Jeff Ludwig
Writing Lecturer, Literature PhD

Where did you get your undergraduate degree? What was your major? Where did you get your Masters and PhD and what was it in?

B.A. from St. Cloud State University (now the University of Minnesota at St. Cloud) in St. Cloud, MN
Double Major in English and American Studies

M.A. St. Cloud State University in English with a focus on early 20th century American Literature

PhD: Illinois State University in English Studies; my dissertation considered the ontological construction of modernist identity in 20s and 30s American literature.

Why did you choose DU?
For professional and academic reasons, the opportunity to create a new program to service the writing and learning needs of such a prestigious university was just too much to pass up. For personal reasons, Denver seemed like an excellent place for my wife and I to start our married life together; for both of us, the mountains are an amazingly strong draw.

Describe what your writing process is like:
Actually, my writing process is a lot like funneling a lot of ideas into one spot, one space, and then adding enough pressure to it so that something happens. Thats kind of what both the big picture of a project I undertake is like and also what happens when I get to the smaller parts of the project. Whether its a philosophical debate Im entering and I just dont know how, or if Im searching for the right words to make a strong point, often I funnel the ideas and continue to hone them. At times I discover in honing in on ideas, research, etc. that Im truly able to learn alongside myself. Moments like those are the ones I really like to share with my students, and while my process is certainly not the most efficient one, its all I have right now.

What do you enjoy most about writing?
Theres a moment I dread and enjoy most, which happens simultaneously: its the one where Ive been putting things off so long that I dread sitting down to write; writing feels almost foreign at that point. But when the writing happens, gets going, and Ive found that 4 hours and almost 10 pages have passed, next comes the moment I enjoy the most. My back hurts, my fingers ache, and my heads tired; I know I have to get home or onto other things, but I also know I want to get back to it. Thats the best.

Briefly, how would you describe your teaching philosophy?
Roughly speaking, Im a problem-posing teacher who values students investment in not being a passive consumer of language and text, but who are active and critically connected to texts and learning. In my experience, such an assumption confronts student resistance and passive acceptance of ideology, creating instead productive and interactive moments of learning that moves into dialogue and critical literacy, and I often try and learn from student resistance as a way of thinking through learning, literacy, and engagement.

What drew you to become a writing teacher?
I guess Ive always been drawn to the classroom, but what drew me to become invested in teaching writing was its emphasis on teaching in the first place. Writing teachers have always been the best teachers Ive ever had: the ones most conversant, the ones with the best answers, the ones that helped me learn the most, and the ones most interested in students. I was drawn to it as a teacher. Its that excellence in teaching and being informed about pedagogy that keeps me devoted to the writing class.

What do you enjoy most about teaching writing?
Broadly speaking, as a teacher I always enjoy the moments when something Ive been pushing students to understand seem to click, to make sense. But the kinds of moments I most enjoy about teaching, the moments I find the most energizing is when the class is conducting itself, when the work Ive done to make writing and learning conducive to itself pays off, and the students are in charge of directing the class without even realizing that theyre learning. Outside of the classroom itself, what I enjoy most about teaching is considering new approaches to writing instruction, asking questions about how students writing with colleagues, and formulating the next teaching moment.

What are your hobbies and outside interests, or, as Doug puts it, guilty pleasures?
In the winter I love to ski; in the summer its golfing; and in between its reading, playing poker with friends, and keeping up with Harry Potter, Scrubs, and some of my favorite bands.  I range all over the place, from Social Distortion to The Decemberists, and from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Cake to Tool.

Sorry, no Guitar Hero for me...I will admit to being a) a little obsessed with hockey, and b) being EXTREMELY excited for baseball season.

Name an unusual or little-known fact about yourself.
Im a bit of a shark at darts, particularly Cricket.

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