{"id":26,"date":"2026-02-19T21:16:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/?page_id=26"},"modified":"2026-03-03T18:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T18:39:15","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>\n@import url('https:\/\/fonts.googleapis.com\/css2?family=Playfair+Display:ital,wght@0,400;0,600;0,700;1,400&family=Cormorant+Garamond:ital,wght@0,300;0,400;0,600;1,300;1,400;1,600&family=Lora:ital,wght@0,400;0,500;1,400&display=swap');\n\n\/* \u2500\u2500 Reset & Base \u2500\u2500 *\/\n.dg-wrap * { box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0; }\n.dg-wrap {\n  font-family: 'Lora', Georgia, serif;\n  color: #2c2c2c;\n  background: #faf7f2;\n  max-width: 100%;\n}\n.dg-wrap a { color: inherit; text-decoration: none; }\n\n\n\/* \u2500\u2500 Site Header \u2500\u2500 *\/\n.site-header {\n  background: #1e4f4f;\n  padding: 1.1rem 2.5rem;\n  display: flex;\n  align-items: center;\n  justify-content: space-between;\n  flex-wrap: wrap;\n  gap: 0.75rem;\n}\n.site-name {\n  font-family: 'Playfair Display', Georgia, serif;\n  font-size: 1.25rem;\n  color: #faf7f2;\n  letter-spacing: 0.04em;\n  text-decoration: none;\n}\n.site-nav {\n  list-style: none;\n  display: flex;\n  gap: 1.8rem;\n  flex-wrap: wrap;\n}\n.site-nav a {\n  font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', Georgia, serif;\n  font-size: 0.8rem;\n  letter-spacing: 0.14em;\n  text-transform: uppercase;\n  color: #b8d4d4;\n  text-decoration: none;\n  transition: color 0.2s;\n}\n.site-nav a:hover { color: #c9a84c; 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}\n\n.dg-status {\n  font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', Georgia, serif;\n  font-style: italic;\n  color: #5a5a5a;\n  font-size: 0.9rem;\n  padding: 1rem 0;\n}\n\n\/* \u2500\u2500 CV Callout \u2500\u2500 *\/\n.cv-callout {\n  background: #1e4f4f;\n  padding: 3.5rem 2rem;\n  text-align: center;\n  margin: 2.5rem -2rem 0;\n}\n.cv-callout-inner { max-width: 580px; margin: 0 auto; }\n.cv-callout-label {\n  font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', Georgia, serif;\n  font-size: 0.72rem;\n  letter-spacing: 0.2em;\n  text-transform: uppercase;\n  color: #c9a84c;\n  margin-bottom: 0.85rem;\n}\n.cv-callout-heading {\n  font-family: 'Playfair Display', Georgia, serif;\n  font-size: 2rem;\n  color: #faf7f2;\n  margin-bottom: 0.9rem;\n  font-weight: 600;\n}\n.cv-callout-text {\n  font-family: 'Lora', Georgia, serif;\n  font-size: 0.92rem;\n  color: #b8d4d4;\n  line-height: 1.75;\n  margin-bottom: 1.75rem;\n}\n.cv-callout-link {\n  font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', Georgia, serif;\n  font-size: 0.78rem;\n  letter-spacing: 0.16em;\n  text-transform: uppercase;\n  color: #faf7f2;\n  text-decoration: none;\n  border: 1px solid #c9a84c;\n  padding: 0.65rem 1.8rem;\n  display: inline-block;\n  transition: background 0.2s, color 0.2s;\n}\n.cv-callout-link:hover { background: #c9a84c; color: #1e4f4f; }\n\n\/* \u2500\u2500 Footer \u2500\u2500 *\/\n.site-footer {\n  background: #1a1a1a;\n  padding: 1.75rem 2rem;\n  text-align: center;\n}\n.site-footer p {\n  font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', Georgia, serif;\n  font-size: 0.8rem;\n  letter-spacing: 0.08em;\n  color: #888;\n  line-height: 1.9;\n}\n.site-footer a { color: #c9a84c; }\n<\/style>\n\n<div class=\"dg-wrap\">\n\n<header class=\"site-header\">\n  <nav>\n    <ul class=\"site-nav\">\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\">Home<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/writing\/\">Writing<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/art\/\">Art<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/reading\/\">Reading<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/photographs\/\">Photographs<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/about\/\">About<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/contact\/\">Contact<\/a><\/li>\n      <li><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/cv\/\">CV<\/a><\/li>\n    <\/ul>\n  <\/nav>\n<\/header>\n\n<section class=\"hero\">\n  <p class=\"hero-greeting\">Ni sa bula vinaka<\/p>\n  <h1 class=\"hero-name\">Donna A. Gessell, PhD<\/h1>\n  <p class=\"hero-title\">Professor Emerita of English &nbsp;\u00b7&nbsp; University of North Georgia<\/p>\n  <p class=\"hero-intro\">Scholar, teacher, Peace Corps Volunteer, and writer \u2014 sharing a life spent in pursuit of language, literature, and the places books can take you.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n<div class=\"credentials-strip\">\n  <span class=\"credential\">PhD, Case Western Reserve University<\/span>\n  <span class=\"credential\">Professor Emerita, UNG<\/span>\n  <span class=\"credential\">Peace Corps \u00b7 Fiji 1979\u20131982<\/span>\n  <span class=\"credential\">UNG Teaching Award Recipient<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"page-body\">\n\n  <section class=\"bio-section\">\n    <div class=\"section-label\">About<\/div>\n    <h2 class=\"section-heading\">A Life Shaped by Words<\/h2>\n    <p>Donna A. Gessell is Professor Emerita of English at the University of North Georgia, where she spent more than three decades teaching literature, linguistics, and the art of writing. She holds a doctorate in English Literature from Case Western Reserve University and served as Director of Graduate Studies at UNG.