Danish at the Scandinavian Language Institute at Nordic Heritage Museum.  Her PhD dissertation is Digital Literary Arts – Scandinavian E-Texts:  Criticism, Theory, and Practice”  (2014; directed by Dr. Marianne Stecher).

Gergana May is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Norwegian Language and Scandinavian Culture Program at Indiana University, Bloomington.  Her PhD dissertation is "Man at the End of History: Henrik Ibsen's Works in the Light of French Post-Hegelian Theoretical Thought “(2006; directed by Dr. Jan Sjåvik).

Mark Mussari is a literary translator and author of numerous scholarly articles on literature, art and design, including Danish Modern: Between Art and Design (2016) published by Bloomsbury Press. His PhD dissertation is “Farvens klang: Color Spaces in Strindberg, Branner, Dinesen and Bjørneboe” (1999; directed by Dr. Marianne Stecher).

Jan Krogh Nielsen is a lecturer (lektor) in Danish and English at Birkerød Gymnasium, Denmark. From 2004 - 2009, he served as Visiting Lecturer of Danish at UW. His PhD dissertation is “‘People’s Faces:’ Levinasian Ethics in Per Olov Enquist, Villy Sørensen, and Knut Hamsun” (2019; directed by Dr. Marianne T. Stecher).

Andrew Nestingen is Professor and Chair of Scandinavian Studies.  His PhD dissertation is "Why nation?: globalization and national culture in Finland, 1980-2001" (2001; directed by Dr. Thomas Dubois).

Liina-Ly Roos is Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her dissertation is "The Child, Affective Memories of War, and Cruel Everyday in Nordic and Baltic Film and Literature" (2018; directed by Dr. Andrew Nestingen). 

Matthew Roy is a writer and translator living in Luxembourg. His PhD dissertation is "August Strindberg's Perversions: On the Science, Sin and Scandal of Homosexuality in August Strindberg's Works." (2001; Directed by Dr. Lotta Gavel-Adams). 

Anna Ruhl's PhD dissertation is "Selvgeografi’: Placing the Works of Karl Ove Knausgård and Tomas Espedal." (2016; Directed by Dr. Andrew Nestingen).

Csanád Z. Siklós is Assistant Director and Outreach Specialist with the European Studies Alliance at UW-Madison, following his position at the London School of Economics 2000-2005.  His PhD dissertation is "The Rhetoric of Resistance: A Study of Pär Lagervist's Prose and Drama, 1933-1944" (2002; directed by Dr. Lars Warme).

Mia Spangenberg has held a position at Microsoft for several years; she is currently on sabbatical in Germany.  Her PhD dissertation is "It's Reigning Men: Masculinities in Contemporary Finnish Fiction and Film" (2009; Directed by Dr. Andrew Nestingen).

Mark Säfström is Lecturer of Swedish and Scandinavian Studies at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  His PhD dissertation is “The Religious Origins of Democratic Pluralism: Paul Peter Waldenström and the Politics of the Swedish Awakening 1868 – 1917” (2011; directed by Dr. Terje Leiren).

Timothy Warburton is visting assistant professor of Swedish at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, MN.  His PhD dissertation is “Cultural Amnesia: Male Homosexuality in Swedish Literature” (2014; directed by Dr. Lotta Gavel Adams).

Evan Wright's PhD dissertation is "Ploughshares to Processors: An Ecological critique of Technology in Post-War Finnish and American Literature ." (2016; Directed by Dr. Andrew Nestingen).

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