The office walls are barren, except for three framed diplomas hanging above the desk: a bachelor’s degree from Truman State, a master’s degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a doctorate from Ohio State.

The bookshelves line the opposite wall, stuffed with books stacked horizontally and a silhouette of a man playing the cello sits framed on top. A glossy postcard photo of Rosie the Riveter is tacked to a leaning corkboard.

Amy Mecklenburg-Faenger is adjusting to her new office, new life in Parkville and role as the newest associate English professor at Park University.

Originally from the Kansas City area, Mecklenburg-Faenger is returning to the Midwest after 12 years. After receiving her master’s degree, she moved to Columbus, Ohio, and earned her Ph.D. This led her to her first faculty position in Charleston, S.C.

“I grew up in the Northland so people are familiar with Park and their reputation for working with students,” she said. “I feel like Park is part of the landscape of living in the Northland and I think it has a reputation of being very student-friendly and student-centered, which is something I really like about it.”

Bringing a wealth of expertise and experience to Park University, Mecklenburg-Faenger focused on the history of rhetoric during her time at Ohio State. Specializing in American rhetoric of the progressive era, particularly that used by women, she wrote her dissertation on scrapbooks used by women’s organizations to enact change.

Pulling out a stack of papers from her desk, she thumbed through copies of news reports, playbills, newspaper clippings and photos collected in suffrage scrapbooks that women used as a storehouse of material to make use of in the suffrage movement.

Mecklenburg-Faenger has also published articles about scrapbooks and is currently working with a colleague to write an article about women’s Shakespeare societies and their effect on literacy during this period.

Her desire to teach is the result of her time at New Mark Middle School as instructional assistant.

“I really liked the teaching aspect of my job,” she said, “and that’s what sent me back to graduate school at UMKC to get a master’s which is what led me to my field. In my field, people actually study teaching, finding out what works, what doesn’t work, what kind of writing works in particular ways, and what works for students.”

Mecklenburg-Faenger said that her experience thus far on campus has been fantastic.

“The students are very gregarious,” she said. “They have lots to say and one of my classes barely let me sign into the computer before they started asking me questions. They are ready to talk right away, very curious and have ton of questions. It’s been really fun.”

She is also involved in Writing Across the Curriculum, an educational movement that advocates the teaching of writing in all disciplines and the value of learning writing in all disciplines. She is undergoing a long-standing project on mathematical writing with a mathematics professor at UMC Asheville, working on a second article about revision in mathematics.

“Mecklenburg-Faenger brings a wealth of teaching and administrative experience to Park,” said Glenn Lester, English professor and program coordinator. “She will help us update our first year writing classes, help us coordinate our upper-division professional writing classes and will teach some of our upper-division rhetoric and writing theory courses. I look forward to working with her on designing creative, innovative, and effective assignments and activities for our writing students. Our English majors stand to learn much from her expertise and experience.”

“I think all Park students are going to learn from her down-to-earth but rigorous teaching style.”

Brian Shawver, associate professor of English and chair of the English and Modern Language department, said Mecklenburg-Faenger will benefit the department by offering fresh insights and new insights. She’s had a good deal of experience at other universities, so she’ll be able to give suggestions and affirmations vis-à-vis how things work elsewhere,” Shawver said. “More specifically, she’ll augment our department in the area of rhetoric, which is her academic specialty. I think the students will benefit from her expertise, but also from her congenial and open-minded manner in the classroom.

“I think they’ll find that she’s an instructor they feel very comfortable with, and that she’ll make complex ideas interesting and accessible to them,” Shawver said.