Welcome to the Syllabus Exchange of the Western Literature Association! We hope you’ll find this collection an inspiring resource for teaching western American literature and culture.

Please understand that the syllabi shared on this site are publications, protected by Fair Use laws. If you wish to borrow ideas, you should credit the author on your syllabus.

Example: “Adapted from Shirley Lang’s Ethnic West course at Great Plains University, made available through the Online Syllabus exchange at westernlit.org.”

In the spirit of collegiality, we invite you to thank instructors whose syllabi you find helpful and to join the Western Literature Association.

We thank Cheryll Glotfelty and Matt Lavin for getting this project off the ground.

Please send questions, comments, and especially syllabi to [email protected].

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Graduate Courses

• 19th-Century American Frontier Literature Victoria Lamont (University of Waterloo)
• American West of the Imagination at the Turn of the 20th Century Stephen Tatum (University of Utah)
• Contemporary Revisions of the American West Phillip A. Snyder (Brigham Young University)
• Cormac McCarthy & Leslie Marmon Silko: Cowboys and Indians of the Apocalypse Alex Hunt (West Texas A&M University)
• Cultural Border Crossings Melody Graulich (Utah State University)
• Ecocritical Theory Sara Spurgeon (Texas Tech University)
• Editing the West Jennifer Dawes Adkison (Idaho State University)
• Expansion and Environment in Western U.S. History and Literature Louis Warren and Michael Ziser (University of California, Davis)
• Great Plains Literature Diane Quantic (Wichita State University)
• Hispanic American Literature, 1500-1900: From the Colonies to California Keri Holt (Utah State University)
• Literature of the Southwest Fenton Johnson (University of Arizona)
• Matters of Space: The Global/Local American West Krista Comer (Rice University)
• Native American Literature Nicolas Witschi (Western Michigan University)
• Photography in the American West Melody Graulich (Utah State University)
• Post-Western Representations Bill Handley (University of Southern California)
• Reading and Writing the Big Bend Barney Nelson (Sul Ross State University)
• Southwestern American Literature Audrey Goodman (Georgia State University)
• Southwestern Literature Barney Nelson (Sul Ross State University)
• The American West as Ideal R. Clay Reynolds (University of Texas at Dallas)
• The Elemental West Nancy Cook (University of Montana)
• The Literary West and Historical Consciousness Nancy Cook (University of Montana)
• The New Critical Regionalism: Place, Space, and Borders Alex Hunt (West Texas A&M University)
• The Western Nicolas Witschi (Western Michigan University)
• Theories and Literatures of Place Nancy Cook (University of Montana)
• Western American Literature, 20th Century Jennifer Dawes Adkison (Idaho State University)
• Western American Literature and Criticism Hal Crimmel (Weber State University)
• Women and the Early 20th-Century West Nicolas Witschi (Western Michigan University)
• Women Reading and Writing the Rural West Barney Nelson (Sul Ross State University)

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Introductory Writing Courses

• California: Imagination and Place David Stentiford (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Composition and Rhetoric I Barney Nelson (Sul Ross State University)
• Composition II: Nevada Laurel Topken (Western Nevada College, Fernley)
• Foundations of Language: Thomas Savage O. Alan Weltzien (University of Montana Western)
• Nevada and Its Dis(contents) Sylvan Goldberg (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Nevada: A Place to Define, Research, and Argue Laurel Topken (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Nevada: A Search for Place Katja Lektorich (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Realizing Westward: American Character and Cowboy Mythology Stephen Cook (California State University, Sacramento)
• Where I Was From Will Lombardi (California State University, Chico)
• Write in Place Will Lombardi (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Writing the American West Geoffrey Bateman (University of Denver)
• Writing the American West (Honors) Geoffrey Bateman (University of Denver)
• Writing the Watershed Cheryll Glotfelty (University of Nevada, Reno)
• The American West George Brooks (University of Nevada, Reno)

