Sarah B. Rude, Ph.D., M.A.

Biography 

Dr. Sarah Rude is an associate professor of English and journalism whose teaching and research focus on medieval literature, especially the Arthurian tradition. She loves exploring literature with students as a way of encountering lives and values that can be surprisingly different from our own — and just as surprisingly familiar. Her favorite courses range widely across literary history, including Arthurian Literature, Shakespeare, World Literature I, Literature of Epidemics and AI Literature and Literacy.

Rude’s classrooms emphasize active and experiential learning alongside discussion and analysis. Depending on the day, students might practice the Old English alphabet with quills and ink, stage a Shakespeare scene to enhance discussion or revise AI prompts to experiment with computer-generated poetry. She also loves taking learning beyond the classroom through study-away courses. She co-leads a January Interim (J-Term) course on medieval medicine in Germany and Italy every other year, and she is planning a spring-break trip to King Arthur sites in England for spring 2028. In 2025, she was honored to receive Augustana’s Vernon and Mildred Niebuhr Faculty Excellence Award.

Rude's current research examines the representation of the senses, especially vision and emotions such as joy and nostalgia in Sir Thomas Malory’s late medieval Le Morte Darthur.

Outside the classroom, Rude enjoys gardening, running half-marathons and baking. In 2026, her macarons won best in show at the Sioux Empire Fair.