In the last 4 years I’ve had the pleasure of working with a large variety of students at George Washington University and at Westminster. These students have challenged me to become a better teacher. They’ve offered me opportunities to think harder about issues I care about and have pushed me to refine my own positions even as I learn how to more carefully consider different perspectives. Some of these perspectives have turned into new courses and in some cases ideas and viewpoints are more fully woven into existing classes. I’m pleased to present syllabi, assignments, and a small sample of student work below.

Syllabi

* indicates new course development

2011–2012 (Visiting Assistant Professor at George Washington University)

• Climate and Human Ecology*
• People, Land, and Food (Fall 2011, Spring 2012) | Assignment: A group assignment as part of a class activity to develop a food atlas. The Final Product
• Writing In The Disciplines*
• Political Ecology of the City*

2012–2013 (Assistant Professor, Westminster College)

• Intro to Environmental Studies — Fall 2012 (team taught with Jeff McCarthy), Spring 2013 (Team taught with Christy Clay)
• Research and Composition — Fall 2012, Spring 2013
• Weather and Culture* | Assignment: Tell story about the weather, reflect on how you told it.
• Climate and Society
• Environmental Service Learning (Dixie National Forest)* (team taught with Lance Newman)

2013–2014 (Assistant Professor, Westminster College)

• Cultural Landscapes* | Assignment: Photo Essay | Student Work 1 | Student Work 2
• Intro to Environmental Studies — Fall 2013 (team taught with Jeff McCarthy), Spring 2014 (team taught with Christine Stracey)
• Environmental Movements* | Assignment: Found Objects
• Research and Composition
• The Global Environment* | Assignment: Short Synthesis | Student Work
• Field Study, Moab (team taught with Jeff Nichols)*

2014–2015 (Assistant Professor, Westminster College)

• Intro to Environmental Studies — Fall 2014, Spring 2015 (both semesters team taught with Melanie Armstrong)
• Theories of Nature | Assignment: Final Paper | Student Work
• Water in the West*
• Climate and Society
• Breakfast with the Times* (team taught with Ru Wood)
• Field Study: Navajo Public Lands*

2015–2016 (Assistant Professor, Westminster College)

• Environment and the Space of Art* (team taught with Betsy Kleba) | Assignment: Proposed Installation
• Environmental Movements
• Field Study: Mineral, Chemical, Spectacle — The Industrial Sublime*

Course Evaluations

Self Evaluations

2012–2013 — Self evaluation

2013–2014 I am currently unable to find my self evaluation from the 2013–2014 academic year. I did do a lot of reflection on my teaching practice as part of my contract review. However, that was all embedded in a foliotek eportfolio as text and I am only able to extract the uploaded documents from that portfolio. I am able to include a reflection on my research and service.

2014–2015 In lieu of a written self assessment for the 2014–2015 academic year I had a long conversation with Dean Newman on the road between Flagstaff, Arizona and Salt Lake City. Along the way we discussed many things, but for the purposes of my own self assessment, we discussed the new courses I had developed over the year, my emerging sense of the interdisciplinary nature of the Environmental Studies program and how we might move forward with that, practices of mentoring student research and service projects, ways that we might diversify the environmental studies program, and the ways I had met (or come short) in my primary goal for the year, which was to foster a spirit of community within the Environmental Studies program. Looking forward to the 2015–2016 Academic year we discussed the development of the Institute for Mountain Research and my excitement about not having to develop new courses. Instead, I remain excited about tuning and improving courses that I’ve already taught.