Charlie Kostelnick: Building a Better English Department

Over four decades ago, Dr. Charlie Kostelnick decided to call Ames, and Iowa State University, his home. But, the English department, as most of us know it today, looked far different than it did then. In his time, Kostelnick has seen the department change, course offerings expand, innovation enacted, and the graduate programs come into their own. Kostelnick forged a unique path into the English department, where he played a major role in shaping what it is today. He started what would become his academic career at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning a bachelor’s degree in architecture. He recounted how the visual design of buildings intrigued him, and this is what originally attracted him to architecture. But, he was equally as good with literature as he was with design and enjoyed the two equally, so in his free time he took as many literature as possible. When he eventually changed his academic focus to English for his masters and comparative literature for his PhD, it was only natural for him to bring his fascination of visual design with him.

Today, the intersection and close relationship between visual design and rhetoric is the focus of his research and publication. He studies how typographic choices, charts, graphs, pictures, and icons shape how we understand information. In his newest book, Visual Vestiges: Time, Rhetoric, and Information Design, Kostelnick explores and elaborates on how visual communication has presented information to audiences across history and across cultures. His experience as an author extends beyond his most recent book; he has written or co-written two other books and a textbook on visual design.

Aside from his work as a tenured professor, Kostelnick has helped shape almost every corner of the English department. He helped found the Technical Communication program roughly 25 years ago, coordinated freshman English, chaired the university honors program committee, served as assistant chair of English, and then led the department as chair for two terms from 2000 to 2010. During that time, the department launched both the MFA in Creative Writing and Environment (2006) and the PhD program in Applied Linguistics and Technology (2005), both exciting milestones that significantly expanded the department’s reach and reputation worldwide.

In a recent interview, Kostelnick noted that he is proud of how far the department has come as a whole. It has changed a lot over the years with plenty of highs and lows, challenges and successes, but overall, he takes pride in seeing the department continue to teach and graduate great students. He’s excited to see the PhD students going into their careers and building their own academic success. He watched the graduate program go from being a small master’s program with several different emphases to having a catalogue of programs and classes with students from not only Iowa but also across the nation and around the world. Over his 40-plus years in the English department, Kostelnick has played an important role in countless students’ educational journeys and the excellence of the department, a role that he continues to play today.