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Maria Kalbermatten is a scholar and educator in Hispanic Studies. She teaches courses in Spanish language, culture, and linguistics. Her work centers on the study of humor in discourse, with a particular focus on verbal irony, political humor, and the ways humor operates in contexts of power, ideology, and social interaction. Drawing on approaches from pragmatics, discourse analysis, and critical literacy, her research examines how humor functions not only as entertainment but also as a tool for critique, affiliation, and meaning-making in everyday communication.

Her scholarship includes analyses of spontaneous conversations and media texts, exploring how speakers use irony and humor to negotiate relationships, express stance, and challenge dominant narratives. She has a particular interest in humor in Spanish-speaking contexts, including Latin America, and her recent work engages with questions of political discourse, manipulation, and the role of humor in shaping public opinion. Her research has been presented at national and international conferences and contributes to ongoing interdisciplinary conversations about language, culture, and society.

Kalbermatten is deeply committed to student-centered teaching and to creating an engaging, inclusive classroom environment. Her teaching philosophy emphasizes active learning, critical thinking, and the development of interpretive skills that allow students to analyze language and culture in meaningful ways. She frequently integrates her research into her courses, designing classes that invite students to explore authentic materials such as political cartoons, media discourse, and everyday interactions. In courses like Political Humor and Manipulation, she applies a critical literacy framework to help students examine how humor can both reinforce and challenge systems of power.

Kalbermatten teaches across the Spanish curriculum, from introductory language courses to advanced content courses, and contributes to interdisciplinary programs that engage with global perspectives, media, and cultural studies. She values mentoring students at all levels and enjoys supporting them in developing linguistic proficiency alongside cultural awareness and analytical skills.

In addition to her teaching and research, Kalbermatten is actively involved in service at the College and within the broader academic community. She contributes to curriculum development, participates in collaborative initiatives, and engages in professional activities that connect her work to wider scholarly and educational networks.

One of her favorite aspects of teaching at Gustavus is the opportunity to work closely with students in a liberal arts setting, where discussion, curiosity, and intellectual exploration are central. She values the strong sense of community on campus and the ways in which students bring diverse perspectives into the classroom.

Outside of her academic work, Kalbermatten enjoys creative and cultural activities that complement her scholarly interests, including drawing, exploring global cuisines, and engaging with music and the arts. These interests often inform her teaching and contribute to the dynamic, culturally rich learning experiences she fosters in her courses.

Jessica Helget, MS, RN, PHN is Senior Continuing Faculty in the Department of Nursing, where she serves as Simulation Faculty and teaches across the undergraduate nursing curriculum. She earned her Master of Science in Nursing Education from Saint Catherine University and her Bachelor of Arts in Nursing from Gustavus Adolphus College.

At Gustavus, Jessica leads the design, integration, and evaluation of simulation-based education across all levels of the program. Her expertise centers on high-quality clinical simulation aligned with the AACN Essentials and the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL) Standards of Best Practice. She has developed a comprehensive simulation curriculum map that scaffolds student learning from foundational skills to complex clinical judgment, ensuring students graduate practice-ready and confident. In addition to simulation, she teaches medical-surgical nursing, and pre-health professions courses, blending didactic and experiential learning.

Helget’s teaching philosophy is deeply student-centered and grounded in experiential learning theory. She intentionally creates space for reflection, critical thinking, and application, often integrating mannequins and real-time clinical decision-making into classroom case studies. Her simulations follow structured pre-briefing and debriefing models such as PEARLS and Debriefing for Meaningful Learning, fostering psychological safety while challenging students to grow. Students frequently describe her courses as engaging, rigorous, and inspiring, reflecting her commitment to excellence and enthusiasm for the profession.

Her scholarly work focuses on simulation effectiveness, debriefing methodology, and NCLEX preparation. She has published in the Journal of Nursing Education and has presented regionally on innovative simulation practices. She currently collaborates with statistics students on research examining the impact of simulation on student outcomes and clinical readiness. She is actively involved in professional organizations including the National League for Nursing and INACSL, and she is pursuing Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE) credentialing to further advance simulation scholarship and mentorship at Gustavus.

