view pdf version - Alumni - Truman State University

Alanna Preussner,
professor of English,
has been a member of
the Truman faculty
since 1989. She received
a B.A. from Illinois
Wesleyan University, an
M.A. and Ph.D. from
University of Colorado,
and did her
postgraduate study at
Brown University.
What was your background
before coming to Truman:
After finishing my Ph.D. at the University of
Colorado, I taught English and administered
a large federal grant at Yankton College in
South Dakota. Unfortunately, that little
liberal arts school went bankrupt in the
1980s, and I was fortunate enough to find a
position as director of programs for the
Kansas Committee for the Humanities, the
state humanities council. My work there
included writing grant proposals, teaching
folks from libraries and museums how to plan
projects, running a speakers bureau, writing
ad and promotional materials, and traveling
to various sites to evaluate projects and
promote the humanities. I was even a
registered lobbyist, since we requested state
funding for our speakers bureau.
8 Truman Review