Professor Michael Burke

Michael Burke is a full professor of rhetoric at the Utrecht University/University College Roosevelt. This year he is also a Visiting Scholar in the Faculty of Education at our university. He is a former Honours Dean at Utrecht University (2016-2021) and a former Chair of the international ‘Poetics and Linguistics Association’ (PALA). He is also a Series Editor for the ‘Research Monographs in Linguistics (Rhetoric & Stylistics)’ series with Routledge. His research and teaching is fundamentally pedagogical in nature, focussing on the areas of rhetoric, stylistics, language, literacy, reading, citizenship, public speaking and persuasion. He has written numerous articles, chapters and books on these topics with various leading publishers. When working with students, he always seeks to be authentic, courageous, challenging and supportive. His pedagogical focus is on “empowering students to flourish” – and especially students from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. This he does via the soft, yet authoritative, skills of sound critical thinking and clear and effective speaking and writing.