Walking into Heather Lusty’s office in the Honors College is like entering a literary pop-culture museum. Surrounded by wall-to-wall posters, Star Trek memorabilia, and action figures of history’s greatest authors, the Honors-English professor meticulously marks up student essays to help them think bigger and write better.
While she has been taking and teaching classes at UNLV for some time, her new role as faculty-in-residence in the Honors College has given her fresh opportunities to instill a love of literature and culture in UNLV’s top students.
With an assortment of graduate degrees (and working on another one at the Boyd School of Law in the evenings), not to mention a long list of places she wants to visit, her life embodies the notion of “lifelong learning.”
Why UNLV?
I moved to Las Vegas in the summer of 1998 for grad school at UNLV; it was a random roll of the dice. I knew one person living here. But I had just hit my stride in grad school and loved campus life. After completing my M.A. in English, I jumped straight into my Ph.D. because I had also just started teaching English and ESL courses at UNLV.
After finishing my doctorate, I took a job at a local private school for four years, then I came back to UNLV. I had taught many Honors courses over the years, so when the opportunity to join the Honors faculty presented itself last year, I had to take it.
Where did you grow up?
I’m from Seattle originally, but went to high school in Milwaukee. I go back to both cities regularly, but I feel like Milwaukee is my home turf.
What’s the biggest misconception about your field?
People always think English = grammar and sentence diagramming, and usually have infelicitous flashbacks of middle school. The benefits of being able to articulate one’s needs clearly, though, and to understand and adapt to an audience, whether in writing, speaking, or some other creative output, is really important to one’s social communication skills in general.
Literature is also the best way to understand the world around us and understand other cultures and perspectives. Education is supposed to make us global citizens, and studying literature, society, and culture is a fundamental piece of that process.
What’s the biggest challenge in your field?
I think the liberal arts are undervalued — especially in political rhetoric. The heavy emphasis on STEM fields and “career” majors makes the college experience too much like high school. Everyone is working toward job placement, but education is about being well rounded and open-minded. I think people can forget that learning can be — and should be — fun.
Why law school right now?
I’d always thought about law school — probably because that’s the default suggestion when you always win arguments with people. But I finally applied to Boyd School of Law at the encouragement of the late Jim Rogers, who was very fond of saying, “Everybody should go to law school to learn how to think, but nobody should ever become a lawyer.” I’m really interested in intellectual property law, which is really expanding due to technology. Boyd has a great part-time evening program — so although the days have been brutally long this year, I love learning, I’ve got some great classmates there, and I’m having fun. Not sure what I’ll do with that knowledge yet!
Proudest moment in your life?
It’s hard to pick one particular moment because I’m always actively working my way through my bucket list. I am very proud of the work I did rescuing animals with the Humane Society for a few years. It helped me realize that I like dogs more than I like people — they are so much easier to figure out!
One tip for success?
Get organized — it’s 90 percent of the battle. When I’m not organized, I feel like I’m caught in an avalanche. Everything is magnified and seems to move faster. Being organized allows me to accomplish a lot of different things.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I’m super into gardening lately — growing all kinds of vegetables, trying to make my own salsa, growing sunflowers, herbs, and roses. I love being in my yard, drinking coffee and watching birds and bees visit all the plants.
What can’t you work without?
Music and coffee. I love listening to classic metal to set an energetic pace for essay grading: Sabbath, Maiden, Motörhead, Priest. I'm trying to expand my horizons this year, though (because all my favorite bands are doing farewell tours or dying off), by listening to some contemporary rock and metal from Europe, which is really a different scene from ours. My favorites right now are Lacuna Coil, Draconian, Ghost, and Apocalyptica.
Tell us about an object in your office that has significance for you.
It’s hard to pick just one . . . let’s go with my Star Trek lunchbox. I’m a huge Trekky. To me, the original Star Trek series represents the best and worst of humanity. The show had so many “firsts” for television — first multi-racial cast, female crew (with brains AND miniskirts), the first interracial kiss. You find everything from Greek mythology to genetic engineering to environmentalism. That show’s writers explored notions of tolerance (not always acceptance) for people from other cultures and faiths during a time in American history when these topics were largely taboo.
Who is your hero?
I don’t know that I have a hero, which is a little ironic given that I’m currently teaching an Honors seminar called The Superhero in Literature.
I’d say my “heroes” are my friends and colleagues, who inspire me in unique ways. It’s good to have friends who push you to compete in a friendly way, who will read drafts, listen to you vent, drop you off at the airport. I’ve got a lot of really good, supportive friends. They’re all amazing.
Oh, and of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
