Assistant Professor of English and Director of Outdoor Studies Mary Hussmann believes in learning about nature by getting out and into it. A former director of St. Lawrence's popular and acclaimed Adirondack Semester, Hussman received her MFA from the University of Iowa and specializes in creative nonfiction and nature and environmental writing. She teaches courses in creative nonfiction, nature and environmental writing, poetry-writing and American rivers.

A former editor of The Iowa Review, Hussmann's many publications include
American Nature Writing 2001: Anthology (Oregon State University Press, 2001), Women on the Verge: Anthology (Beacon, 1999), Homestretch: Anthology (Cleis Press, 1998), Echoes: Anthology (McGraw-Hill, 1996), Alaska: On My Mind: Anthology (Sasquatch, 1996),  and articles in The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, The North American Review and Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction.

Speaking of her experience as director of the Adirondack Semester, Hussmann says, "While it is very different from study abroad programs, the students are able to experience another culture – that of the natural world – by developing their own environmental ethics."

Hussmann says that, ideally, the co-curricular Outdoor Program, the Adirondack Semester and the academically based Outdoor Studies minor combine to "make St. Lawrence University attractive to students who want some kind of outdoor experience as a part of their education."