Brenda Paulsen began adjunct teaching at the University of Sioux Falls upon completion of her M.A. degree in English from the University of South Dakota in 2003. She teaches primarily first-year writing research, but she has also proposed and taught an interim travel course and introduction to puppetry. Paulsen received the University of Sioux Falls Part-Time Faculty of Excellence Award in Spring 2005.
Paulsen completed her coursework for the Ed.D. degree in Education Administration Adult and Higher Education from the University of South Dakota in Fall 2016. Her study emphasis is faculty and faith development with results particularizing the importance of relationships between and among faculty and staff, administration, and particularly students.
Paulsen is married to Thane Paulsen, and they have two grown daughters. When not in the classroom, Paulsen is sailing with her husband on their sailboat "Asylum" and crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the Rock of Gibralter to St. Lucia in the Caribbean in the Fall of 2014. However, as part-time cruisers, they live by the adage that "plans are written in the sand at low tide." Paulsen enjoys reading historical fiction, traveling and learning from and with her students.