Professional Title
College and Advanced Writing Program Administrator, Instructor
Avesa Rockwell has been teaching at UMD since 2006. As an Instructor of College and Advanced Writing, Avesa invites students to identify and research problems that affect their academic, professional, and/or personal discourse communities, to locate and evaluate information, and to construct arguments that address those who can enact or advocate for solutions. In Spring 2024, she won the Teaching Award for Term Faculty in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
As Writing Program Administrator, Avesa oversees the scheduling, professional development, and assessment of teaching and learning in the College Writing and Advanced Writing courses. In Spring 2023, she and her team won the Excellence in Assessment Award for Stakeholder Involvement from UMD's Academic Affairs. In Spring 2024, she won the for Excellence in Academic Unit Service for her leadership role(s) from the UM Provost's Office.
As a writer of essays and poetry, she has published pieces in Minnesota English Journal, Survive and Thrive, LakeTime Magazine, Freshwater Review, Gone Lawn, Talking Stick, and Perfect Duluth Day.
Avesa currently serves as an arts evaluator for the Minnesota Arts Board, and has served as judge for the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards and Lake Superior Writers Annual Contest. She also produces long-distance bicycle races in the Northland with her family’s company, Heck of the North Productions.
As Writing Program Administrator, Avesa oversees the scheduling, professional development, and assessment of teaching and learning in the College Writing and Advanced Writing courses. In Spring 2023, she and her team won the Excellence in Assessment Award for Stakeholder Involvement from UMD's Academic Affairs. In Spring 2024, she won the for Excellence in Academic Unit Service for her leadership role(s) from the UM Provost's Office.
As a writer of essays and poetry, she has published pieces in Minnesota English Journal, Survive and Thrive, LakeTime Magazine, Freshwater Review, Gone Lawn, Talking Stick, and Perfect Duluth Day.
Avesa currently serves as an arts evaluator for the Minnesota Arts Board, and has served as judge for the Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards and Lake Superior Writers Annual Contest. She also produces long-distance bicycle races in the Northland with her family’s company, Heck of the North Productions.
Education
MA, English Studies, University of Minnesota Duluth, 2006

BA, Economics and Community Development, The Evergreen State College, 1994
Courses Taught
WRIT 1120: College Writing
WRIT 1017: The Rhetoric of Popular Culture
WRIT 3110: Advanced Writing: Arts and Letters
WRIT 3121: Advanced Writing: Businesses and Organizations
WRIT 3150: Advanced Writing: Sciences
WRIT 3160: Advanced Writing: Social Sciences