On Thursday March 26, we gathered at the Alumni Center, with concurrent live-stream, to celebrate the contributions of Elizabeth Dodd, Michele Janette, and Naomi Wood, three of our faculty members who are retiring this May after, respectively, 37, 29, and 35 years of service at Kansas State.
We look forward to hearing about their next adventures!
For now, we thank them for their significant and lasting contributions to our students, the department, the college, the university, and the profession.
Thank you, Elizabeth, Michele, and Naomi!
— Karin Westman, Department Head
Arts and Sciences
Department of English
Elizabeth Dodd
Dr. Elizabeth Dodd retires in May 2026 after 37 years of service to Kansas State.
Elizabeth earned her B.A. (1983) in English/Creative Writing and French from the Ohio State University, her M.F.A. (1986) in Creative Writing/Poetry and her Ph.D. (1989) in English from Indiana University. Following a year’s teaching at DePauw University (1988-1989), Elizabeth joined the Department of English at Kansas State in 1989 as an assistant professor in creative writing. She was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 1993 and to Professor in 2000. In 2010, she earned promotion again to University Distinguished Professor.
Balancing poetry with creative nonfiction, peer-reviewed literary criticism with public scholarship, Elizabeth’s publications are prolific and award-winning. Throughout, her attention has been trained on the landscape of the natural world – on the ecologies of the environment, their intersection with human, and how the past informs both present and future. Of particular note are the awards and recognitions received for her fourth book, Prospect: Journeys & Landscapes (2003), and her fifth book, In the Mind’s Eye: Essays Across the Animate World (2008), as well as numerous “Notable Essay” citations in the annual Best American Essays, prestigious residency fellowships, and AWP’s Small Press Publisher Award for Terrain.org, among other honors. Elizabeth’s excellence in research and creative activity was further recognized by the department with the Donnelly Faculty Award (2017-2019) and by the university with an inaugural Roots of Research Award (2025).
Elizabeth’s talent in honing her own language into poetry and prose is matched only by her attention to the creative writing of her students and to the published authors they read together. A recipient of the College’s William L. Stamey Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching two years in a row (1991, 1992), Elizabeth also received the university’s Commerce Bank Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award (2008) and, from the department’s graduate students, the SAGE Award for Distinguished Teaching (2006) and for Distinguished Service (2010).
Elizabeth’s service is indeed distinguished: it demonstrates her deep commitment to shared governance, to faculty and student success, and to the public humanities. Notably, within the department, Elizabeth has served as the Director of Creative Writing (1996-2006, 2008-2011) and on the Graduate Advisory Committee; within the College of Arts and Sciences, she has served on the Dean’s Advisory Committee (2009-2012) and the College Committee on Planning (2012-present). Elizabeth’s service to Faculty Senate, however, garners significant praise and thanks. For over 30 years, across multiple terms (1995-present), Elizabeth has brought to her elected role as Faculty Senator a commitment to transparency in policy and procedure, to clarity of language, and to robust faculty voice.
With gratitude, we recognize Elizabeth’s significant contributions to the mission of the Department of English at Kansas State University.
Arts and Sciences
Department of English
Michele Janette
Dr. Michele Janette retires in May 2026 after 29 years of service to Kansas State.
Michele earned her B.A. (1988) and Ph.D. (1997) in English from Yale University, joining the Department of English in 1997 as an assistant professor of American literature. She was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2003 and to Professor in 2015. Of particular note are Michele’s prestigious Rockefeller Fellowship (2000) and her administrative appointment as Department Head of Women’s Studies (2010-2015).
A consummate scholar-teacher, Michele has consistently forged a professional path with this dual focus in mind, finding inspiration for her research in the classroom while introducing students to a range of traditional and experimental texts. Her publications and presentations on Vietnamese American literature represent foundational contributions to her field of scholarly expertise and to the scholarship of teaching, centering attention on embodied experience and the power of language. Significant, too, is Michele’s focus on literary and cultural history, demonstrated by her edited literary anthology My Viet: Vietnamese American Literature in English, 1962-Present (2011), her documentary film on the multicultural history of Kansas (2012), and her annual “Roundtables” for national conferences on teaching Asian American Studies in the Midwest and the South (2011-2018).
