In her 12 years at the University of Denver, English Professor Ann Dobyns has perfected creating a collaborative and engaging learning style in her classroom. This collaboration translates into an active learning environment that teaches her students to expand, elaborate and contribute to the learning environment she creates.

Dobyns received her undergraduate degree in English and Communications at Lewis and Clark College before pursuing her M.A. in English from Old Dominion University. Dobyns then received her Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. After teaching stints at Ohio State and John Carroll University she was drawn to DU. "The English program at DU appealed to me because of the combination of literature and creative writing. I was also impressed by the department's commitment to excellent teaching while supporting scholarship."

Dobyns was a key contributor to the Marsico Writing Cell that worked on the design of the new Writing Program and Writing Center at DU. She also participated in the hiring the truly exceptional Writing Program faculty. In addition, she has done research in Rhetoric and Writing, and Medieval literature. "I have published two textbooks applying Classical Rhetoric to the teaching of writing and literature and articles on rhetoric, Chaucer, and Middle English romance. I am working on two projects right now-one is a rhetorical study of tango and the other is on rhetoric and ambiguity" says Dobyns.

However, it is the experience with the students that Dobyns finds most rewarding. "I am inspired by the good minds of my students and colleagues as we engage in shared inquiry about issues and concerns we genuinely care about" she says. "My classrooms are radically discussion-oriented. I view all students as scholars, whether beginning or more advanced. Our discussions are attempts to understand, appreciate, and learn from works that challenge readers and ask them to consider complicated, rich expressions of ideas. We examine the difficulties the text presents and how struggling with those difficulties help readers better understand and appreciate the work, its language, cultural context, and literary conventions."

Dobyns also teaches a First-Year Seminar program for incoming students. "They are one of the truly exciting and innovative teaching opportunities at DU. The First-Year Seminar program introduces students to academic inquiry by asking professors to engage students in a study they are passionate about. This means that the expertise of the instructor demonstrates not only university-level inquiry but also the excitement of the search."

All of these experiences, however, relate back to the experience of collaborating with the students. "Our students are smart and creative, analytical and experimental, independent but interested in collaboration" says Dobyns. This collaboration and engagement is the cornerstone of DU experience for her students.