After thirty-one years of teaching in SPU’s English and Cultural Studies Department, Dr. Doug Thorpe is retiring.
Dr. Thorpe’s academic and teaching interests have included Romanticism, world literature, American ethnic literature, and environmental spirituality.
His combined love of William Blake, Christian contemplative traditions, and the Pacific Northwest’s mountains led to Thorpe’s award-winning book, Rapture of the Deep: Reflections on the Wild in Art, Wilderness and the Sacred (Red Hen Press, 2007). In Wisdom Sings the World: Poetry, Creation, and the Way of Dwelling (Codhill Press, 2010), Thorpe reflects on the connections between spirituality and the arts.
An active member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, his favorite memories of Seattle Pacific include teaching students abroad in England, collaborating with colleagues at home, and many rich conversations with students in his office or at local coffee shops. For those lamenting Dr. Thorpe’s retirement, there’s some comfort in knowing he’ll continue to teach at SPU on a part-time basis into the foreseeable future