- jessica.a.hanssen@nord.no
- +47 75 51 77 78
- Bodø Main Campus, 3415
- Dr. philos, University of Oslo (2010)
- PPU Certification (grades 5-10), Nord University (2010)
- M.A., Valdosta State University (2003)
- B.A. (Honors), Valdosta State University (2000)
- Professor, Nord University (2021-)
- Associate Professor, Nord University (2010-2021)
- Assistant Professor, Nord University (2007-2010)
- Teacher, Bodø Videregående Skole (2007)
- Adjunct Lecturer, eCore, University of Georgia (2004-2005)
American Literature; Nineteenth-Century Fiction; Narratology; Short-Story Theory; Middle Grades English Education; Young-Adult Fiction
Jessica Allen Hanssen is a Professor and the Faculty Coordinator for the Bachelor of English degree. Her primary areas of interest are American literature, especially nineteenth- and early twentieth-century fiction, short-story theory, narratology, young adult fiction, and middle grade English education.
Dr. Hanssen’s primary literary research applies ideas on structure, narrative persona, and closure, as derived from contemporary short-story theory, to nineteenth-century American writers such as Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne. This vein of inquiry leads to new understandings of their craft and significance. Dr. Hanssen has planned new research on structural ambiguity in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, David Foster Wallace’s Oblivion and the limits of technology, the presidential legacy of Fanshawe by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and non-linear narrative time in Melville’s Pierre. Additionally, her education research focuses on the intersection of critical theory and middle grades English education and the early introduction of critical reading, and especially reader-response and narratology-based teaching strategies, into the Norwegian national curriculum.
Dr. Hanssen serves as Faculty Coordinator for the Bachelor of English degree programme (BAENG). Her main responsibilities as faculty coordinator include academic quality assurance, national and international profiling, and intra-faculty communication. Nord University’s Bachelor of English has been rated highest in student satisfaction in Norway for the consecutive years of 2017, 2018, and 2019. (NOKUT Study Barometer).
Dr. Hanssen team-teaches British and American literature for the Bachelor of English (BAENG), the Master of Middle Grades Education (MAGLU), and the Senior Teacher in Social Science (LESAMF) degrees. She also teaches two specialty courses, American Fiction after 1945 and Crime Fiction, for second- and third-year BA students.
In previous years, she has taught classes on young-adult fiction, fantasy narratives, research and writing, Business English, Hemingway vs. Fitzgerald, and Hawthorne vs. Melville. She also coordinated the 2018 Frankenreads project at Nord University.
In 2014, Dr. Hanssen won Nord’s (then University of Nordland) faculty prize for creating an Outstanding Learning Environment for the subject of English for students and staff (læringsmiljøprisen).
Dr. Hanssen’s teaching responsibilities also include BA, MA, and practicum supervision, as well as in-service training for English teachers on a rotating basis.
For a full list of publications, please visit Jessica Allen Hanssen’s CRISTIN profile.
Selected Recent Publications (2018-present):
2024: “Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Narrative Fallibility, and the Young Adult Reader.” Literature, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 135-146.
2022: “‘Pathetic Geek Stories’: A Practical Approach to Introducing a Challenging Graphic Narrative.” Children’s Literature in English Language Education (CLELEjournal ), vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 54-73.
2021: “Scenes from a Marriage: The Age of Innocence as Discourse on the Transactional Value of Marriage.” In Marriage Discourses Historical and Literary Perspectives on Gender Inequality and Patriarchic Exploitation. De Gruyter.
2021: “David Foster Wallace’s Oblivion and the Limits of Technology.” In Contemporary American Fiction in the Embrace of the Digital Age. Sussex Academic Press.
2020: “Mediating Profession and Discipline: new challenges for teacher education.” Tidsskrift For Professionsstudier, vol. 16, no. 31, pp. 32-41.
2020: “Linking Criticality and Creativity: Engagement with Literary Theory in Middle Grades Education.” In the International Handbook of Research on Cultivating Literacy in Diverse and Multilingual Classrooms. IGI Global. (with M.H. Jensvoll)
2019: “Humanities-Forward Developments in Norwegian Middle Grades Education.” In the International Handbook of Middle Level Education Theory, Research, and Policy. Routledge. (with M.H. Jensvoll)
2018: “‘Unnatural’ Narratology, Frame Narrative, and Intertextuality in Frankenstein.” Litteraria Pragensia: Studies in Literature and Culture, vol. 28, pp. 97-109.
2018: “Interpreting the Dæmonomicon: A Decade of Teaching Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights.” Children’s Literature in English Language Education, vol. 6, pp. 1-21.
2018: “Cultural Sustainability: Perspectives on English and the Arctic Learner.” In The Development of the Arctic Zone: Experience, Issues, and Perspectives. MSHU. pp. 120-23.
2018: “Teaching English for Real Life. Reader-response theory and the Bildung tradition.” In Kategorial danning og bruk av IKT i undervisning. Universititetsforlaget. pp. 154-67.
Research Groups:
Founding member, Humanities, Education and Culture Research Group
Professional Connections:
Nordic Journal of Modern Language Methodology (University of Agder), editorial board
Washington Irving Society, member
Newspaper features
- Avisa Nordland – 10 March 2023
- Bodø Nu – 23 October 2018
- Avisa Nordland – 16 October 2018
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Frankenreads at Nord
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