English Department Teacher of the Year: Travis Franks

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Travis Franks, 2025-26 English Department Teacher of the Year!

Travis specializes in Native American and Global Indigenous Literature and has already taught nine distinct courses in just seven semesters at USU, all of which continually receive high scores in course evaluations and remain popular among students. Colleagues who have visited his classroom have praised it similarly; Travis approaches all his courses with openness, respect, and intellectual exploration.

“Travis’ outstanding teaching record includes classroom instruction and mentorship at the Logan and Blanding campuses. Many of his undergraduate courses, including Introduction to American Studies, Native American Studies, and Native American Literature, have improved the English Department's curriculum by making Indigenous literature and cultural studies more visible and accessible to students,” English Department Head Brian McCuskey shares. “His undergraduate and graduate courses on Indigenous Australian literature have similarly given our students an invaluable global perspective.” 

One example of Travis’ commitment to his students and the integrity of his course material is when he received a Teaching Innovations Grant from the Center for Intersectional Gender Studies and Research at USU. This grant was used to purchase a short story collection, The Missing Morningstar by local Diné writer and USU alumna Stacie Denetsosie, which he then provided for all his students. He also invited Stacie to talk about her work in person, as he has done with other Indigenous speakers, such as Standing Rock Dakota filmmaker John Little, Diné poet Bojan Louis, and former Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation chairman Darren Parry. Travis deeply cares about promoting responsible engagement with Indigenous scholarship, and the work he does to provide access to well-rounded and diverse perspectives within this scholarship shows this dedication. 

Travis’ contributions to the department go beyond the undergraduate level, where he served as the English Department Honors Advisor for two years and served on many capstone project committees. With graduate students, Travis focuses on engaging with research; one of the students he mentored won the American Association of Australasian Literary Studies’ 2024 Wertheim Prize for best graduate student presentation, and another is co-authoring an article with Travis where they are examining Australian novelist Kate Grenville’s The Secret River. 

“Travis excels in student mentorship. His skilled work in the undergraduate classroom and his role as a creative, active, and highly engaged faculty mentor for graduate students qualify him for the department’s teaching award,” Brian says.