Dr. Michael Kearns was born in Ohio but grew up on army bases. After finishing public school in Oklahoma, he went to M.I.T. for his undergraduate degree (S.B. Humanities and Engineering, 1971) and to the University of California, Davis, for his graduate work (M.A. 1975, Ph.D. 1980). He's taught at Ohio Wesleyan University, at the University of Mainz (Germany), and at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (Odessa, Texas), where he held the endowed position of Dunagan Professor in Humanities.

Dr. Kearns' publications include Metaphors of Mind in Fiction and Psychology (Kentucky, 1987), Rhetorical Narratology (Nebraska, 1999), and Writing for the Street, Writing for the Garret: Melville, Dickinson, and Private Publication (Ohio State, 2010).  He has also published many articles on 19th-century writers, rhetoric and composition, and narrative theory, not to mention some poetry.

Kearns' hobbies include fitness (running, biking, swimming), cooking, and--not surprising for someone in this field--reading (currently postmodern prose and poetry as well as math, theology, and cosmology).

Kearns' older daughter, Monika, has completed an English M.A. at Ohio State, and is making a life in Columbus, Ohio, as a worker bee.  Younger daughter Shannon graduated from IU with a degree in microbiology and is working in that field. He and his wife, Amy, have an eight-year-old son, Aidan Michael. 

Phone:  464-1748

Office:  OC3043

Email:  mkearns