Educational Background-
B.A., M.A. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

More about...
Suzanne Van Dam teaches a variety of writing, literature, and environmental studies courses at Finlandia University. She also works as a freelance writer, editing the quarterly newsletter of the Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition (the U.P. Environment), and publishing in magazines such as Ceramics Monthly, Traverse Magazine, Mothering, and Velo Vision (a British publication).

Her academic interests include post-colonial literature, American Literature, and nature writing that explores the human role and interactions with nature. She is the director of the liberal studies degree in Arts, Culture and the Environment, the ACE Program. ACE is an interdisciplinary program that examines the great voices of history, literature, philosophy religion and the arts to gain a greater understanding of our relationship with the natural world.

Personal interests include making pottery, running, hiking, and organic gardening. Van Dam loves to travel in developing countries and taught English as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania, east Africa in the late 1980s.