New English Professors Come to NWU

Two recent additions to the English department were made this year in the forms of Dr. Brad Tice and Mr. Ben Gotschall.

While Tice’s area of focus is creative writing, Gotchall’s emphasis is poetry.

For Dr. Tice, this is his first encounter with Nebraska Wesleyan University, but Gotschall is already well acquainted with the university, having graduated from NWU in 2003.

Tice hails from Lawrenceburg, Tenn., a town of 10,796 people near the Alabama border. (Coincidentally, it is also the hometown of Law and Order actor and one-time presidential hopeful Fred Thompson.)Tice grew up there with his parents and two brothers, one of whom is his twin. He attended the University of Tennessee, graduating in 2001 with a degree in English.

From there, he headed out west, to Boulder and the University of Colorado, where he finished his M.A. in English. Last May, he graduated from the University of Tennessee again, this time with a Ph.D in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing. He is now employed here at NWU in a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in English.

Tice had a very compelling reason to come all the way out here to a new state, to a university he had probably never heard of before to start his career.

“I like the community here. It seemed like there was a great rapport between faculty and students, and also between the various departments. The community seems very warm and friendly,” Tice said.

He is teaching three classes this semester: two Masterpieces of Literature-Families courses and one creative writing course. He is also the faculty advisor for the Flintlock, a journal of creative writing and visual art, which has traditionally been published in both the fall and spring semesters.

He lives on NW 48th Street, a rather remote location, which he acknowledges.

“I grew up in a rural area. It’s a nice compromise. Downtown is only ten minutes away, and yet open prairie is two blocks away.” When asked about the difference between teaching and taking classes, he said, “It’s the same intellectual engagement, really, but I get to pull the texts that I love and create a thematic course with them.”

Gotschall grew up on a ranch in rural Holt County, Nebr. He obtained his B.A. in English at NWU in 2003. From there, he traveled to the University of Idaho, Moscow where he earned his M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 2007.

He is a part-time instructor at NWU, teaching three classes in the afternoon each day of the week. He lives in Raymond and works in agriculture in his time off from the University.