Western Association of Schools and Colleges

Mimi Czarnik, Professor of English, has been teaching in the Humanities Division at Alverno College since 1993, and currently is Chair of the English Department. Mimi received her Ph.D. in Victorian Literature and Literary Criticism from Indiana University, Bloomington, in May, 1993, and completed beginning teacher mentor training with the New Teacher Center, Santa Cruz, this year.

Mimi is committed to faculty development at all levels of education. She frequently gives workshops for elementary public and parochial schools in Milwaukee and Chicago, is a curriculum consultant for a newly-founded Milwaukee high school, and is the English Department's coordinator of Alverno's teacher preparation program. Mimi is active in state-wide higher education, serving as a representative for Alverno College for the Department of Public Instruction, the Council of Independent Colleges, Microsoft 21st Century Skills Consortium, and Teachers for New Era, a Carnegie Institute initiative. She has presented and published papers on issues in higher education at national conferences, including those sponsored by the Midwest Modern Languages Association and the National Women's Studies Association. Topics include connections between humanities and fine arts, English major outcomes and assessment, using e-portfolios to help students develop as learners, and induction programs for new teachers.

Mimi travels to other colleges and universities several times a year, facilitating workshops on outcomes-based education, assessment, and e-portfolios. Recent consultations include Seton Hall, Georgia Gwinnet State University, and St. Mary's College in Kansas City. This past summer, Mimi was the keynote speaker at the Chalk and Wire Electronic Portfolio Workshop at the University of Arkansas.