2018 General Education Innovation Fellows

Fellows

Selin Guner, Associate Professor of Global Studies and Political Science
Global Perspectives (Content and Contexts): GLST1327: Middle East Survey

Laura Hernandez-Ehrisman, Associate Professor of University Studies
Diverse American Perspectives (Content and Contexts); Writing Rich and Experiential Learning for Social Justice Mission Markers: AHMX 2314: Topics in Diverse American Perspectives: The U.S. Mexico Borderlands in History and Popular Culture

Andrea Holgado, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Experiential Learning for Social Justice: BIOL 3345: Advanced topics in Biology: Cancer Biology and Social Justice

Elisabeth Johnson, Associate Professor Literacy
Freshman seminar: Reading Pop Culture in the Classroom

William E. Nichols, Professor, Political Science and Global Studies
Culminating Experience: GLST 4345 Senior Seminar in Global Studies

William Quinn, Professor of Biology and Computer Science
Culminating Experience: BIOL 4349, Biological Sciences Capstone

Paul Walter, Assistant Professor of Physics & Jeremy Johnson, Adjunct Instructor of Physics
Natural Sciences (Content and Contexts): PHYS 1305 Physics for Future Presidents

Abstracts

Selin Guner, Associate Professor of Global Studies and Political Science
Global Perspectives (Content and Contexts): GLST1327: Middle East Survey
Current political developments in the Middle East are becoming extremely important in terms of developing a comprehensive global perspective for our students. In this course of Middle East Survey, I plan to expand students’ understanding of the Middle East while bringing into light some misperceptions and preconceived assumptions. Understanding this region of the world is crucial in developing a broader perspective in world politics.

Laura Hernandez-Ehrisman, Associate Professor of University Studies
Global Perspectives (Content and Contexts)/Social Identities Mission Marker: AHMX 2XXX: Cold War Kids: Life in Exile in the Late Twentieth Century
My goals for this fellowship are twofold: first, to create a course in Global Cultural Studies that would integrate historical and literary analysis, and would also integrate concepts from the broader field of cultural studies. I would develop a course that meets both the SLOs for the Global Perspectives general education requirement along with the SLOs for the Social Identities Mission Marker. This course could be taught with multiple sections, rather than as a specialized topics course. My second goal is to develop the particular content of my section of the course, which would build upon a unit that I have taught in CULF 3330 on the study of Cold War Memoirs.

Andrea Holgado, Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Experiential Learning for Social Justice: BIOL 3345: Advanced topics in Biology: Cancer Biology and Social Justice
Life science majors understand that cancer is a disease of societal inequity, genetic predisposition, and personal choices impacted by the socioeconomic status. However, most of our conversations in Cancer Biology courses focus on understanding genetic mutations and their roles in transforming normal cells into malignant cancerous cells. As scientists, we are very comfortable at interpreting and presenting scientific data, training undergraduates and together performing novel research, and advancing scientific knowledge by answering one question at a time. Yet, this comfort zone is currently being challenged by groups of educators that started a conversation on social justice in scientific research and the science curriculum. In April 2016, 60 experts in social justice, scientific research, science education and policy participated in the “Science and Social Justice Think Tank”. After reading the abstracts from the meeting as well as other manuscripts that elaborate on social justice and cancer susceptibility, I became very interested in developing a new curriculum that will teach the biology of cancer beyond mitosis and genetic mutations. In this proposal, I delineate the preliminary ideas for the new course. Furthermore, during the semester long innovation fellowship, I plan to expand these ideas into the design of a course that will include: (1) teaching the biology behind cancer, (2) learning about the troubling story of this disease that will put some of us at higher risk than others, (3) engaging students in experiential learning by collaborating with groups in Austin, and (4) recognizing our responsibilities through a commitment to service.

Elisabeth Johnson, Associate Professor Literacy
Freshman seminar: Reading Pop Culture in the Classroom
In my upcoming freshman seminar course titled Reading Pop Culture in the Classroom, I proposed a course that considers the following questions: What counts as reading? What exactly do people mean when they say pop culture? And what does a learning space look and feel like? In this course, students and I will practice using socio-cultural, critical, and post-modern theories to consider how individuals and groups make and use a wide variety of texts (TV shows, music, clothing, zines, murals, etc.) to take power in the world. This document is a proposal to design this new course with a specific focus on integrating Instagram into course projects that may include engaging with an area high school classroom for some collaborative learning activities about interpreting pop culture texts in school. As part of the fellowship, I will be developing a bibliography of vertical text sets, designing interactive session activities, and composing major course assignments. Some time may be spent doing outreach about the project before Summer 2018 start, as I’d like to partner with an area high school English teacher’s class for some sessions during the final month of the course. I would also like to do some reading (and talking with colleagues in the art department) about using Instagram for academic conversation and as a tool for dissemination of college students’ visual analyses and video interviews.

William E. Nichols, Professor, Political Science and Global Studies
Culminating Experience: GLST 4345 Senior Seminar in Global Studies
The General Education Renewal process is replacing Capstone with a Culminating Experience housed within the majors/schools. GLST 4345 Senior Seminar in Global Studies is the culminating experience for the Global Studies major and is normally taken during the last semester of study. During the AY 2017-18, Drs. Nichols and Lee are piloting the transition to the new Culminating Experience SLOs and requirements, with the intent of formally satisfying the Culminating Experience requirement beginning in AY 2018-19. The innovation fellowship would provide the faculty with the opportunity to develop the course with input from the CTE and fellow faculty members. The GLST faculty is also considering offering the course as satisfying the Writing Rich Mission Marker and would need help in making the conversion.

William Quinn, Professor of Biology and Computer Science
Culminating Experience: BIOL 4349, Biological Sciences Capstone
This course is designed to take advantage of the “culminating experience” opportunity available to Biological Sciences majors under the renewed general education curriculum. Although much remains to be developed (in part, through participation in the activities sponsored by this fellowship), the course will incorporate all four student learning objectives proposed for the culminating experience.  Specifically, these include that students will investigate an open-ended question to be answered or problem to be solved using processes mastered through the curricula in the Biological Sciences. They will synthesize and apply skills and knowledge gained from their curriculum and co-curriculum to produce a research project that includes consideration of a social context. They will evaluate the results of their inquiry process and they will communicate outcomes orally and in writing.

Paul Walter, Assistant Professor of Physics & Jeremy Johnson, Adjunct Instructor of Physics
Natural Sciences (Content and Contexts): PHYS 1305 Physics for Future Presidents
PHYS 1305 Physics for Future Presidents is a current course offering that meets the Science in Depth requirement. Our proposal is to revise the course by adding a significant experiential learning component to meet the Natural Sciences requirement for the new General Education. The first offering of the revised course (it would get a new course number) will be Fall 2018.