Primarily focused on women’s and gender history, Blessings uses novels, historical accounts and films about vampires in both her classes and research.  As a 2006-2007 University Professor, she chose to teach the class, “Vampires in Myth and History.”

Her current research, focusing on the sleep rituals of nineteenth century children, also uses material about vampires.  Though the subjects may seem unrelated, she said vampire tales and fairy tales tie into the fear that parents felt about their children’s sleeping patterns. 

Blessing’s students play a big role in her academic life both inside and outside the classroom.  Her students read her research and tell her what they think of the progress. 

"My students strongly influence me," said Blessing. "What they think often determines what I change in my book."

She encourages all her students to attend office hours, because she says that a one-on-one conversation engages a student in a whole new way and teaches them about academic life.

"You get a better sense of what professors do," said Blessing.  "Students can learn more about the organization [of the university] and feel more comfortable in it."

She is the "unofficial advisor" to more than 100 students, and spends a lot of time with students outside of class in an informal setting.  A competitive biker and runner, Blessing sometimes competes alongside her students.   

Blessing’s students support her work as she supports theirs. 

"When my book came out, my students were so proud of me.  They are aware of how long the research process takes," said Blessing. "They surprised me with a cake to celebrate."

To Blessing, good faculty-student relationships are important not only while in an undergraduate program but an academic career.

"The work of a professor doesn’t end when you earn your bachelor’s degree," explained Blessing. "I still communicate with my academic advisor around two decades later as a senior member of my field."

Though her research is primarily in history, she brings elements of her other disciplines, women’s studies and foreign language into all her classrooms.  By overlapping subjects, Blessing says she is providing students with a broader base of knowledge.

"Knowledge is like a pie, and the pieces overlap," said Blessing. "The same knowledge base can help you learn and cross into other disciplines."

She helps students interested in foreign language find ways to incorporate that knowledge base into history.  As a historian, she says it is important to understand many languages because often historical documents are often in the country’s native language. Blessing is fluent in Italian, German, and French, and has a reading knowledge of several other languages.

A foreign exchange student during high school, she spends each summer at Concordia Language Villages, an intensive language and cultural immersion program for 17-and-18-year-olds.  Blessing is the Italian director of the program, and says she enjoys the program because it makes the students see "how big the world is, yet how small it is at the same time."

"They learn about family history, immigration, and see how they’ve become who they are," said Blessing. "They also see what they can do with language and history outside the program."

Blessing says that no matter what field students decide to pursue, history courses can help them better understand any topic.

"It is impossible to understand a modern issue without doing research about the past," said Blessing. "It is important to ask ‘Where have we been, and did it work?'"