He received a doctorate from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. He is associate dean of University of Pittsburgh School of Education. From 1971-1984, the poet was a co-editor of the Slow Loris Press.
His first collection of poetry, Jurgis Petraskas, published by Louisiana State University Press (LSU), received the Walt Whitman Award from Philip Levine for the Academy of American Poets and a Notable Book Award from the American Library Association. Petrosky’s second collection of poetry, Red and Yellow Boat, was published by LSU in 1994, and Crazy Love, his third collection, was published by LSU in the fall of 2003. Along with David Bartholomae, Petrosky is the co-author and co-editor of four books: Facts, Artifacts, and Counterfacts: Theory and Method for a Reading and Writing Course, The Teaching of Writing, Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers, and History and Ethnography: Reading and Writing About Others. Along with Stephanie McConachie, he is the co-editor and co-author of Content Matters: Improving Student Learning Through Disciplinary Literacy published by Josey Bass in 2010.
