Troike, Rudolph C.

Rudolph C. Troike, a linguistics specialist, was born in 1933 in Brownsville, Texas. He attended the University of Texas, Austin where he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Anthropology and Ph.Ds in German Linguistics and Anthropology. For his graduate studies, he participated in a two year anthropological study and aided in archeological excavations through the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico. Afterwards, he worked with the Georgetown University English Language Program in Turkey for three years. Troike then returned to the University of Texas, where he became a full professor in 1971 in English and Linguistics, an appointment he held for ten years after. He was appointed as the director of the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C. from 1972-1977. During this time he hosted the first visit by linguists and language teachers from China, and was U.S. delegate to two UNESCO conferences. In 1980 he moved to the University of Illinois, where he was director of the graduate program in bilingual education. In 1989 he relocated to the University of Arizona where he served as Head of the Department of English from 1990 to 1995. Currently he is the director of the English Language/Linguistics Program at the University of Arizona. His principal research interests are in American Indian languages and the ethnohistory of south Texas and northeastern Mexico, and in universals in syntax.