Berntsen, Michael Joseph

Michael Joseph Berntsen, PhD, is noted for his well-developed comedic sensibility and his intelligence in deploying it. Forthright and honest, he is held in high regard by his many friends Michael was born 29 November 1980, the younger son of his parents. He graduated from Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, before working as a lab technicial and manager in a laboratory working on flu vaccines. Beginning in August 2005, he attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL), earning a Master of Arts degree in English in 2007. In February 2012, he successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, Adapting a Tital: Paradise Lost and Its Legacy within Popular Media, a primarily creative piece treating Milton's most recognized work. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English was formally conferred in a ceremony at the UL Cajundome on 12 May 2012.

While at UL, Michael earned a reputation for incisive wit and boundless, if odd and often acerbic, good humor. His papers almost uniformly included humorous elements, whether in their titles or in their content. His humor was especially evident as he repeatedly presented at, and later hosted, the Department of English Thursday Night Reading Series; as host, he prepared and with the aid of others presented a series of sketched, "The Time Crimes of Bartholomew Applecot."

Michael had honed his humor in New Jersey, where he performed at poetry readings, on the radio, and in a marathon under the stage-name Citizen Arson. When he moved to Louisiana for graduate school, he did not retire the persona, but continued to produce original works and music videos that attracted a small but significant following online. He also co-created an online persona, O.J. Bear, working with his brother, Robert Berntsen, in doing so. Like Citizen Arson, O.J. Bear enjoyed a small but significant online following.

Early in his course of study at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette that Michael met Geoffrey Bryce Elliott and Sonya Priscilla (Jaramillo) Elliott. Through a series of common courses and outside work, the three grew to be close friends. Michael assisted Sonya when she moved to the Northeast to pursue a doctoral degree in linguistics. He employed Geoffrey extensively in his creative works, including the "Time Crimes" and several class projects (including a short zombie film and a radio-show-style adaptation of the first two books of Milton's Paradise Lost). He also accompanied and was accompanied by Geoffrey on trips to conferences across the country and, on one occasion, a hurricane evacuation. Their friendship was such that he was asked by Geoffrey to be his groomsman at his wedding to Sonya.

Michael's association with Geoffrey also had a more sober, professional component. In addition to their joint conference work, they worked together in the Lambda Zeta chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society. Michael succeeded Geoffrey as president of the chapter, a position he held for two years. In addition, Michael was awarded the Robert and Bernice M. Webb Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching at the Advanced Level and the Florence Sanders Jones Award for Outstanding Graduate Student by the UL Department of English and starred in productions of plays written by UL English professor Dayana Stetco. He also drafted for a creative writing seminar in which he was enrolled the story that would later be published by the online literary magazine Untoward as "The First Man Who Killed."

Michael's studies at UL were funded by a graduate teaching assistantship, awarded initially for the terms of his master's study and afterward extended to four years of doctoral study. In addition to working as a tutor in the UL Department of English Writing Center and teaching a number of courses in composition, literature, and creative writing, he worked a number of other jobs in such places as an airplane factory, a temporary employment agency, and a theme part: New Jersey's Wild West City.

Following his receipt of the PhD, Michael took a position as a Lecturer in English and Theater at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He continued his various creative and scholarly works while in that position.