Peter Ellertsen

Benedictine University at Springfield College

pellertsen@sci.edu

The same month I got my Ph.D. in English literature, I was already out in the "real world." Covering a coal mine strike, to be exact. It was an abrupt transition, from poetry readings and defending a Shakespeare thesis in grad school to interviewing courthouse politicians, sheriff's deputies, criminal defense lawyers and union organizers for a small daily newspaper in East Tennessee. But it turned out my liberal arts education was all the background I needed.

In 15 years of newspapering, I covered the courts, police beat and the "cop shop," state and local government, a U.S. Department of Energy national research lab, nuclear reactor technology, the agricultural implement industry, federal ag policy, economic development and politics including the Iowa presidential caucuses, two state legislatures and a Chicago city election. Then I "went over to the dark side," doing media advance and research on public policy issues for an elected Illinois state official. Now I edit online publications on software that hadn't even been dreamed of back when I started banging out police news on an Underwood manual typewriter.

But every time I've tackled something new, my liberal arts background has given me the flexibilty to master it. That kind of flexibility is what I hope to pass on to my students.

Communication arts at SCI

As we grow our  professional communication arts program for Benedictine University at Springfield College, our mission is to equip you for careers an industry that's constantly changing. You'll always have new technologies to master ... it's in the nature of the business. So you'll need a thorough grounding in print and broadcast journalism, new media, ethics, layout, design and strategic planning just in order to keep up. Plus the values you get from literature and the arts. To help you adapt -- and keep adapting -- to a constantly changing world, we'll help you learn the basics. Liberal arts and pre-professional students have been doing that since St. Thomas Aquinas was in grad school. We just do more of it with digital technologies now.

By choice, I teach freshman English, too. It keeps me grounded in the liberal arts ... the same core principles that prepared me for all the changes in my career over the years. For the same reason, I also offer interdisiciplinary humanities courses in Native American cultural expression and ethnic "roots" music.

Faculty website and links

As you link below to my faculty welcome page, you'll see it's cluttered (like my office, I'm told, in Beata Hall). But you'll find links there to: (1) my course syllabi in HTML format; (2) mass communications websites ranging from professional codes of ethics to al Jazeera TV, a list of Springfield radio stations and an article on brand management, integrated marketing communications and ... Garfield the cat; (3) writing and editing tips and/or English 111 assignment sheets; (4) study aids and "College 101" tips for freshman English students; and (5) if you're having a hard time getting to sleep, some of my academic writing on old-time spirituals, the Appalachian dulcimer and my volunteer work as an interpreter at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site.