The English Program Welcomes Professor Nick Mohlmann

By Libby Spencer, junior English major at Silver Lake College

Last Spring, the English Department here at Silver Lake College of the Holy Family went on a hunt to find an additional English professor.  In the search, they came upon Professor Nick Mohlmann, a Virginian native.  Impressed by his intelligent demeanor and appealing personality they offered him a position to join their team.  Professor Mohlmann has not fallen short of astonishing both the staff and students at Silver Lake.  He currently teaches a variety of English classes including Public Speaking and Communication, Composition, and American Literature. 

Professor Mohlmann's interest in English started while he was an undergraduate at George Mason University in Fairfax County, Virginia.  At that time, he had a professor in an American Literature Survey that made the subject compelling to him so when it came time to declare a major, he chose English.  After Professor Mohlmann received his B.A. in English from George Mason University, he furthered his education by receiving his M.A. from the University of Maine.  His education does not stop there for he is currently completely his Ph.D. at Purdue University. 

As Professor Mohlmann’s interest in English grew, he chose to study an emphasis in Early Americanist Literature.  His current project reads the literature of early modern Virginia through the lens of corporate personhood, examining the Virginia Company’s strategies of authorship and self-fashioning.  He had originally went to graduate school to study post-1970s American experimental poetry, but ended up taking a class on Colonial American Lit Writ Large at the beginning of his Ph.D. coursework and wrote a paper on Thomas Harriot.  He realized, after writing that paper, that really the texts in both fields were not as different as one might imagine, especially in the things he is interested in/enjoys—both have a troubled relationship with genre and an investment in language as a means to effect action.  

 One may wonder—what led Professor Mohlmann here to Silver Lake?  Well, being a native of Virginia he was looking for a small community to call home.  So far, at Silver Lake College, he has enjoyed the small class sizes and how friendly most folks have been.  As for the town of Manitowoc, he enjoys where he lives out in the country which is only about a two minute drive from the beautiful Lake Michigan.  In his backyard lays a large hay field that is teeming with wildlife, cranes, deer, and geese.  He enjoys being so close to the lake and near to the countryside. 
Professor Mohlmann has already contributed to our English Staff here at Silver Lake College of the Holy Family.  His new and innovative ideas of teaching are creating a positive atmosphere in the classrooms of Silver Lake. We, the English Program of Silver Lake College, would like to give Professor Mohlmann a warm welcome!



Libby Spencer is a junior at Silver Lake College.  She is majoring in English (with an emphasis in Writing) and minoring in Spanish.  She enjoys spending time with her family, coaching and participating in sports, and of course, writing.