Dr. Dorothy Lane is a Professor of English.  The daughter of an Icelandic-Canadian mother and British father, she grew up in Ottawa and received her BA in English from Carleton University in 1983. She then spent two years working in independent bookstores in the Ottawa area, before a chance encounter convinced her to return to Carleton to complete a Master's in English in 1987. Her MA thesis focused on CS Lewis's writings for adults and children. Declaring she would not return to university after graduation, she was employed as Program Coordinator with the Professional Development Institute, a local consulting firm. Again, in 1988 she was persuaded to return to academic work, and began a PhD at Queen's University, which she completed in 1992. Her specialization was Commonwealth/Postcolonial Literature, and her dissertation focused on the island as a location for texts that rewrite the canonical island narratives of Shakespeare, Defoe, and others. This work was revised and published by Peter Lang in 1995. During her doctoral program, she taught as a sessional lecturer at the Royal Military College, perhaps the most challenging teaching environment especially in the context of the first Gulf War in 1991. After completing her doctorate and teaching on full-time contract at the University of British Columbia, she found a permanent academic home at Luther College, University of Regina in 1993, where she has taught Canadian, Postcolonial, 20th-Century British, and most recently Children's Literature. Her position at Luther has also afforded her multiple opportunities to do archival work in Melbourne, Australia, and to attend conferences in Spain, Australia, and India. Most exciting was the opportunity to participate in the fledgling first-year interdisciplinary studies program at Luther from 1997 through 2002, and to lead a study-abroad program to India in 2000.

Dr. Lane's scholarship is broad and varied, always inspired by a love of language and a thirst for making connections. While the intersection of colonization and Christianity in Canada and Australia, and ideas of conversion in Indian texts, resulted in several articles, book chapters, and conference papers, her most recent research focuses on pilgrimage in contemporary travel writing. She has also published on CS Lewis's works and on pedagogical innovations such as study abroad and learning communities. She serves on the Executive of the Canadian Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, is actively involved as a copyeditor for the online journal, Postcolonial Text, and as a reviewer for Canadian Literature and Religious Studies Review. Dr. Lane is also active in service to the University community, most particularly serving as Grievance Chair for the Faculty Association, as negotiator on two Luther collective agreements, and as Chair of the Association from 2005-2008.

On the homefront, Dr. Lane is delighted to build her home in the province where her mother lived as a pastor's daughter during the Dirty Thirties; in 2005, she was proud to submit an archival entry by her mother for the Western Development Museum's centennial project. She carries these stories of ancestors on both sides deep in her bones. Dorothy's three sons--Owen, Adrian, and Gareth--are true prairie boys, though she and her partner, Noel Chevalier, also retain strong connections with the Ottawa Valley. Travel, reading, church activities, theatre, music, and regular dates with the YMCA are also key elements of her life.

For further information, see:

http://www.luthercollege.edu/university/dorothylane