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I’m an Assistant Professor in Physics and have so far taught introductory and intermediate level courses. In my course design, I emphasize skill based learning goals rather than content specific outcomes for a course. This has so far manifested in large (32+ student gen-ed style class) and small (6 student physics major/minor track) classrooms where I challenge students to engage deeply with content as a tool to build skills. Much of my classroom dynamic depends on a mutually agreed upon community contract and flexible deadlines to maintain a positive growth mindset throughout a block. I’ve also been working with others in my department to include ungrading practices more regularly in the physics classroom through self/peer graded assignments, group assessments and other alternative assessments, and self evaluations from students throughout the block. 

I am an interdisciplinary teacher/scholar whose courses focus on literature, arts and culture, archival studies, Southwest/Borderlands history, and environmental justice. I engage WOC feminist pedagogies and invite students to understand theory and analysis from what we know; to better understand how systems of knowing are linked to the conditions under which people live and learn; and to unpack how/why our methodologies and epistemologies materialize from colonial heteropatriarchal histories and experiences. Place-based pedagogy is central to how I teach in the liberal arts. As part of this practice, I work with experts outside academia to collaboratively develop experiential learning opportunities that move beyond a service-learning model through which students understand themselves in relation to the world in which they live.

I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in Organismal Biology and Ecology and teach courses in ecology, introductory organismal biology, and animal behavior and physiology. I approach my research and teaching with an understanding of my positionality and acknowledgment of the privilege it is to co-construct knowledge with students. Students are active participants in my field and lab courses as demonstrated in their design of rubrics, assessments, and discussions. In doing so, students are helping to direct their own learning and practicing higher-level critical thinking skills that are applicable in and out of the classroom. I challenge my students to be comfortable in the uncomfortable while simultaneously encouraging and supporting them in the process. I believe that all students are capable of meeting high expectations if provided with a student-centered, inclusive, and asset-based environment that values all perspectives. Ultimately, I strive to help students to develop and refine their skills (e.g., analytical, communication, creativity) in all my classes, thereby empowering them to confidently direct their future at CC and beyond.

As an Assistant Professor in Human Biology and Kinesiology, I have spent my career attempting to center humans not only in my scholarship but also in the classroom. I believe that “student” is only one facet of the identities we support in our positions, just as athlete, sibling, employee, and friend are, to name a few. While it may seem obvious to center the human in the content of a human physiology or biomechanics course, I am constantly looking for new strategies to ensure that the learning environment is also student-centered. Most recently, I have worked to develop a conference-style grading structure for Human Physiology, and a project-based biomechanics course that allows students to complete independently designed, IRB-approved, research over a single block. I am motivated to break down my ego, challenge traditional forms of grading, develop more supportive and flexible course policies, and remind each student that they are, and I see them as, humans first and foremost. Even in these content-heavy STEM courses, I prioritize space for reflection, criticism, conversation, and most of all, courageous mistakes. I strive to develop spaces where students feel comfortable getting uncomfortable and are willing to take risks as they explore new material. I look forward to supporting conversations about how we can better support the humans within our classrooms without feeling like we are sacrificing the material that we all love so much.

B.S. Juniata College (1983)

Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine (1994)

Scott’s areas of teaching and research concern psychoanalytic theory, film theory, popular culture, and political media.

I am an educator and a scientist. I approach teaching and learning using a social constructivist+behaviorist ideology, where the student’s knowledge and background center the learning experience. As an educator, I construct my courses and each day centered on an essential question, driven in part by "what needs to be learned?", "why is the concept/content important?", and "where are the students in the process?". As a scientist, I ask what data needs to be learned (and not just numbers!) and what processes are necessary to understand the data story. My results are courses that evolve with the students, each block different from the last. I constantly push my own boundaries of knowledge with my students, which provides, often a humbling experience. My challenge, naturally, is to maintain goals and expectations and empower the students to take ownership in meeting these goals and expectations. I am passionate about what our students bring to our classes.

As an art historian and professor in the Art department, I teach broadly in the history of art and museum studies. I believe in the transformative potential of student engagement with the process of learning, and the power of active approaches to developing motivation, fostering inquiry, and enhancing critical perspectives. In my classes, students engage with the arts as both formative and reflective of culture, as a means to understand history, and as a vehicle to answer the questions that matter to our society. My teaching encompasses problem-based learning, inquiry-driven approaches, peer-to-peer strategies, and a discursive approach to lecturing and discussion. I consider myself a learner alongside my students, as trying new ideas, approaches, and systems helps me continually hone and refine my teaching.

Jonathan Lee began his career working in ancient Greek philosophy but finds himself now focused largely in contemporary French philosophy. His current research interests lie at the intersection of recent French philosophy, psychoanalysis, and aesthetics, and he writes regularly on experimental music, photography, cinema, and sound art. Professor Lee's teaching interests range from sound art to Africana philosophy, from speculative realism to the radical psychoanalytic tradition. Professor Lee has served as the National Endowment for the Humanities Distinguished Teaching Professor (1999-2002) and as the Judson M. Bemis Professor in the Humanities (2012-2015).