Frances Laskey

When Frances Laskey first started attending the Dickens Universe in 2006, she was the HR director and IT manager for a small social policy research firm in Oakland, CA. The Universe proved a life-changing event. It inspired Frances to return to school for an M.A. in English at Mills College, and then to pursue a PhD at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Although she abandoned the degree after finishing course work, along the way she discovered a love of teaching, and is now happily combining that love with her business experience as an instructor in business communications at the UW–Madison School of Business. In her spare time, she obsessively re-reads Dickens (and other Victorians), continues to follow the Oakland A’s, and looks forward to the annual gathering of old and new friends among the redwoods at the Dickens Universe.