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Undergraduate Courses

The American West

• 20th-Century Literature of the American West Jeffrey Chisum (University of Southern California)
• Cultures of the American West Neil Campbell (University of Derby)
• Geography: The American West Paul Starrs (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Literature and Culture of the American West Andrea Mason (Washington State University)
• Literature and Cultures of the American West Phillip A. Snyder (Brigham Young University)
• Literature of Place: The Cultural and Material Landscapes of the New Urban West Robert Bennett (Montana State University)
• Literature of the American West Ann Ronald (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Literature of the American West Gary Scharnhorst (University of New Mexico)
• Literature of the American West Tom J. Hillard (Boise State University)
• Literature of the American West: Myths of the West Cheryll Glotfelty (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Myth and Mythology of the American West Brett Westbrook (The University of Texas at Austin)
• Older and Newer Wests O. Alan Weltzien (University of Montana Western)
• Studies in Fiction: West of Everything Sara Spurgeon (Texas Tech University)
• The American West Blake Allmendinger (University of California, Los Angeles)
• The American West Karen Ramirez (University of Colorado)
• The American West as Icon R. Clay Reynolds (The University of Texas at Dallas)
• The Idea of the West in the American Imagination: Myth and Reality in Fiction and Film Len Engel (Quinnipiac University)
• Transformations of the West in the 20th Century Blake Allmendinger (University of California, Los Angeles)
• Western American Literature Darryl Hattenhauer (Arizona State University West Campus)
• Western Literature of the United States: The West in the American Mind, and Beyond Jennifer Ladino (University of Idaho)
• The Struggle for Community in the American West: Homesteaders, Ranchers, and Native Americans Leonard Engel (Quinnipiac University)
• Literature and Culture of the American Farm Evelyn Funda (Utah State University)
• The Frontier (American Studies) Becky Gesteland (Weber State University)
• Fiction: Literature of the American West Tom Lynch (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
• Literature and the Contemporary: Border Lords Elizabeth Oliphant (University of Pittsburgh)
• Literature and the Contemporary: Way Out West Elizabeth Oliphant (University of Pittsburgh)
• Mark Twain and America Forrest Robinson (University of California, Santa Cruz)
• The West in Literature Forrest Robinson (University of California, Santa Cruz)

Popular Westerns and Cowboys

• Cowboy Up: The American Cowboy in Fact and Fiction Ron Scheer (University of Southern California)
• Formula Westerns in Historical Contexts Lee Clark Mitchell (Princeton University)
• Literature as Popular Culture: Montana Noir O. Alan Weltzien (University of Montana Western)
• Re-reading the Popular Western Chadwick Allen (The Ohio State University)
• The Great American Cowboy Phillip A. Snyder (Brigham Young University)

Western Film and Photography

• Film Studies: The American Western James Scott (Saint Louis University)
• Film, The Western David Cremean (Black Hills State University)
• Landscape & Gender in Western Fiction & Film Len Engel (Quinnipiac University)
• Literature and Film of the Environment David Cremean (Black Hills State University)
• Photography and the American West Heather Anderson (George Mason University)
• Photography in the American West Melody Graulich (Utah State University)
• The Idea of the West in the American Imagination: Myth and Reality in Fiction and Film Len Engel (Quinnipiac University)

Native American Literature and Culture

• American Indian Literature and Culture Chadwick Allen (The Ohio State University)
• American Indian Literature of the West Frank Papovich (University of Virginia)
• Literature and Culture of the American Indian Diane Quantic (Wichita State University)
• Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris Linda Karell (Montana State University, Bozeman)
• Native American Literary Studies Susan Bernardin (SUNY College at Oneonta)
• Native American Literature Audrey Goodman (Georgia State University)
• Native American Literature Karen Ramirez (University of Colorado)
• Native American Literature Susanne Bloomfield (University of Nebraska Kearney)
• Native American Literatures M. Eleanor Nevins (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Native American Literatures and Ethnopoetics M. Eleanor Nevins (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Native American Women’s Literature and Culture Annette Van Dyke (University of Illinois Springfield)
• Survey of Native American Literatures Julianne Newmark (New Mexico Tech)

Identity, Ethnicity, and Gender

• American Lives Matt Lavin (The University of Iowa)
• Black Writers and the Wild West Michael K. Johnson (University of Maine Farmington)
• Chicana/o Literature Priscilla Ybarra (University of North Texas)
• Gender, Race, and Nature in American Environmental Literature Sara Spurgeon (Texas Tech University)
• Jewish Settlers on the American Frontier Eleanor Kaufman (University of California, Los Angeles)
• Landscape & Gender in Western Fiction & Film Len Engel (Quinnipiac University)
• Literature Culture of the American West: Contemporary Coming of Age Narratives Krista Comer (Rice University)
• Memoir and Place Kathy Boardman (University of Nevada, Reno)
• The Multiethnic West Cheryll Glotfelty (University of Nevada, Reno)
• The Queer Frontier Geoffrey Bateman (University of Denver)
• Women Writers of the American West Sara Spurgeon (Texas Tech University)
• Women’s Literature of the American West Cathryn Halverson (University of Copenhagen)
• Immigration in late 19th and early 20th century America Becky Gesteland (Weber State University)
• Women and Literature: Women in the West Elizabeth Oliphant (University of Pittsburgh)
• Masculinities of the New West J. Frank Papovich (University of Virginia)