Within the College, Jessica serves on the Institutional Review Board, Nobel Committee, advises the Gustavus Student Nurses Association, participates in faculty mentoring and search committees, and contributes to campus initiatives such as Wellness as a Community. She is passionate about embedding equity, inclusion, and belonging principles into simulation scenarios, preparing students to provide culturally responsive care and address health disparities.

Beyond Gustavus, Helget continues to practice as a Registered Nurse at Mayo Clinic Health System in a progressive care setting, ensuring her teaching remains grounded in current clinical practice. She is also deeply engaged in community service, including board membership with the St. Peter Free Clinic and youth mentorship through local athletics and church programs.

Jessica believes nursing education is both an art and a science. She is committed to forming compassionate, competent leaders who will serve their communities with integrity, faith, and excellence—hallmarks of a Gustavus education.

Lisa Ortmann, PhD is the Grace and Bertil Pehrson Endowed Professor and Associate Professor of Education at Gustavus. Dr. Ortmann’s education courses prepare future teachers across the grade levels and content areas to build a deep understanding of how children and adolescents learn to read and write, and the research-based methods of teaching literacy for all students. She was awarded the Innovation in Teaching Award from the Kendall Center for Engaged Learning for her “Literacy Histories” project, where education majors critically examine their own experiences of learning to read, write, and use language, identifying the ways their history shapes their teaching. She teaches a First Term Seminar course called “For the Love of Books!” where first-year students follow their curiosity as readers, reflecting on the value of literacy in their lives as citizens of a free and democratic society. Together, students build a reading community that sustains their values, shapes their identities, and expands their worldviews.

Dr. Ortmann’s scholarly work informs, and is informed by, her teaching and professional activities at the College and in the state. Her research areas include teachers’ uses of culturally responsive teaching practices and diverse literature, the instructional methods that support literacies of multilingual adolescent learners, and the impact of instructional coaching models to enhance teaching. Recent peer-reviewed publications include a co-authored study with a former Gustie student, “Developing Responsive Disciplinary Literacies for Student Teaching in Social Studies” in The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, and a state-wide study, "Surveying the Landscape: Minnesota's English Language Arts Teachers' Perspectives on Intellectual Freedom" in The Minnesota English Journal.

Dr. Ortmann’s professional service is in partnership with teachers and schools both locally and nationally. She is an engaged collaborator with Saint Peter and Mankato educators to design and facilitate real-world teaching opportunities for Gustie education majors at all stages of the four-year program. She serves the state of Minnesota as the Intellectual Freedom Chair for the board of the Minnesota Council of Teachers of English where she provides professional development to English Language Arts teachers across the state. She was selected to serve as a This Story Matters Teacher Corp Member on the National Council of Teachers of English to develop book rationales for teaching diverse literature. She consults and provides guidance on statewide reading initiatives for the Minnesota Association of Colleges of Teacher Education, and for the English Language Arts 2020 Standards development project with the Minnesota Department of Education.

In her moments of free time, you can find Dr. Ortmann outdoors at the lake or in her garden, reading a novel, running with her yellow lab Harley, or cheering loudly at her daughter’s performances and games. She is a passionate educator, who has found a home at Gustavus due to the life-long relationships that are built on campus. Mentoring new teachers into the profession is one of the greatest gifts of her career, especially when they return to campus with their own students.