<\/p>\n    <p>Her academic passions are wide-ranging and deeply held \u2014 from the epic poetry of John Milton to the grammar of everyday speech, from the rhetoric of sacred texts to the vision of peace across Eastern and Western cultures. Students who took her courses often describe her as the professor who gave them a genuine love for literature they never expected to find.<\/p>\n    <p>Before her academic career took shape, Donna served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Fiji from 1979 to 1982, living and working in the remote mountain village of Naqelewai and training women community leaders across the Pacific. That experience \u2014 and the primary school library she helped build there \u2014 became the defining story of her life outside the classroom.<\/p>\n  <\/section>\n\n  <div class=\"highlights-grid\">\n    <div class=\"highlight-card\">\n      <span class=\"card-icon\">\ud83d\udcd6<\/span>\n      <h3>Milton &amp; Renaissance Literature<\/h3>\n      <p>For decades, Donna introduced students to John Milton&#8217;s epic vision \u2014 and many left her class with a love for <em>Paradise Lost<\/em> they never saw coming.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"highlight-card\">\n      <span class=\"card-icon\">\ud83c\udf0f<\/span>\n      <h3>Peace Corps \u00b7 Fiji<\/h3>\n      <p>Three years in Naqelewai, working across five villages. Her essay <em>Living by the Book<\/em> has reached strangers around the world and was featured on PeaceCorps.gov.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"highlight-card\">\n      <span class=\"card-icon\">\u2726<\/span>\n      <h3>Linguistics &amp; Grammar<\/h3>\n      <p>From Standard English Grammar to Applied Linguistics at the graduate level \u2014 she made a notoriously difficult subject feel human and accessible.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"highlight-card\">\n      <span class=\"card-icon\">\u262e<\/span>\n      <h3>Literature of Peace<\/h3>\n      <p>Her signature course, <em>Peace in Global Cultures<\/em>, wove together Eastern and Western visions of peace through literature, philosophy, and lived experience.<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <section class=\"teaching-section\">\n    <div class=\"section-label\">Teaching<\/div>\n    <h2 class=\"section-heading\">Courses Taught at UNG<\/h2>\n    <div class=\"course-list\">\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Milton<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Standard English Grammar<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Introduction to English Linguistics<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Advanced English Grammar<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">The Short Story<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Rhetoric of the Bible<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Peace in Global Cultures<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Vision of Peace: East &amp; West<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Teaching English<\/span>\n      <span class=\"course-item\">Applied English Grammar (Graduate)<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/section>\n\n  <div class=\"fiji-quote\">\n    <blockquote><p>&#8220;Of all the academic work I&#8217;ve done, this piece \u2014 which is somewhat nonacademic \u2014 has been what&#8217;s gotten the most notice. I get emails all the time from total strangers.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n    <cite>\u2014 Donna Gessell, on her essay <em>Living by the Book<\/em><\/cite>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <!-- \u2500\u2500 Dynamic Writing Feed \u2500\u2500 -->\n  <section class=\"writings-section\">\n    <div class=\"section-label\">Writing<\/div>\n    <h2 class=\"section-heading\">From the Page<\/h2>\n    <div id=\"dg-feed-container\">\n      <p class=\"dg-status\">Loading\u2026<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/writing\/\" class=\"dg-all-link\">All Writing \u2192<\/a>\n  <\/section>\n\n  <section class=\"cv-callout\">\n    <div class=\"cv-callout-inner\">\n      <p class=\"cv-callout-label\">Curriculum Vitae<\/p>\n      <h2 class=\"cv-callout-heading\">Four Decades in Letters<\/h2>\n      <p class=\"cv-callout-text\">Teaching, scholarship, service, and community \u2014 a full accounting of a life&#8217;s work in language and literature.<\/p>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\/index.php\/cv\/\" class=\"cv-callout-link\">View Full CV \u2192<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n  <\/section>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<footer class=\"site-footer\">\n  <p>Ni sa bula vinaka &nbsp;\u00b7&nbsp; Wishing you good health and life<\/p>\n  <p><a href=\"https:\/\/donnagessell.com\">donnagessell.com<\/a> &nbsp;\u00b7&nbsp; Professor Emerita, University of North Georgia<\/p>\n<\/footer>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<script>\n(function() {\n  var container = document.getElementById('dg-feed-container');\n  if (!container) return;\n\n  Promise.all([\n    fetch('\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?slug=personal').then(function(r){ return r.json(); }),\n    fetch('\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?slug=professional').then(function(r){ return r.json(); })\n  ])\n  .then(function(results) {\n    var personalId     = results[0].length ? results[0][0].id : null;\n    var professionalId = results[1].length ? results[1][0].id : null;\n\n    if (!personalId && !professionalId) {\n      container.innerHTML = '<p class=\"dg-status\">No writing categories found. 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