Part-Time Instructors
Prof. Ashley Barkman
Prof. Barkman (Hons. BA, MA and MTS, University of Toronto) has taught writing courses in Canada and Korea for the past four years. Her recent publications include four chapters in different books exploring popular culture. She is married to Dr. Adam Barkman with whom she has two toddlers—Heather and Tristan. Prof. Barkman enjoys reading and watching stories of all genres, not only for pleasure but also in the hopes of gleaning insight into this life and the life hereafter.
Prof. Teresa DeVries
Prof. DeVries is a graduate of Redeemer with an English Honours major and History and Business minors. She completed her M.A. in English at University of Guelph focusing on "illness narratives" and life writing in her major research project. Since graduating from the University of Guelph, she has taught at Sheridan College and LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania, where she immersed herself in Eastern European history and culture. In her free time, she enjoys going rock climbing, reading autobiographies, baking desserts, listening to music, and drinking copious amounts of tea.
Prof. Bill Fledderus
Prof. Fledderus (MA, U of Alberta, 1995, English/Creative Writing) is a writer, editor and teacher based in Oshawa, Ont. He teaches courses, seminars and workshops in writing fiction, poetry, journalism and essays. He works as senior editor at Faith Today (www.faithtoday.ca), one of Canada's leading magazines for Christians, and edits website content for www.evangelicalfellowship.ca. He and his wife have two boys in elementary school who, surprisingly, have red hair and, not surprisingly, love to read. He has taught at Redeemer University College since 2007, where he earned an undergrad degree in 1992 and was among the school's first cohort to study in Paris, France. Prof. Fledderus’s main academic interest is contemporary fiction, but he also has some expertise in French literature, Old English, and postmodern criticism. He has published creative writing in many genres and has edited non-fiction for more than a decade.
Prof. Casey Korstanje
Prof. Casey Korstanje is a graduate of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Academy, valedictorian, and is a recipient of the B'nai Brith National Human Rights Award for Journalism. After seven years in the RCMP, he switched to journalism and worked as a writer and editor for The Daily Courier in Kelowna before coming to The Hamilton Spectator. "Clearly, the investigative skills I learned as a mountie helped me considerably as a reporter, although all that stuff they taught about blood splatter science hasn't been of much use." At The Spectator he served as a reporter and principally the paper's religion and ethics writer before joining the editors' ranks as production editor, then managing editor and associate editor. "I love journalism. It is about being the eyes and ears of the people and about making a difference." Casey is married: he and Laurie have two sons, two beautiful daughters-in-law, and a brand new granddaughter. His interests include reading, flying - Casey earned his private pilot's licence in 1978 – fishing, playing chess badly and golf even worse.
Dr. Deanna Smid
Dr. Smid graduated three times from McMaster University—once with an Honours Bachelor of Arts and Science, once with an MA in English, and lastly with a PhD in the same discipline. Although interested in eighteenth-century British literature and science fiction from any century, Dr. Smid's main area of research is sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English literature, with a particular emphasis on poetry and emblem books. Her dissertation analyzes the definitions and characteristics of Renaissance imagination and its implications for authors' relationships with God, their readers, and themselves. When not teaching, Dr. Smid enjoys writing and performing in short, comedic plays and joining as many choirs as she can.
Prof. Sikkema is a graduate of Redeemer with an English Honours major and a Philosophy minor. He spent a semester studying abroad in England and married his wife the summer after he finished his undergraduate degree. Prof. Sikkema went on to complete his M.A. in English at the University of Ottawa. For four months, he taught in Tanzania, Africa while his wife worked there as a nurse. Recently, he has completed his Bachelor of Education at the University of Toronto. In the future, he hopes to work on a Ph.D. studying literary modernism in greater depth. When Prof. Sikkema is not teaching, he enjoys playing squash and basketball, as well as losing himself in hole-in-the-wall used-book bookshops.
Prof. Marie Stevens Versteeg
Prof. Stevens Versteeg grew up on a farm near Palmerston, Ontario. After graduating from Redeemer with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English in 2003, she spent a year teaching English in South Korea. Prof. Stevens Versteeg then went on to complete a Master’s degree in English literature at the University of Ottawa. Her main interests are her husband, Justin, and one-year-old daughter, Gretchen. When she isn’t occupied with her family, she enjoys reading, listening to audiobooks, and spending time with friends. Prof. Stevens Versteeg has previously taught undergraduate courses and facilitated the Writing Centre at Redeemer.
Prof. Marijka Westerhof
Prof. Marijka Westerhof is a graduate of Redeemer with an English Honours major and a Biology minor. She completed her M.A. in English in 2010 at the University of Ottawa where she focused largely on Victorian female writers. Since graduating from U of Ottawa, she has been teaching at Columbia International College in Hamilton, Ontario. Here she discovered an interest in foreign culture and foods. Outside of work and study, she has many hobbies and interests, including long-distance running, travelling, reading, writing, having long theological discussions/debates, and working with youth.