Education
Ph.D. English and American Literature, University of Southern California, 1995
MA English and American Literature, University of Southern California, 1991
Biography
Since joining the CSUCI faculty in 2005, Brad Monsma has taught or team taught (at last count) 13 different courses, including Perspectives in Multicultural Literatures, Environmental Literature, American authors, Chicana/o Literature, African American Literature, Creative Nonfiction, and a team-taught interdisciplinary course called Oceans: The Whale/Human Interface. He has co-taught service learning courses in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Japan. His Ph.D. in multicultural American literatures focused on cross-cultural tricksters, oral and textual narrative, and cultural survivance.
Much of his teaching and writing takes place in the interdisciplinary borderlands. Between 2006 and 2011 he was faculty director of the Center for Integrative Studies where he focused on developing and assessing interdisciplinary courses and starting a program to allow faculty to collaborate to improve writing instruction in the sciences. In 2010, he and Kathryn Leonard (Mathematics) were awarded $250,000 from the W.M. Keck Foundation to support the Stepladder Program in Interdisciplinary Research and Learning (SPIRaL).
Monsma’s book, The Sespe Wild: Southern California’s Last Free River explores the environmental and cultural history of Sespe Creek, its endangered species, and its management dilemmas. His essays and poems have appeared in Surfer’s Journal, Pilgrimage, Writing on the Edge, ISLE, High Country News, Modern Language Studies, and numerous anthologies. With artist and educator Amiko Matsuo he translated Art Place Japan: The Echigo-Tsumari Triennale and the Vision to Reconnect Art and Nature, by Fram Kitagawa and collaborated on a series of multimedia ceramic installations exploring fire ecology and material agency.
Between 2007 and 2013, Monsma has served as President of the Board of Directors of Los Padres ForestWatch, an environmental watchdog, advocacy, and volunteer organization.
Representative Courses Taught
- ENGL 337 Environmental Literature
- ENGL 349 Perspectives in Multicultural Literatures
- ENGL 327 Major American Authors
- ENGL 464 Creative Nonfiction
Scholarship
Keywords
Multicultural Literatures, Environmental writing, Creative nonfiction, integrative learning