Literature and the Environment

• American Nature Writing Eve Quesnel (Sierra Nevada College)
• Bioregionalism and Western American Literature Michael Branch (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Designing Field-Based Curriculum for Environmental Literature and Writing Courses Corey Lewis (Humboldt State University)
• 18th- and 19th-Century Nature Writing O. Alan Weltzien (University of Montana Western)
• Gender, Race, and Nature in American Environmental Literature Sara Spurgeon (Texas Tech University)
• Literary Field Studies Corey Lewis (Humboldt State University)
• Literature and Film of the Environment David Cremean (Black Hills State University)
• Literature and the Environment Julianne Newmark (New Mexico Tech)
• Literature of American Nature Writing Eve Quesnel (Sierra College)
• Nature Writing and Environmental Literature Josh Doležal (Central College)
• Nature Writing in the West Chris Robertson
• North American Literature and the Environment Robert Thacker (St. Lawrence University)
• Our Place in Nature Nicolas Witschi (Western Michigan University)
• Predators in Literature Barney Nelson (Sul Ross State University)
• Problems in American Studies: Environmentalism as Culture David Mazel (Adams State College)
• Studies in Non-Fiction: Toxic Landscapes Stephen Tatum (University of Utah)
• American Nature Writing and Literature of the Environment Ray Winter (University of California, Merced)

The West in American and Global Contexts

• American Apocalyptic Literature ShaunAnne Tangney (Minot State University)
• American Regional Literature Audrey Goodman (Georgia State University)
• Literatures and Cultures of the United States Nicolas Witschi (Western Michigan University)
• Mark Twain and His Circle Lawrence Berkove (University of Michigan-Dearborn)
• Novelty and Rebirth in American Literature and Culture, 1898-1936 Matt Lavin (The University of Iowa)
• Place Conscious Literature: US West & Australian Outback Tom Lynch (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
• Survey of American Literature II ShaunAnne Tangney (Minot State University)
• The Frontier in American Literature Peter L. Bayers (Fairfield University)

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Place Focused

Southwest

• American Authors since 1900: Southwestern Literature Tom Lynch (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
• Literature of the Southwest: Welcome to the Desert of the Real Alex Hunt (West Texas A&M University)
• Literatures of the American Southwest Sara Spurgeon (Texas Tech University)
• Southwest Humanities Gioia Woods (Northern Arizona University)
• Southwestern Literature Barney Nelson (Sul Ross State University)
• Southwestern Studies I: Defining the Region Twister Marquiss (Texas State University-San Marcos)
• Place, Space, and Identity in US Borderlands Literature Cordelia Barrera (Texas Tech University)

Pacific Northwest

• Canadian Studies: Literature in British Columbia Laurie Ricou (University of British Columbia)
• Mapping Home: Literature of the Pacific Northwest Meg Cooke (Eastern Oregon University)
• Pacific Northwest Writing and the Poetics of Habitat Laurie Ricou (University of British Columbia)
• Regional Literature: “Writing the North” Susan Kollin (Montana State University-Bozeman)
• Writing the Pacific Northwest Laurie Ricou (University of British Columbia)
• Pacific Northwest Writing and the Shapes of Knowledge Laurie Ricou (University of British Columbia)

California

• California and the West Blake Allmendinger (University of California, Los Angeles)
• California Dreaming: Concepts of Place Bev Hogue (Marietta College)
• California: An Interdisciplinary Approach Blake Allmendinger (University of California, Los Angeles)
• Los Angeles: The Fiction Thomas Gustafson (University of Southern California)
• The Literature of California Jan Goggans (University of California, Merced)

Nevada

• Learning From Las Vegas (honors) Stephen Tatum (University of Utah)
• Nevada in Literature Cheryll Glotfelty (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Nevada in Literature (anthology version) Cheryll Glotfelty (University of Nevada, Reno)
• Nevada Literature (online course) Shaun T. Griffin (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
• Theories of Popular Culture: Learning from Las Vegas Stephen Tatum (University of Utah)

Montana

• Literature as Popular Culture: Montana Noir O. Alan Weltzien (University of Montana Western)
• Montana Writers Sue Hart (Montana State University Billings)
• Montana Writers Nancy Cook (University of Montana)

Great Plains

• Great Plains Literature Diane Quantic (Wichita State University)
• Great Plains Literature Susanne Bloomfield (University of Nebraska Kearney)
• Plains Literature Tom Lynch (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

K-12 Instructional Plans

from the Winners of the WLA/Redd Center K-12 Teaching Award: See K-12 Teaching Awards