Dr. Michael Lukas

I grew up along a small creek in rural Wisconsin, on the edge of The Northwoods--that great boreal forest that extends up through Canada. I teach, write, love the outdoors, and have held all kinds of jobs outside academia that I think contribute to my approach--from a fishing guide in Montana, to a nanny in the Alaskan bush.

I’ve been teaching at UVic since 2012, and the Univ. of Montana before that. I teach mainly academic and technical writing courses, but have taught advanced rhetoric, cultural studies and theory, poetry, literature, and early American letters. My research is in rhetoric and discourse analysis, particularly around environmental issues and human/non-human dimensions of wildlife management, and especially as it relates to wolves—the focus of my Ph.d and current book project.

I draw from my background in philosophy and political and cultural theory in my teaching, which means you might find me animatedly connecting Socratic dialogues with popular culture.  Above all, my classes are dialogue driven, even online, and I like to encourage students to draw from their own lives and interests. Indeed, I find the best essays, proposals, and articles are written when writers answer questions they're curious about.