Michael Austin

Michael Austin (born 1966) is a university administrator, author, and critic of Mormon literature. His world literary survey textbook, Reading the World: Ideas that Matter, is a bestseller. In 2022, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Snow College. After studying for his bachelor's and master's degrees from Brigham Young University, he earned a PhD in English literature from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1997. He started his career as a university administrator at Shepherd University, where he was the dean of graduate studies. He worked as the provost and vice president of academic affairs at Newman University. In his academic books, he often combines cognitive science with literary analysis. Two of his academic books examine political topics. Austin's works also frequently address Mormon literature. Austin's first academic publication, "The Function of Mormon Literary Criticism at the Present Time," argued for an expansive definition of Mormon literature and encouraged Mormon academics to create uniquely Mormon criticism of it. He has co-edited multiple books promoting the history of Mormon literature. He has been on the board of directors for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and he is the director of BCC Press. His books about Mormon literature and thought have won awards for religious non-fiction and for criticism from the Association for Mormon Letters. Early life and education Austin was born in Provo, Utah, in 1966. Austin started studying at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1984. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in the California Fresno mission, Spanish-speaking 1985–1987. In 1987, he received third place in a New Era writing contest for his article "With All Thy Heart," and an honorable mention for fiction. He returned to BYU to receive his Bachelor's (1990) and Master's (1992) degrees in English. He studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara for a PhD in English literature starting in 1992 and received his degree in 1997.