By Katelynn Rise

Staff Writer

Energetic, loud, passionate and witty – these are all of the characteristics a student dreams of having in their ideal professor. Luckily, CSUSM has a professor just like that on its campus, and her name is Dr. Heidi Breuer.

Professor Breuer has been at CSUSM for eight years and loves that the CSU school system makes education accessible for anyone that wants to receive a higher level of education.

“I was committed to the idea of open access education, if you want to [get an education] you should have a chance, and I wanted to be at the more access-friendly school,” Breuer said.

Breuer’s encouraging attitude towards education is also shown through her passionate lectures in her classes. Her enthusiastic voice can be heard from Markstein’s hallways as students pass by her lecture room on their way to class, and students often peer through the door’s window wondering what class this boisterous professor is teaching. Luckily for all of these peeping students, Professor Breuer teaches a wide variety of classes covering medieval literature, Game of Thrones and even a class about witches, zombies and vampires.

“I especially like to teach courses that focus on pop culture… especially pop culture fantasy, horror and sci-fi. Those are my genres, baby!” Breuer said.

Professor Breuer mainly teaches classes for upper division students in the Literature and Writing major. One of these classes is LTWR 340: “The Monstrous, the Grotesque, and the Occult.” For those students that like to solve and explain the phenomenon in our world, this class may be for you. Even if you are not majoring in Literature and Writing you can take this class to fulfill your upper division general education course in Arts and Humanities (CC).

For any students who are taking lower division classes, she teaches LTWR 206: “Fantastic Journeys and Other Worlds,” which focuses on fantasy literature, Professor Breuer’s favorite genre. For everyone out there that is a Game of Thrones addict, you may want to consider taking this class. Breuer teaches about this pop culture text in LTWR 206 and focuses on how it is important and relevant to our culture today.

So, whether you are interested in fantasy, taking GE classes or need a couple extra units for graduation, I recommend taking one of these classes with Dr. Breuer. Her eagerness to teach her students and see them succeed is one of her greatest joys, and she is always willing to help. She makes class time go by fast with her loud and entertaining lectures, and always knows how to bring out every ounce of potential in a student’s desire to learn.