Dr. Linda Krug began serving as Dean for the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1998. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Dean Krug earned her Ph.D. in Social-Political Language from the Department of Speech & Dramatic Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1987, and her B.A. and M.A. in Speech Communication from Miami University in 1980 and 1981.

Her areas of interest include political communication, gender communication, and leadership. Over the years, various research projects have focused on speeches and addresses by Ronald Reagan, Eugene Debs, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, and all of the presidents associated with the US space program. In 1991 she published “Presidential Perspectives on Space Exploration: Guiding Metaphors from Eisenhower to Bush,” and in 2002 she updated her analysis in a book chapter called, “Presidents and Space.” Most recently Krug has been collecting articles and other information on the younger Bush’s call for a renewed US effort to go to the moon and to Mars.

Krug is a vocal advocate of the liberal arts. In her view, what the liberal arts provide – an understanding of the roots and rise of civilization and modern civic life tempered with practical skills in reasoning, speaking, writing, and thinking – is precisely what is needed for anyone to succeed in today’s multicultural and global world. She is fond of saying “Liberal Arts students are ‘the best of the best’,” and argues that a solid grounding in the liberal arts is important for everyone, regardless of their major.

When Dean Krug is not at work, you’ll likely find her outside on the golf course or the ski slope or the bike trail or the hiking trail or . . . .