Faculty

Roger Ochse

EdD

How I Might Be Able to Assist

For the past several years, I have focused my professional interest in online teaching and learning. Having a background as a tenured professor (now emeritus), director of an honors program, healthcare administrator, and founding CEO of a health services company, I am in a unique position to help emerging professionals to communicate effectively in the ever-changing business environment.

Communications are therefore first in my daily thinking and teaching as we confront new linguistic and technical challenges. Proficiency in English amounts to more than writing a good essay or memo; it demands a creative sense of developing in each person a secure understanding of language and culture.

Professional Projects or Initiatives of Interest

Roger Ochse (pronounced “oaks”) is an educator and consultant based in Tucson AZ.

He specializes in online teaching of composition and literature. His teaching experience includes 30 years as a college professor of English at Ripon College, University of Sioux Falls, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and Black Hills State University, where he is Professor and Director of Honors Program Emeritus.

In his earlier career, he served as health care administrator in New Jersey and Tennessee. He then founded the Walden Corporation, a healthcare services firm where he served as CEO for over ten years. Subsequently, he sold his interest in Walden and returned to college teaching.

Dr. Ochse is a Certified Online Instructor, a two-time winner of South Dakota Regents E-Learning Excellence Award, and a trainer certified by the Institute of Critical Thinking. He also received an Institute Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities to study Shakespeare at the American Shakespeare Theater in Staunton VA and Shakespeare’s Globe in London, England.

Background

Education

Ed.D. in Adult Ed/English Univ. of South Dakota
Master of Arts in English Univ. of Rochester
Bachelor of Arts Dickinson College with Honors in English

Certificates & Professional Accreditation

Certified Online Instructor LERN Institute for Critical Thinking

Honors and Rewards

South Dakota Regents Award for E-Learning Excellence; National Endowment for the Humanities Institute Award; South Dakota Governor’s Award for Teaching with Technology; Fellow, American College of Health Care Administrators.

Courses Taught at CCG

ENG201 English Composition II
COM201 Business Communication
COM301 Organizational Communication
ENG305 American Literature
ENG405 British Literature

Professional Experience

2007 - Present PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF HONORS PROGRAM EMERITUS, Black Hills State University
2003 - 2007 TRAVELING CONSULTANT, Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching and Learning.
1993 - 2007 PROFESSOR OF HUMANITIES, Black Hills State University
1989 - 1993 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
1979 - 1989 PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, The Walden Corporation. Founded and directed operations of a health services firm.
1978 1979 VICE PRESIDENT, Health Futures Investment Corporation. Supervised development of healthcare facilities.
1975 1978 PRESIDENT AND ADMINISRATOR, Alexian Village of Tennessee. Directed operations of skilled, intermediate, and assisted living facilities.
1972 1975,. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, House of the Good Shepherd. Served as administrative intern; supervised dietary and activities departments.
1970 - 1972 ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, University of Sioux Falls
1967 - 1970 INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH, Ripon College

Publications and Lectures

Ochse, R., “From Alienation to a New Vision: Using Class Letters to Transform English 101,” Journal of Teaching Writing, 2001.

Ochse, R., “An Analysis of the Student Journal as a Tool for Identifying and Resolving Writing Problems of Adult and Higher Education Students,” EdD dissertation, University of South Dakota, 1993.

Numerous publications in English Leadership Quarterly, California English, and ERIC.

Several papers presented at national and international conferences, including NCTE, CCCC, Shakespeare Association, and International Conference on Critical Thinking and Educational Reform.

“Critical Thinking” and “Beyond Critical Thinking: Holistic Learning. Cochise College, three workshops, 2008-2011.

“Stimulating Student Learning through Critical Thinking” and “Critical Thinking and Technology,” a series of 39 workshops for faculty at colleges and universities throughout the United States, sponsored by the Collaboration for the Advancement of College Teaching and Learning, 2003-2007.

“Critical Thinking and Technology” with Michael Day. Critical Thinking Online Conference, 2005.

Roger Ochse, The Civic Literature of Walt Whitman (Chiesman Foundation, Rapid City, SD, 2004). Cited in the Walt Whitman Archive Online and used at Yale University as a text.

Roger Ochse, “Digital Shakespeare: Integrating Texts and Technology,” in For All Time: Critical Issues in Teaching Shakespeare (Adelaide, Australia: Australian Association of Teachers of English, 2002).

Roger Ochse, Walt Whitman: A Study in American Democratic Thought (Chiesman Foundation, Rapid City SD, 2001).