Congratulations!
Bidding farewell to a cherished colleague is never easy, and this past spring semester the English department had to say goodbye to two standout literature faculty as they retired from Colorado State University, Professor Leif Sorensen and Associate Professor Paul Trembath.
Thank you both for all you’ve done for the English department! We’ll miss you and wish you the very best on your forthcoming adventures. Learn more about Sorensen’s and Trembath’s respective careers and impactful contributions to CSU, below.
Leif Sorensen
After 16 years of teaching, literary scholarship, and dedicated service to the English department, Professor Leif Sorensen has retired from Colorado State University.
A specialist in twentieth and twenty-first century multi-ethnic American literatures, Dr. Sorensen taught a range of courses in ethnic American literatures, popular genres, and transnational writing and was known and loved by his students for his care and humor.
Throughout his career, Sorensen’s research and engaged scholarship on modernist studies was published widely. His book, Ethnic Modernism and the Making of US Literary Multiculturalism was published by Palgrave in 2016.
An excellent teacher and mentor to students and colleagues alike, Sorensen was committed to growing and shaping our undergraduate and graduate curriculums through developing new courses, programs, and serving on too many committees to count! He was awarded multiple College of Liberal Arts, including a CLA Faculty Development Award in 2016 and a CLA Excellence in Teaching Award in 2013.
Interim Chair Dan Beachy-Quick praised Sorensen’s dedication to student success.
“I’ve admired Leif since he arrived at CSU, not only for his abundant care for his students, but also how that care so often translated to innovative ideas for larger curricular efforts. He always had a remarkable capacity for centering student cares, and his ideas, and his example, proved among the key influences on the new shape of the English major forthcoming in Fall 2025. Though I’ll be sad to miss our hallway chats, I trust his next step will benefit from the very generosity he always demonstrated here.”
Congrats, Leif!
Paul Trembath
A specialist in contemporary critical theory, Associate Professor Paul Trembath has retired after 30 (!) years in the English department at Colorado State University.
Once he earned a Ph.D. in English and Critical Theory from the University of Virginia, Trembath joined CSU where he taught literary and critical theory, English and comparative literature, and interdisciplinary humanities. A contributing editor of Postmodern Culture, he is particularly interested in critical discussions that address ways of rethinking aesthetics, textuality, and sense.
His essays and reviews have appeared in many venues, including The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Postmodern Culture, Minnesota Review, Strategies, The International Journal of Educational Reform, Philosophy and Literature, and other academic journals.
“So many of my own MFA advisees would gush to me about Paul’s mind, intelligence, and kindness to their own work, that I began to feel a little bit as if I myself was one of his students,” shared Beachy-Quick.
“One of the sincere pleasures my year as Interim Chair has brought were regular conversations with Paul about his work, large projects long underway, and coming to fruition. He shared drafts with me throughout the year, pointing out the pages I should read, and though I’m far from the expert he is, we share common interests, and talk through the work of thinkers and writers for whom we both care. I’ll miss the immediate gratification of our chats, but am happy knowing more time is opening for him to be at work on the pages he’s labored lovingly at all these many years.”
Congrats, Paul!