Scavenger Hunt

Marcie Ponder, the secretary for the English and Modern Languages Department, was willing to give me a post-it note with a doodle drawn on it.

While in the English Department, Christina Triezenberg was willing to share the story of her academic success.

Professor Christina Triezenberg is an English Ph.D. and English and Modern Languages professor at Morningside College who has an impressive academic success story.

Triezenberg stated that she has always had a large curiosity for learning and that it continued all the way through her schooling. A Ph.D. education is plenty of work over many years, and hers was no different.

Her course towards a Ph.D. began rather late in her life. She was in her 40s when she first began to pursue her doctorate, mostly because there was no one to encourage her. There were many men in her family with Ph.D.s but no women to set an example.

She was still largely under the idea that men were able to pursue anything, but women were more tethered. She soon learned that female ambition was important and that it was acceptable to have, especially when she was finally surrounded by many female mentors.

Most of these were women who were either on the same track as Triezenberg or had crossed their own finish lines. This completely changed her view of women and higher education and she became the first woman in her family with a Ph.D.

She stated that achieving her Ph.D., even at an older age, gave her a “tremendous sense of accomplishment” that she has been able to pass to her daughter. Her Ph.D. has opened many possibilities, including her option to come teach at Morningside.

Triezenberg is originally from Detroit, Michigan but moved to Sioux City, Iowa when offered a tenure-track job in every aspect of her degree that she enjoyed.