Major/Minor
Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies
Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies (LALACS) majors/minors discover the rewards of crossing borders. Discover more about LALACS, including sample courses, careers, and features.
Our People
Sarah Ruble
Sarah Ruble is a Professor of Religion and specializes in the history of Christianity in the United States. She is the author of The Gospel of Freedom and Power: Protestant Missionaries in American Culture After World War II (University of North Carolina Press, 2012). She has also published articles on topics such as gender in U.S. religious history, the American missionary movement, and Lutheran contributions to American religion. Dr. Ruble is also a frequent presenter at adult forums and lifelong learning programs. She has developed two YouTube-based curricula for adult forums, one on the history of Christianity and race in the United States and the other on the development of Christian doctrine. Both are available on her website sarahruble.com.
At Gustavus, Dr. Ruble teaches a broad range of courses in the Religion Department. She also currently serves as the Faculty Director of Assessment and as Gustavus’s Accreditation Liaison Officer. In 2025 she was awarded the Faculty Service Award for her contributions to the Gustavus community.
Our People
Scott Moore
Scott Moore has enjoyed more than four decades of experience as a musician and educator. His career includes over a thousand concerts with renowned American orchestras and jazz legends to collaborating with pop music icons and touring Broadway productions. He is the only bass trombonist to have studied in the Juilliard School's Professional Studies program.
Now that he has moved beyond the stage, Dr. Moore is a dedicated mentor at the College, where he challenges students to rethink their attitudes and perspectives. His core message to students is to cultivate resilience by embracing a positive outlook and understanding the powerful idea that we can become what we think about. He has served as a department chair and has taught a wide range of courses, from music theory and history to technology and academic research. Currently, his courses on pop music and seminars for first-year and advanced students focus on a powerful lesson: the joy of creation should always be celebrated over the stress of competition.
Our People
Sean Easton
Seán Easton is a professor of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies (GLCS). His research and teaching are focused on three main areas: Representations of Ancient Greece and Rome in visual media, especially movies and television; epic poetry and later writers who adapt it from it (especially Shakespeare); and environmental thought, peacemaking and the conflict emotions in ancient Greece and Rome. He teaches courses in the following interdisciplinary programs: Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies (PJCS); Comparative Literature; Environmental Studies; Film Studies; and Sports Management. He has published articles and chapters on the Roman epic poet Lucan and the representations of Alexander the Great in Sohrab Modi’s film 'Sikandar' (India, 1941) and Oliver Stone’s 'Alexander' (USA, 2004), the Greco-Persian Wars in the '300' franchise films, Greek and Roman myth in John Frankenheimer’s classic 'Seconds' (1966), Terrence Malick’s epic 'New World' (2005), and George Nolfi’s adventure-romance 'The Adjustment Bureau' (2011).
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Academic Department
Offerings - Athletic Training
The master of athletic training program offers two tracks, a Master of Athletic Training 4+2 which is for people who have completed an undergraduate degree and the 3+2 Exercise Physiology B.A. and Master of Athletic Training is for students enrolled at Gustavus and officially begins the summer before your 4th year.
Major/Minor
Computer Science
Computer Science majors/minors think analytically and logically, design creative and robust solutions, develop teamwork, and explore new technologies. They solve problems using multiple programming languages and development platforms, preparing for careers in data, analysis, actuarial science, and master's degrees in computer science (MCS).
Our People
Angelique Dwyer
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.
Our People
Toshiyuki Sakuragi
Toshiyuki Sakuragi is a professor of Japanese language and culture whose expertise draws from intercultural communication and cognitive linguistics. His research examines cultural influences on communication and language learning, addressing topics such as the relationship between attitudes toward language study and cross-cultural attitudes, the cognitive processes underlying classifier choice, and cultural influences on shyness. His research articles have appeared in journals such as the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research and the International Journal of Intercultural Relations.
Among his Japanese-language publications are two books. His single-authored book, 映画で異文化体験 (Experiencing Cultures Through Film), explores the use of film to promote intercultural learning. His co-authored college textbook, はじめて学ぶ異文化コミュニケーション (Introduction to Intercultural Communication), has been widely adopted in Japan and has gone through multiple printings.
Professor Sakuragi teaches Japanese language as well as courses on Japanese cinema and intercultural film. He has also led numerous travel courses to Japan and has taught in the Summer and Winter Japanese Language and Culture Program at Hosei University in Tokyo.
Our People
Priscilla Briggs
Priscilla Briggs is a professor of Art & Art History, the advisor for the Film & Media Arts major, and supports the Film & Media Studies interdisciplinary program. Priscilla teaches Digital Photography, Video Art, Graphic Design, the Zines for Sustainability challenge seminar, and the Arts Now professional practice seminar for junior art majors.
She enjoys teaching within the liberal arts mission of Gustavus and guiding students in their experience of the visual arts as both an intuitive and intellectual process that contributes to well-being and supports our curiosity as human beings. She enjoys collaborating with students and has led multiple faculty/student summer research projects.
Priscilla is a practicing artist who investigates the intersections of capitalism, identity, social justice and the environment through photography, collage and book-making. Her research has been supported by numerous grants, most notably the McKnight Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Her work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as the Saatchi Gallery in London, the Landskrona Photo Salon in Sweden, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, the Musei San Domenico in Forlì, Italy, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Her artist monograph, Impossible Is Nothing: China’s Theater of Consumerism, was published by Daylight Books. Many images from the book were created during artist residencies at the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen and Art Channel in Beijing. Priscilla recently launched Rose Bramble Books, an artist zine/book platform. Her work has been featured in print and online publications such as European Photography Magazine, Newsweek Japan, Photo District News, Hyperallergic, L’oeil de la Photographie, Lenscratch, and F-Stop Magazine. Priscilla is a member of both Rosalux Gallery and the FotoMatter Collective.
Priscilla’s research has taken her near and far from the Badlands to China and India, but her travels began in her early twenties when she taught English in Tokyo and backpacked through Southeast Asia for two years. She has led travel courses in Thailand and Ireland. Wherever she goes, she looks for the nearest hiking trail.
Major/Minor
Public Health
Public Health teaches you the concepts and principles related to the American public health system. Through active engagement in courses, you will complete opportunities and case studies in health behavior, community assessment, epidemiology, and program development related to a broad array of community issues, public health services, and populations.
Our People
Pamela Conners
Pamela K. Conners, PhD serves as interim Provost and Dean of the College. In this role, she collaborates with faculty and staff to ensure a transformative student experience defined by academic excellence and a vibrant campus life.
A member of the Gustavus community since 2011, Dr. Conners is Professor of Communication Studies, with a scholarly focus on rhetoric and public policy. She has taught courses such as Public Discourse, Community Advocacy, and Rhetorical Criticism. Her research examining how public discourse and deliberation function in a democracy has been published in Rhetoric & Public Affairs and Western Journal of Communication.
Dr. Conners has been recognized for her interdisciplinary work, such as integrating deliberative pedagogy into science courses, a project featured in the Journal of Chemical Education. Connecting theory to practice for students, she helped launch the Gustavus Public Deliberation & Dialogue program in 2018, through which students across campus engage in thoughtful discussion about critical issues of common concern.
Dr. Conners has held numerous leadership roles at Gustavus, including Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Dean of Faculty Development, Director of the John S. Kendall Center for Engaged Learning, and Director of Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, Creativity, and Dialogue.