The University is home to the annual Writers Conference, which for 25 years has hosted authors such as Tr uman Capote, Norman Mailer, Tom Wolfe, Alice Walker, Lois Phillips Hudson, Larry Woiwode, Larry McMurtry, N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich, and more. Faculty and graduate students in the Center for Teaching and Learning continually evaluate new instructional materials and methods. Scholars study and write about Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Ernest Hemingway, women settlers, films, teaching, and much more. The University is home to one of only 30 brickcarvers in the United States, as well as the largest group of working artists between Minneapolis and Seattle.
Artists create sculpture, paintings, jewelry, music, and plays.
Members of the music faculty are active in composition, the performance of new music, and finding and playing ancient manuscripts. The Music Department s multimedia instructional technology allows professors to teach music by computer. This new technology has received national recognition, and with the addition of CD ROM technology, music faculty have become national leaders in developing interactive materials for historical and theoretical study. The foundry in UND's Hughes Fine Arts Center is one of the finest metal-casting facilities in the Upper Midwest. UND has offered teacher education programs since its founding in 1883.