Brooke A . Kowalke, PhD

Assistant Professor

Arts and Sciences

B Kowalke

Contact

BrookeKowalke@creighton.edu
College of Arts and Sciences
Medical Humanities
Graduate School
Medical Humanities (Master of Arts)
English
CRHL - Creighton Hall/Administration Building - 135D

Brooke A . Kowalke, PhD

Assistant Professor

Arts and Sciences

Brooke Kowalke is an Assistant Professor who has been teaching at Creighton since the Fall of 2004. Her specializations include medical memoir, narratives of health and illness, medical humanities, and early modern transatlantic literature. She is currently working on a memoir—Grace Notes: Lessons on Personhood, Parenthood, and Love—about how her daughter Grace, who lived 5 months with Trisomy-18, changed everything. Pieces of that memoir appear on the Literary Mama Blog, in Barren Magazine, and under the gum tree. She also works on the scholarship of medical education and the role of literature within a medical school curriculum. She teaches courses including “Contemporary Composition: Voices for Health” and “The Body in Early English Literature” in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the School of Medicine, she teaches courses including “Narratives of Neurodiversity” and “Bearing Witness: Memoirs of Dying, Death, and Grief.”

Teaching Interests

  • Medical Memoir, Grief Literature, Medical Humanities, Medical Education, Early Modern Transatlantic Literature

Research Focus

  • Medical Memoir
  • Grief Literature
  • Medical Humanities
  • Medical Education
  • Early Modern Transatlantic Literature

Department

English

Position

Assistant Professor

Publications

  • under the gum tree
    Brooke Kowalke, 'The Before, During, and After' 2021
  • Barren Magazine
    Brooke Kowalke, 'Siblings'; https://barrenmagazine.com/siblings/
    15/16 2020
  • Literary Mama
    Brooke Kowalke, 'Making Room.' http://www.literarymama.com/blog/archives/2020/06/literary-reflections-writing-prompt-brooke-kowalke-responds.html 2020
  • Still Standing Magazine
    Brooke Kowalke, 'Things You Can't Prepare for: Tax Day After Your Child Dies.' https://stillstandingmag.com/2019/02/10/tax-day-after-your-child-dies/ 2019
  • under the gum tree
    Kowalke, Brooke, -0001

Editing and Reviews

  • None
    Review of The Papers of Sir William Berkeley, 1605–1677. Edited by Warren M. Billings with the assistance of Maria Kimberly. The North Carolina Historical Review
    57.3, p. 359 2010

Presentations

  • Using First-Person Narratives of Neurodiversity to Enhance Communication and Understanding. The Examined Life Conference. University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Iowa City, IA 2020
  • To Versus For': Intellectual Disability and the Politics of Medical Intervention at Human/e Healthcare Symposium. https://excellence.creighton.edu/HHH 2020

Awards

  • Kingfisher Research and Scholarship Fellow
  • Kingfisher Curriculum Innovation Fellowship for SIS Development
  • MAGIS Core Curriculum New Course Development Grant,
    MAGIS Core Curriculum New Course Development Grant, Spring 2014.
    Creighton University
  • F 2013, S 2014, F 2014
    IGGY Awards: F 2013, S 2014, F 2014
    IGGY Awards