Matthew Evertson

I am a professor of literature at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, teaching, researching, and writing about the regional influences upon the literature of the Great Plains and the Intermountain West, with a special emphasis on the Environmental Humanities and Indigenous Studies. My earlier scholarship focused on American literary naturalism, but my interests have evolved into the ecocritical explorations of Western American writers, particularly those voices of the Great Plains and the Rockies. I’m also interested in the role of liberal arts in higher education and interdisciplinary/integrative learning across the curriculum. My current writing projects include an exploration of the ecological themes surrounding “home” and “homes,” especially in the works of a trio of prominent Nebraska writers: Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz and Wright Morris. In my spare time I attempt to write long and short fiction, mostly set in the contemporary West.

Courses Taught

• ENG 102 & 103, Writing and Rhetoric I & II
• ENG 302 Technical Writing
• ENG 384 American Literature Early to Civil War
• ENG 385 American Literature-Civil War to Present
• ENG 464 Major American Authors
• ENG 493 Senior Seminar I
• ENG 494 Senior Seminar II

Publications

• “The Conservative Aesthetic: Theodore Roosevelt, Popular Darwinism, and the American Literary West.” (Book Review) Western American Literature 58.2, Summer 2023.
• “Theodore Roosevelt: A Literary Life.” American Literary History: Online Review Series XXVI, 10/19/21 (Review essay, https://academic.oup.com/alh/pages/the_alh_online_review)
• “Fields of Vision: Human Presence in the Plain Landscapes of Terrence Malick and Wright Morris.” Terrence Malick Film and Philosophy. New York: Continuum, 2011.
• “Cather in the Rye: ‘Paul’s Case’ in Anticipation of Holden Caulfield.” Critical Insights: The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. New York: EBSCO/Salem Press, 2011.
• “The Call of the Critics: Jack London, The Call of the Wild, and its Early Reviews” The Call: The Magazine of the Jack London Society. 18.1&2 (2007). 5-11.
• “Holden Caulfield’s Longing to Construct a New Home.” Bloom’s Guides: J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Ed. and Intro by Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 2007. 94-99.
• “Strenuous Stories: The Wilderness Tales of Stephen Crane and Theodore Roosevelt” Stephen Crane Studies 14.1 (2005): 2-15.
• “Coming Home” from “Short Essays on My Ántonia by Teachers and Students.” Teaching Cather 6.1 (2005): 16-17.
• “Love, Loss and Growing Up in J.D. Salinger and Cormac McCarthy.” The Catcher in the Rye: New Essays. New York: Peter Lang, 2002. 101-141
• “Stephen Crane and ‘Some Others’: Economics, Race and the Vision of a Failed Frontier.” Moving Stories: Migration and The American West, 1850-2000. Halcyon Ser. 23. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 2001. 71-97.

External Professional Affiliations

• Board of Directors for the Mari Sandoz Society, (Lincoln, Nebraska), 2004-Present
• Story Catcher Writing Workshop & Festival (Co-Director), 2012-Present
• Continuous Institutional Improvement Committee (Chadron State College) 2022-24 (with participation in the Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference (Chicago, March 25-28, 2023 and April 13-16, 2024
• Higher Learning Commission Assessment Academy Roundtable (Rosemont, IL., October 26-28, 2022)
• Organizer/Chair: Exploratory Committee on American Indian Recognition and Reconciliation (Land Acknowledgement and Beyond) at Chadron State College, 2021-24.
• Chair, Department of Justice Studies, Social Sciences and English, Chadron State College 2021-22
• Coordinator, Essential Studies General Education Program, Chadron State College, 2014-18
• Director, Chadron State College Honors Program. 2004-2006
• Member Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP)
• Member Western Literature Association (WLA)
• Member Association for Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE)
• Member Modern Language Association (MLA)