Seminars in Teaching Excellence

Program Description

The Seminars in Teaching Excellence (STE) were eleven individual seminars which examined pedagogy fundamental to teaching and learning in the humanities, explored innovative approaches to humanities curricula, and opened spaces for productive discussion and collaboration between faculty and graduate students.

The STEs were divided into three clusters: Foundational Issues, Collaborative Humanities Tracks, and Special Topics in Humanistic Study. Most seminars produced an annotated bibliography of relevant scholarly work shared and discussed during the course of an entire quarter and one other culminating project-based assignment, often completed collaboratively by seminar participants.

STE Themes and Topics

Cluster: Foundational Issues

This cluster focused on foundational issues at the heart of humanities pedagogy in the 21st century. These seminars addressed the pedagogies surrounding established components of humanistic study, as well as techniques for more inclusive classroom cultures.

Inclusive Classrooms (Fall 2017). Co-leads: Steven Nelson and Maite Zubiaurre
Excellence in Writing (Fall 2017). Co-leads: Nina Eidsheim and Leigh Harris
Language Expertise (Winter 2018). Co-leads: David Kim and Hongyin Tao
Course Design and Assessment Techniques (Spring 2018). Co-leads: Tamara Levitz and William Marotti
Inclusive Classrooms II (Fall 2019). Co-leads: Lisa Felipe and Mitchell Morris

The First STE Cluster: Foundational Issues

Cluster: Collaborative Humanities Tracks

This cluster was dedicated to developing a set of undergraduate curricular tracks that will allow opportunities for creating and interdisciplinary courses in the humanities. These tracks worked as learning laboratories in which seminar participants discussed, assessed, and formulated the pedagogical approaches that informed the teaching of these curricular tracks.

Medical Humanities (Fall 2018). Co-leads: Rachel Lee and David MacFadyen
Environmental Humanities (Winter 2019). Co-leads: Allison Carruth and Ursula K. Heise
Digital Humanities (Spring 2019). Co-leads: Chris Johanson and Miriam Posner
Urban Humanities (Spring 2020). Co-leads: Dana Cuff and Todd Presner

Cluster: Special Topics

The third STE cluster targeted special topics including the role of technology in humanities classrooms, service learning pedagogy, the purported crisis in the humanities, career development, preparation for graduate students entering the job market, information on career tracks within and outside of academia, and the contributions of the EPIC Program towards sustainable practices in teaching within the humanities.

Teaching with Technologies in the Humanities (Winter 2020). Co-leads: Meredith Cohen and Dana Milstein
Community Learning (Spring 2020). Co-leads: Elizabeth Goodhue and Willeke Wendrich