Jeanette Novakovich

Back home in Nebraska on my father's ranch was where I learned to endure grit and trial, chopping weeds, herding cattle and bearing the brunt of flying hooves while branding. The men would mostly yell at the girls when they helped. We often got hurt, trampled and knocked about. This life sent me on my feet heading elsewhere; decades later, the memories of the cattlemen, their tattered hats, lean frames and pipe tobacco are filtered with sorrow. The cowboys, I knew, are all buried.

During that time away, I spent too many years pursuing education. After earning a bachelor's degree in psychology and business administration from Briar Cliff College, I went on to earn a master's degree in marketing at Texas A&M University. I spent a few years working in the field of business administration before returning to school to earn a master's degree in English literature at the University of South Dakota. While studying, I also worked as a counselor at the Nebraskan Indian Community College in Santee, NE. Years later, I went on to complete my course work for a PhD in English Literature at the University of Cincinnati. Raising a young family and having the opportunity to live in Europe waylaid my plans to complete the degree. Sadly or happily, I'm returning to school this fall to pursue my interests in Educational Technology.

Here at Concordia University, I've taught English 212, Composition Stage 1; English 213, Composition Stage 2; English 216, Writing for Diverse Audiences; English 395, Technical Writing; and English 397, Business Writing. I've developed several course websites and a portfolio website for students in the professional writing minor program; in addition, I've produced a number of other websites with my writing students, my favorite being Montréalités.  

During my summers, I usually return back home. Now, it's only women, my mother, daughter and I, who remain among the living. Together, we pass our days sifting through sandy creeks, searching for fossils, and polka dancing in country ballrooms.

Education

• Concordia University, Montreal QC 
  Entering PhD program Education Technology
  

• The University of Cincinnati; Cincinnati OH, 1997      
  Completed Coursework for PhD 
  

• The University of South Dakota; Vermillion SD, 1991
  M.A. English Language and Literature
  
  

• The Texas A&M University; College Station TX ,1986
  M.S. Marketing 

• Briar Cliff University; Sioux City IA , 1981 &1983
  B.A. Psychology and Business Administration  
  
  

Professional Activities

• Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology, March 2010
  Penn State University, State College, 
  Presenter: Business Writing Remix
• Learning Design Summer Camp, July 2009
  Penn State University, State College, PA
  Panelist:  Learning Design in an Era of Resource
  Constraints and Free Information                                                
• Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology, March 2009
  Penn State University, State College, PA
  Presenter: Reimagine Literacy for Technical Writing
• "Business Writing Remix" Guffey Newsletter, Cengage Publishers, Spring 2010
• "Misery", Nexus 1992 
• "Auschwitz," Four Quarters, 1992
• Photo credits: The New York Times Book Review, May 2004; Poetry Flash, no 221 (August 1991); Prologues Magazine and various other publications
• Editor, Complete Encyclopedia of Dirks for Private Collectors (private publisher), 2004      
• Editor, From the Adriatic to Lake Erie: A History of Croatians in Greater Cleveland, Institute of Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia, 2002
• Assistant Editor, Stepmother Tongue, White Pine Press, 2000
• Guest co-edited, New Letters Magazine, War Stories, 1994
• Co-Editor, Manoa Magazine, Stories in English as a Second Language, 1992
• Co-Editor, Prologues Magazine, 1982

Websites  

Teaching Portfolio
Montrealites
Portfolio Remix: A Compilation of Student Professional Writing Portfolios
Portfolio Remix Help

Course Websites
English 212 Composition Stage 1
English 213 Composition Stage 2
English 216 Writing for Diverse Audiences
English 395 Technical Writing
English 396 Advanced Composition and Professional Writing
English 397 Business Writing