Ken Donelson and Alleen Nilsen, professors
of English at Arizona State University,
became friends and colleagues before they
met each other. They both earned their Ph.D.
degrees at the University of Iowa from G.
Robert Carlsen, a pioneer in the field of
young adult literature. Ken was Carlsen’s first
Ph.D. student, with Alleen coming along a
decade later. When Alleen and her husband
moved to Arizona State in 1973, one of the
first people she visited was Ken because Professor
Carlsen had talked about him in class
and had recruited Alleen as a writer for the
Arizona English Bulletin, which Ken was
editing