Nine new full-time faculty are teaching at Northwestern College as the fall semester gets under way.
Dr. Thomas Bogue is a new assistant professor of physics. Last year he served as a post-doctoral fellow at Seattle Pacific University, researching the effectiveness of a diagnostic tool for middle and high school physics teachers and teaching introductory physics courses. He earned doctoral and master’s degrees in theoretical nuclear physics from New Mexico State University. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Connecticut.
Deb Bomgaars joins Northwestern’s nursing faculty as an instructor after five years as a community health nurse at Community Health Partners in Orange City. She also spent 17 years as a staff R.N. in a variety of roles at Orange City Area Health System and served as an adjunct professor at Northwestern. Bomgaars earned a Master of Science in Nursing degree from Nebraska Methodist College in Omaha. She received a nursing diploma from St. Joseph Mercy School of Nursing, Marian Health Center, and a B.S.N. from Briar Cliff University.
Arnold Carlson, assistant professor of art, comes to Northwestern after teaching sculpture, ceramics, 2-D and 3-D foundation, and figure drawing at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan for eight years. His art has been featured in exhibitions in Tennessee, Michigan and Maine. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Memphis College of Art as well as bachelor’s degrees in visual arts and biblical studies from Northwestern College in Roseville, Minn.
Karissa Carlson, a 2003 Northwestern graduate, returns to the college as an instructor in chemistry. She has been pursuing a doctorate in biochemistry at the University of Iowa. Carlson has held biochemistry teaching assistantships at Iowa and was awarded a predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association in 2006. Her research has been published in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and presented at the Biocatalysis and Bioprocessing Conference.
Dr. Luke Dahn joins the music department as an assistant professor. He earned a doctorate in music composition from the University of Iowa, where he served as a visiting assistant professor last year. Dahn also received a master’s degree in music composition from Western Michigan University and a bachelor’s degree in music theory and composition from Houston Baptist University. Composer of several commissioned pieces, he is currently developing a large ensemble work for Studio New Music of the Moscow Conservatory.
Andrea Donahoe, instructor in psychology, is completing a doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since 2004, she served as a visiting psychology professor at Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash., where she did her undergraduate studies. She won Whitworth’s Outstanding Collaborative Teaching Award in 2006 for a study trip to the Gulf Coast to serve and study communities in crisis. She co-wrote an article in Developmental Psychology about visuo-spatial short-term memory in a child’s first year.
Ann VanderKooi Minnick joins the communications department as an assistant professor after directing community relations for the Orange City Area Health System since 1999. She has also coordinated public relations and marketing efforts at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D.; the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City; and the Grinnell (Iowa) Regional Medical Center. A graduate of Northwestern College, she earned a master’s degree in journalism and public relations from the University of Iowa.
Michelle Van Wyhe serves as an instructor in nursing and also is the student health services coordinator. A board-certified advanced registered nurse practitioner, she worked in O.B. and medical-surgical care for Orange City Area Health System. She also served as Early Head Start health coordinator for Mid-Sioux Opportunity in Remsen, Iowa, and as an R.N. at St. Luke’s Hospital in Sioux City. Van Wyhe graduated with a master’s degree in nursing (family nurse practitioner emphasis) from South Dakota State University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Augustana College.
Linda Ver Steeg joins the nursing faculty as an instructor after serving the last five years as a campus health services nurse at Dordt College. She also has had experience in hospice and home health care, critical care, and medical-surgical care. She previously taught as an adjunct at Northwestern and other institutions. A graduate of Nebraska Methodist College in Omaha with a Master of Science in Nursing degree, she earned a nursing diploma from Albany (New York) Medical Center School of Nursing. She attended Northwestern and Briar Cliff University to complete B.S.N. requirements.
