Cynthia Rutz

Education

• B.A. St. John’s College, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• M.A./Ph.D. Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago

Biography

Cynthia Rutz started at Valparaiso University in 2004. She began teaching in the Core Program and the English department. Starting in 2006 she began to also work in faculty development, first as the director of the Faculty Resource Center, later as Director of Faculty Development for VITAL.

Her undergraduate degree was in a Great Books seminar-style program, which taught texts from Homer to Freud. Her PhD research was on the fairy tale elements in Shakespeare’s King Lear. She has given many public lectures on Shakespeare as well as other great authors.

Cynthia particularly enjoys working with new faculty and is responsible for new faculty orientation and new chair training as well as working with faculty in later stages of their career. She initiates two or more faculty learning communities each year and also runs the faculty writing circle. Her most recent initiatives include the VITAL Faculty Development Fellows Program and the Visiting Faculty Fellows Program. Cynthia is also available for teaching observation/coaching.