Meet our Writing Consultants!

Rae Morgan

Hello! My name is Rhiannon Morgan (Rae). I come from a family of four children. My hometown is Fort Thompson, South Dakota. I'm majoring in General Studies (BGS) with an emphasis in science, social science, and business. I enjoy learning about different cultures and languages.

Lindsay Stephens

I am the author of the definitive rock climbing guidebook to the Needles of Custer State Park. A ski patroller and climbing guide, I also (inexplicably) happen to be a brilliant English major. When I do manage to remove my nose from a book, I can be found crawling around on my beloved Needles granite or tramping around the Hills on skis. I hope to attend a graduate school in the northern latitudes.
 

Ann Wilken

I'm Ann Wilken and I'm a sophomore here at Black Hills State University. My hometown is Faith, SD and I'm double-majoring in Business Administration and Business Education. (Well, that's my plan this week anyways.) Some my hobbies include drinking coffee and doing P90x. One of the activities that I am involved with on campus is leading a Cru Bible Study.

Brit Porterfield

This is my second year as a writing consultant for the BHSU Writing Center. I am fond of a variety of sports including football, basketball, baseball, and golf. I enjoy coaching these sports and hope to one day to be a coach at the high school level. My other interests include comic books, fantasy football, reading, video games, and my two dogs.

Kori Hague

Hello fellow students! I'm Kori Hague. I'm originally from Rapid City but have finally moved to Spearfish to continue my third year as a full-time student at BHSU. I am currently pursuing my Bachelor's degree in Psychology, with English as a minor. Post-graduation I hope to continue my education with the intent of obtaining my Master's and Ph. D in psychotherapy. While not slaving my life away to work and school, I entertain myself by wakeboarding, rollerblading, and a number of other outdoorsy activities.
 

Dillon Whisman

While school takes up most of my time, I have found several activities to completely fill my schedule. I have wrestled alligators in Colorado, and I successfully conquered the three legged monster named Stumpy. I picked up knife throwing over the summer to sharpen my mad ninja skills. I chased Sasquatch in a stretch of the Andes Mountains in Peru, but to no avail. More recently I practice civil disobedience, dabble in alchemy, and enjoy long walks on the beach.

Bailey Voss

My name is Bailey Voss and I'm majoring in Human Services with a law emphasis and minoring in professional writing. I'm excited to be working in the Writing Center as writing has always been a passion of mine. (I was kind of that weird girl in fifth grade that would hole up in her room and write seventy pages about a little girl caring for her wounded horse. I may still be that weird girl...Haha!) Outside of school, I love spending time at my church's ranch, Tres Crosses, cowgirlin' up. ;)
Stop in the Writing Center--I would love to help in any way I can!
 

Samantha Yenger Cremean

I am originally from Dayton Ohio, but have lived in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New York. I am an English major with a writing minor, and look forward to graduate school. I enjoy knitting, baking and candy, and would like to visit Wales, Venice and Latvia all in the same week. I can often be found by following the scent of delicious cookies and other home baked goods.

Megan Tipton

Hello, I’m Megan. I love Diet Coke, Blues Hockey, Kalamata Olives, and writing. I’m a Missouri native, but I love South Dakota, so going north for college was an easy decision. This is my second year at Black Hills State and I am eager to see what this year holds at the Writing Center! I couldn’t be more excited to work with BH students, because they are the bomb.

Amy Varland

My name is Amy Varland. I am a native of Lead and love living in the Black Hills. I've had many interesting jobs along the journey that has lead me to BHSU. I've been a castmember at Walt Disney World, managed a travel agency as well as a golf course, worked as a private investigator, I was a member of the production department team at KOTA TV for 5 years, and have been a licensed bail bond agent for the last 6 years. I can be found hiking around the Black Hills with Sapa, my cute little doggie (85 pound lab mix), reading classic novels, drinking coffee, and eating desserts.

Jamie Kientz

Hi, I'm Jamie Kientz. I am a senior pursuing a bachelor's degree in mass communication with a commercial art minor. I'm from Rapid City, SD, and have served four years in the United States Navy that included two tours across the Pacific. I have visited eight different countries and I enjoy traveling, boating, camping, hiking, hanging out with friends, and most of all -- coffee. My passion in life is to design and create. I would love to open a bed and breakfast one day.

 Jordan Louks

Hello, my name is Jordan Louks and I am a sophomore at Black Hills State University. My major as of right now is political science. I was born in Casper, Wyoming, but moved to Spearfish ten years ago so I am pretty familiar with this town. In my lovely family, along with my mom and dad, I have two brothers and my grandmother. I used to have three dogs that lived at my home, two Welsh corgis and a chocolate lab, but the Labrador went to live with my older brother and his girlfriend in Missoula. When I have free time I enjoy listening to music, reading, writing, golfing, watching movies, playing Scrabble, bike riding, or playing various musical instruments I have at my house. I also am very active in my local church. This will be my first year as a writing consultant in the BHSU writing center.

 Dr. Nicholas Wallerstein

I am a professor of English at BHSU, where I have taught for 15 years. From Concord, Massachusetts, I have also lived (and taught college) in California, Oregon, Montana, and Illinois. I am interested in rhetoric, poetry, religion, and languages, and have studied Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Old English, Middle English, and Modern French. My hobbies include hiking in the Black Hills and traveling through the Rockies.

And Our Writing Center Director!

Dr. Courtney Huse Wika

I have just returned to the hills after a nearly decade-long sojourn east of the river. I like to collect things: overheard quotes, books, and sometimes animals. I'm also quite fond of the strange and uncanny, and much of my research focuses on things that scare us (like adolescence).

One of my biggest regrets is not taking advantage of services like the Writing Center when I was an undergraduate; I feel I could have avoided long hours spent staring at blank pages and assignment sheets, and certainly could have avoided the writing angst that plagued me like a kid sister. I hope you'll learn from my mistakes and come visit the Writing Center early and often.

My creative work has appeared in The MacGuffin, Backwards City Review, Paddlefish, 605 Magazine, and the anthology Life on the Farm and Ranch: South Dakota Stories. I recently published a chapter in the critical anthology Illuminating Torchwood: Essays on Narrative, Character, and Sexuality in the BBC Series. My latest research on monstrous doubles in adolescent fantasy novels and television was published in August 2011 in Voice of Youth Advocates, a national magazine I have written and reviewed for since 2005.