Dr. Shu-Ling Wang is an associate professor of Economics. She joined Gustavus in 2016 after a two-year appointment at The College of Wooster. Her teaching interests include Intermediate Macroeconomics, Money and Banking, International Finance, Public Finance, and Principles of Economics. As an active instructor in an interactive and interdisciplinary liberal arts environment, she enjoys developing and experimenting with innovative pedagogies to enrich students’ learning experiences. She also values mentoring undergraduate research that fosters critical and independent thinking. At Wooster, she advised several year-long senior independent studies, and at Gustavus, she offers writing-in-the-discipline courses in economics and mentors class-based research projects. In October 2023, her Money and Banking students’ paper titled “The Asian Crisis of 1997” won third place in the Economic Communication category of the Minnesota Economic Association (MEA) Undergraduate Paper Contest. In 2025, Dr. Wang served as a faculty panelist at the MAYDAY! Peace Conference at Gustavus, participating in the teach-in model addressing issues of peace, human rights, and social justice. More recently, she served on the Nobel Conference '63 Planning Committee (theme: AI and Human Agency).

Dr. Wang’s research focuses on Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics, and International Finance. She studies fiscal and monetary policy issues—such as fiscal stimulus, public debt, tax policy, income distributional effects, and monetary policy, using dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models with representative or heterogeneous agents. Her papers have been published in the Journal of Macroeconomics, Review of International Economics, and Economic Modelling. She received the Mansergh Faculty Scientific Research Award at Gustavus in both 2022 and 2025. Her recent project examines the debt-financed stimulus effects in a high-debt economy without monetary independence, considering different schemes and speeds of debt adjustment in a two-sector New Keynesian model. Future projects will examine the redistribution effects between savers and hand-to-mouth agents of debt-financing policies. She regularly presents her work at the The Midwest Economics Association, Canadian Economics Association, Western Economics Association, and Liberal Arts Macroeconomics conferences.

In addition to her research, Dr. Wang actively contributes to professional service. She serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Macroeconomics, Economic Modelling, Contemporary Economic Policy, Cambridge University Press, and the Bulletin of Economic Research. She has also served on the steering and program committees for the Liberal Arts Macroeconomics Conference and was a member of the Board of the Minnesota Economic Association. In 2025 she served as a mentor and a panelist for junior women economists at the CeMENT workshop sponsored by the AEA at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Beyond academia, Dr. Wang is a mother of three children. She enjoys architecture, art, photography, and music. Her favorite architects include Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, and Zaha Hadid. She is also inspired by the works of Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, and Claude Monet. A musician herself, she plays the piano, violin, and pipa (a Chinese lute). Her favorite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach of the Baroque period.

Living on campus is at the heart of the Gustavus experience—close community, vibrant events, and a variety of dorms and apartments make campus feel like home from day one to graduation.

You might not find many job listings for “philosopher,” but studying philosophy prepares you for almost any path in life. Whether you're interested in law, business, nursing, social work, or education, philosophy equips you with powerful, transferable skills—like critical thinking, argumentation, and problem-solving—that are valued in every field.

Through the Gustavus Japanese Studies Department, students study the Japanese language, literature, history, politics, art, and religion. Plus, there's a required semester abroad in Japan, and faculty mentoring.

Saint Peter offers a welcoming college town vibe with nature, local shops, minutes from Mankato with many major stores and malls, and easy access to Minneapolis/St. Paul—perfect for a vibrant Gustavus experience.

K. Angelique Dwyer is an Associate Professor of Spanish and the Program Director of Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean Studies (LALACS). She specializes in Mexico/U.S. Intercultural Studies and teaches courses on film, border studies, Latina/x/o literature, Spanish language, and Latin American culture. Dwyer is an engaged scholar who created the student organization "Language Buddies" that works in partnership with the St. Peter Public Schools, Free Clinic, and Food Pantry. Her courses co-embed service-learning and community engagement with the goal of broadening student's intercultural skills. She has published in the fields of Chicana/Latina Studies, creative nonfiction, and pedagogy. She is particularly interested in Latin@/Latin American pop culture through the lens of Performance Theory. She has a podcast called “Gringos Mexicanos,” which broadens the dialogue on Mexican American identity that features her short stories written in Spanglish. She has a forthcoming article on the assessment of intercultural skills gained by students via community engagement learning. Dwyer also enjoys dancing, trying new foods, and photography.