Luke Fetzer

Luke Fetzer is a first-year doctoral student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up playing sports, mainly football, baseball, soccer and golf. As he progressed through his schooling, he realized that the act of playing sport wasn’t quite his forte, but writing about them was.

He took this love of sport and journalism to the University of Kentucky, where he was a committed member of the university’s student-led newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel. As he finished his undergraduate career, and entered his master’s studies, he felt called to impart what he learned to future students, which opened a new passion for teaching, which he continues to do at UT. Fetzer taught for three years at UKY, frequently being cited as one of the best instructors in the UKY College of Communication and Information by his students.

Fetzer became well versed in journalistic curriculum, as well as mass and interpersonal pedagogy, which continues to be a backbone for his future research interests. Fetzer’s research interests include flow theory in regards to sports betting, incorporating second-screens to determine cognitive states. He also is interested in corporate hegemony and the public’s willingness to overlook or ignore social and economic plights to consume the sport organized by the corporation. Fetzer also is interested in understanding Generation Z’s continued pessimism and aversion regarding romantic relationships, utilizing uncertainty reduction theory to determine where the fault lies.

Outside of school, Fetzer loves the outdoors, and frequently travels to Salt Lake City, Utah, to ski “the best snow on Earth.” Fetzer loves the Wasatch Mountains, which include the resorts of Alta, Snowbird, Brighton, and Solitude (just don’t ask him to rank them, you might never get an answer!) Closer to home, he loves attending sporting events, but always enjoys a laid back day by the pool, or taking a hike through the Great Smoky Mountains.