Graphic illustrator to present creative teaching tools at Northern

Montana State University-Northern’s Extended University will feature a presentation by a Flathead County illustrator and graphic novel author who will focus on alternative and creative teaching tools educators can teach with.

Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, who has written two historical graphic novels, will be presenting in Hensler Auditorium in Northern’s Applied Technology Center Wednesday at 6 p.m. and the public is invited.

Fetter-Vorm’s presentation is part of the Alt-Text Festival. The purpose of the festival, a press release for the event says, “is to promote the use of diverse media in teaching and learning at MSU-Northern.”

Lindsey Brandt-Bennett, who works at Northern and, together with her husband, Northern Alumni Foundation Executive Director Jim Bennett, had reached out to Fetter-Vorn to give a presentation. She said the educators would especially benefit if they attended the presentation.

“Instructors are highly encouraged to attend and get some ideas how to incorporate different media for learning,” Brandt-Bennett said Monday.

Brandt-Bennett said this is an attempt to get educators to go beyond the standard lecture-reading assignments and think about implementing media such as video and illustration, among others, to teach students.

Fetter-Vorm’s biography on his website says he was born and raised in Montana. He received his Bachelor of Arts in history from Stanford University and Master of Fine Arts in writing from Columbia University.

His first book, “Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb” was selected by the American Library Association as a Best Graphic Novel for Teens in 2013. His “Battle Lines: A Graphic History of the Civil War,” co-authored with historian Ari Kelman, was published in May 2015.

Fetter-Vorm’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Slate and Guernica.

He lives with his wife in Montana.