News from the School of IAS

Category: Teaching

Learning about lakes prompts public action

Why study a lake? Information lends important insights into ecological and human health. Students in IAS faculty member Avery Shinneman’s course on inland waters partnered with King County and Lake Advocates to make changes in the world — despite having to do the work remotely. Supported by a grant from WaterWorks, the students were able to create educational tools designed to inform the public on what they can do and what they should refrain from doing to help improve water quality.

February 23, 2021

Jed Murr: Teaching ethnic studies here and in Slovenia

During a sabbatical originally planned as a teaching Fulbright in Slovenia, IAS faculty member Jed Murr is working on a project funded with a UW Bothell Scholarship, Research and Creative Practice Seed Grant. As part of a larger Black Arts Northwest collaboration with scholars, librarians and archivists, Murr is creating a digital history platform. Part of the platform will be a website about a Black Power mural in Seattle that was created in the early 1970s and destroyed in the 1990s. Another project would digitize Black periodicals published in Seattle and make them publicly accessible.

February 9, 2021

Linda Watts: Historical detectives on the Nat Turner case

IAS faculty member Linda Watts teaches the Nat Turner slave rebellion as a case study in history and a way for Discovery Core students to learn through the different stories told about the event. Nat Turner led a slave rebellion in 1831 in Southampton County, Virginia where many people were killed, including Turner who was hanged. “We have almost nothing that comes directly from Nat Turner. We see him refracted through other people’s accounts,” said Watts, who challenges her challenges her students to become historical detectives. They not only investigate the historic situation, they also analyze its implications in artists’ imaginations.

February 9, 2021

Min Tang: Creating critical media literacy workshops

Students in IAS faculty member Min Tang’s Critical Media Literacy course developed educational workshops to share with the Northshore School District’s teachers and students. “I encourage my students to think about how power structures in a society shape the media systems and processes,” Tang said. “I want them to understand the kind of power media has in shaping our social discourses, perceptions and opinions.”

February 9, 2021

Rob Turner advances sustainability in teaching and scholarship

IAS faculty member Rob Turner helped run an hour-long discussion session at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Colleges & Universities in January. The session was titled Fostering Sustainability Out of a Pandemic: Pathways for Higher Education to Create a More Resilient Institution and Society. In November, he received ...

February 9, 2021

Jennifer Atkinson’s course on climate grief and eco-anxiety featured in New York Times

IAS faculty member Jennifer Atkinson’s seminar on climate grief and eco-anxiety was featured in a New York Times story on efforts to support people experiencing distress over the global climate crisis. The article, Got Climate Anxiety? These People Are Doing Something About It, noted that the number of Americans who are “very worried” about climate change has more than doubled over the past five years to its current rate of ...

February 5, 2021

Karam Dana: “Timely lessons from 2020: The Course”

IAS faculty member Karam Dana was a panelist on "Timely Lessons from 2020: The Course." The four panelists from all three UW campuses discussed their lectures in teaching the more than 900 students registered for the course in a live broadcast in which the discussion was around the significance of the course in reflecting on the year 2020. A recording of the segment ...

January 25, 2021

Karam Dana serves as panelist in “Teaching Remotely Pop-Up Series”

IAS faculty member Karam Dana served as a panelist on (“Had I But Known” Insights to Improve Teaching) as part of the UW Center for Teaching and Learning’s Teaching Remotely Pop-Up Series, which is designed to highlight best-practices and essential aspects of effective remote instruction along with ...

January 22, 2021

Katrina Harack nominated for UW Distinguished Teaching Award for Innovation with Technology

IAS faculty member Katrina Harack was honored as a nominee for a 2021 Distinguished Teaching Award for Innovation with Technology by the University of Washington. This award "recognizes a current faculty member for improving student learning or engagement through an approach that leverages technology." She has enjoyed learning more about online pedagogy while converting her writing courses ...

January 12, 2021