Dr. Mark Sturges

Mark Sturges joined the English department in 2014 after completing his PhD at the Pennsylvania State University. He grew up in western New York, attended the University of Pittsburgh as an undergraduate, and taught middle school (in Massachusetts) and high school (in Vermont) before returning to Pennsylvania for graduate school. 

Mark studies early American literature with a focus on nature writing and environmental history. He has published  articles about such topics as Thomas Jefferson, Henry David Thoreau, the poetry of sheep farming, the cultural history of maple sugaring, and tuberculosis health-seekers in the Adirondacks.

Overall, Mark is fascinated by the ways in which literary expression both shapes and reveals cultural attitudes about the natural world, and thus he puts environmental issues at the forefront of his critical and pedagogical practices. He teaches a variety of courses in American literature and environmental literature—his favorites include Adirondack literature, Cape Cod literature, and a creative writing course in the Adirondack Semester—and he often takes students outdoors to “ground-truth” the intellectual content of his classes.

Mark has served on the Faculty Development Committee and the Sustainability Program Advisory Committee, and most recently, he has chaired the Library and Gallery Committee.