Deanna Baisden is a marketing communications & journalism graduate from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Throughout her college career she has developed a diverse background and passion for travel, social media, event planning/promotions, and design.

Deanna has served as the marketing specialist for UWRF event & entertainment programming board, Falcon Programs, patron services member for Chicago music festival, Lollapalooza, and promotions intern for the Twin Cities Top 40 radio station, KDWB.

A student participant in the Wisconsin in Scotland program in 2011, it was only a matter of months before Deanna returned as the program assistant director in June 2012. Besides living in the UK, her travel experiences have also brought her to Spain, France, and Italy.

Deanna is excited to start a series of new adventure in China, supporting students and faculty in creating the study abroad experience of a lifetime!

I had the opportunity to participate in a mini-study abroad while I was in high school and it was a fabulous learning opportunity. One of my biggest regrets of my undergraduate college degree was that I chose to graduate a semester early instead of participating in a study abroad. Don't be that student! So I am making up for my mistake now by working to help students have rich study abroad opportunities!

I have taught in the Business Department in the Retail Merchandising and Management program at UW-Stout since 1999. Prior to that I was in retail corporate working as a buyer and product developer. During my teaching career I have created many experience education opportunities both domestically and internationally for my students to best prepare them for successful careers.

In regards to international study experiences, I taught Exploring Photography for the Wisconsin in Scotland program in 2009 and during that time, I also laid the groundwork for a future faculty led study abroad. In 2011, I conducted a 22-day faculty-led study abroad program to London, Paris, Cannes, St. Tropez and Scotland while the students studied Trend Tracking and Forecasting and European Retailing. In the spring of 2012, students and I traveled throughout China and Hong Kong visiting factories and mills, and learning about sourcing from Li & Fung. We also visited many of the historic and tourist sites throughout China. Kohl's Department store generously funded and arranged all our travels.

I am looking forward to returning to China in 2013 and to teach in Hangzhou for Experience China!

I joined the faculty at UWRF in 2000, bringing more than 20 years of teaching and consulting experience in the area of management and human resources. My areas of interest include the development of cases illustrating management practices, issues of sustainability and how to integrate the triple bottom line approach into business education, ethical leadership, negotiations and influence, and systems thinking.

My consulting practice tried to bridge the gap between management theory and management practice by providing organizations with relevant, practical management information, tools, and techniques. Some of the organizations I've worked with include Mayo Clinic, Pratt & Whitney, Milwaukee Children's Hospital, Vistakon (division of Johnson & Johnson), Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Illinois, Ministry Health Care, Fransciscan Skemp Healthcare, USG Interiors, Johnsonville Sausage, and Tenneco Packaging, as well as the University of Wisconsin System.

I have published in the Labor Law Journal, the Journal of Critical Incidents, Annual Advances in Business Cases, the Business Case Journal, the Journal of Management Development, Training & Development Magazine, and is a co-author of Labor Agreement Negotiations. I have an undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison and a doctorate from Ohio State.

I have had the pleasure of being very active in international education - involved in Wisconsin in Scotland, our International Traveling Classroom in Europe, teaching a short-term MBA course in Taiwan, and two J-term study abroad classes to Vietnam (this year we'll include Laos and Thailand). I was luck to be born into a well-traveled family, growing up in Philadelphia, Chicago, a few months in Switzerland, before graduating from high school in Southern Wisconsin (Hartland). While in high school, I got to spend a summer in Manaus, Brazil, through AFS. After college, I moved around the country a bit before finally settling in River Falls.

When not teaching abroad, I live in River Falls taking care of the pets my college-aged sons have left behind - three cats, one crazy dog, and a snake.

Background: I joined the English Department at UWRF in the Fall of 2005, after completing my MA and PhD in English at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. My undergraduate degree is in Philosophy, from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. During my early childhood and teen years, I was fortunate to have lived with my family in the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and France (equally fortunate to be able to return to our extended family in Michigan, every year). The years I spent living abroad proved transformative, and I wholeheartedly encourage all my students to take advantage of the study abroad opportunities offered through UWRF.

Teaching interests: My background and training are strongly comparative and interdisciplinary, and I bring a host of cultural interests and influences to the classroom. Since my arrival at UWRF, I have offered many courses in English, Film, and the Humanities, among them: Contemporary British Literature, Contemporary World Drama, Postcolonial Film and Literature, Contemporary International Literature, Arts and Ideas II: Baroque to Postmodern, and Major Authors: Joseph Conrad. Most recently, thanks to several intensive faculty development opportunities, I was honored to design and develop Modern East Asian Literature and Cinema. I am dedicated to innovative teaching and to the promotion of undergraduate research, and in recent years have mentored dozens of undergraduate students at undergraduate conferences like "Transforming Conversations" at Claremont College, CA, and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

Research interests: My book, Conrad's Narratives of Difference (Routledge Press, 2003), received an honorable mention for the Adam Gillon Book Prize, and an excerpted version of its first chapter has been reprinted in the new Norton Critical Edition of Heart of Darkness. My ongoing scholarly work on Conrad reflects a larger commitment to the critical and cultural study of modern and contemporary literature and cinema with transnational themes. I have published articles and given papers on Djuna Barnes, Louise Erdrich, Alfred Hitchcock, Caryl Churchill, Samuel Beckett, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Francis Ford Coppola, and Park Chan-wook. I recently completed a second three-year term on the Board of Directors for the Joseph Conrad Society of America, and currently serves as Review Editor for Joseph Conrad Today. In 2011, the UWRF College of Arts and Sciences honored me with an award for Excellence in Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity.

Originally from Battle Creek, Michigan, I got my BS in physics at Hope College in Holland MI and my PhD in physics from the University of Minnesota. Since then I have taught physics in Kentucky and Winona. This is my ninth year at River Falls.

In 2009, I spent the fall semester teaching physics and electronics in Santiago, Dominican Republic through a grant from the Rotary International Foundation.

During the spring semester of 2010 I received a Fulbright award which allowed me to live in Managua Nicaragua where I taught at the National Engineering University.  Also in 2010 I visited the Ifugao rice terraces in the mountains of Luzon, Philippines where I became convinced that the rice terraces of Southeast Asia are a wonder of the world and a topic worthy of study and protection. All of these experiences abroad were really wonderful and I look forward to spending the spring semester of 2014 in Hangzhou, China.

When I'm not traveling I enjoy spending time with my partner, John our son Gabe, who is currently a student at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. We split our time between our big old country home in Beldenville, WI where we raise chickens and ducks and our little flat in downtown Minneapolis.