Art Petersen, Ph.D.

Art Petersen joined UAS in 1975 (then Juneau-Douglas Community College) as its 13th faculty member. He taught Reading; Basic, Freshman, and Advanced Composition; Introduction to Literature; Shakespeare (non-dramatic poetry, tragedies, comedies, histories, problem plays); surveys and advanced studies in American, British, and World Literature; and senior special studies of such authors as Hemingway, Faulkner, and Tennessee Williams. He served as assistant dean, assistant to the vice chancellor for academic affairs, chair of the humanities department, coordinator of writing assessment, editor of the UAS literary magazine (1981-2002), and academic advisor to the UAS Bachelor of Liberal Arts distance student body. He served on the Perseverance Theatre board and as a member and then chair of the Alaska Humanities Forum (1990-2000). His books include volumes of poetry; textbooks on grammar and academic writing; a textbook anthology of short fiction and drama; and four Alaska histories. He retired to half time in 2000 and to full-time retirement in 2004.