Michele’s innovative, engaging pedagogy has earned accolades from undergraduate and graduate students and from colleagues. Her work as a teacher and an advisor has been officially recognized by the department with its award for excellence in advising (2021) and by the department’s graduate students with the SAGE Graduate Faculty Distinguished Service Award (2024). From the College of Arts and Sciences, Michele has received a William L. Stamey Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2003) and a Ron Gaches Lifetime Teaching Award (2025). She also received the department’s Donnelly Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching, and Service (2018-2020).
A fully engaged citizen in the life of the university, Michele’s service is broad and deep. For the department, Michele has served on the Cultural Studies Committee (1997-2010, 2015-present) both as a member and as its Head, on the Diversity Committee (2018-2025), on the Graduate Advisory Committee (2004-2007), and as Director for the Film Studies Certificate (2023-present). For the College of Arts and Sciences, in addition to her service as Department Head for Women’s Studies, Michele has served as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council (2021-2024) and the College Committee on Planning (2016-2023); for the university, she served on the President’s Commission on the Status of Women (2010-2015) and as Director for the Peer Review of Teaching (2005-2007), among other contributions. Through this service, many have benefited from Michele’s passionate commitment to integrity, equity, and intellectual rigor.
With gratitude, we recognize Michele’s significant contributions to the mission of the Department of English at Kansas State University.
Arts and Sciences
Department of English
Naomi J. Wood
Dr. Naomi J. Wood retires in May 2026 after 35 years of service to Kansas State.
Naomi earned her B.A. (1983) in English and History from North Park College (Chicago, IL) and her Ph.D. (1991) in Literature and a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies from Duke University. Naomi joined the Department of English in 1991 as an assistant professor in children’s literature. She was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 1997 and to Professor in 2013. In 2014, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Naomi has published and presented award-winning, foundational scholarship on Victorian and 20th c. British children’s literature, often with attention to gender, religion, the environment, and the genres of fantasy and the fairy tale. As a scholar who reads closely the language and form of literary texts within their historical context, Naomi was formally recognized by the Children’s Literature Association Honor Award for “Gold Standards and Silver Subversions: Treasure Island and the Romance of Money” (1999), one of many of her essays that continue to inform current conversations within the field.
Naomi’s contributions in research extend beyond traditional publications and conference presentations to her work as an editor: for the edited collection A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in the Long Nineteenth Century (2021); for special issues of peer-reviewed journals; and for her long-standing role as co-editor for the journal The Lion and the Unicorn (2008 to present).
The collaborative work of scholarly editing aligns directly with Naomi’s strengths as a teacher and advisor. In the classroom and in office hours, Naomi encourages, inspires, and finds pathways for student success. She has also remained a student herself, continually re-imagining her pedagogy across the catalog, from introductory courses in children’s literature for Education majors to British survey classes for English majors to graduate level courses in “The Golden Age of Children’s Literature,” “Victorian Fantasy,” and “Innocence and Experience.” In recognition of her excellence in advising, Naomi received the department’s award in 2023 and the College’s William L. Stamey Award in 2011.
Naomi’s commitment to students is most evident in her extensive service to the department as its inaugural Director of Undergraduate Studies (2007-2022). Naomi’s
contributions also include her service as Head of the Graduate Track in Literature (2000-2007), as a member of the Graduate Tracks in Literature (1996-present) and in Children’s Literature (2005-present), and as one of the department’s web masters (2000-present). A long-standing Affiliated Faculty member in Women’s Studies at Kansas State (1996-present), Naomi has also served the profession in several roles for the Children’s Literature Association. Her combination of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and pragmatism have informed all of her service and benefited many.
With gratitude, we recognize Naomi’s significant contributions to the mission of the Department of English at Kansas State University.
K-State English 