Teaching Portfolio

For me, visual art is a complex idea expressed in form. In this respect, any product of a culture that communicates ideas visually is a potentially significant object of study. Fundamentally, I believe that art communicates and illuminates the human experience across time and cultures. How art explores and reinforces human connections to each other and various phenomena is what draws me to it. Shedding light on the social context of creation helps people today relate to the rich variety of human experiences in the world and connect past to the present day. For these reasons, I believe art history is a critical component in the holistic education of an individual. Art history is by nature interdisciplinary. I incorporate inclusive, decolonial, and feminist methodologies in all my courses.

Students who have the opportunity to develop their knowledge of past and present cultures become more critical and empathetic members of society. Ultimately, my goal as an educator is for students to appreciate the diversity of humanity and humans’ shared experiences with human and non-human life on Earth. Through this knowledge, I encourage students to explore and be critical of their own creativity and thoughts, thereby achieving self-awareness. The skills required for the critical study of visual culture are necessary in all subject areas. Communicating effectively in written and verbal form, thinking critically, adapting, and solving problems creatively are skills needed not only in the academic world, but in all areas of life. The presence of art and art history in a person’s education thus has broad implications for not only the learner, but for the world community in which he or she lives. The following guidelines are those I use to realize these ideals in the classroom:

Develop a sense of community.

I want students to feel they are in an inclusive and safe class environment. I want them to see the class environment as a microcosm for larger communities and to use the strategies from class to build communities on campus, local, and global scales. We create a classroom agreement, where I my expectations of students, and they share their expectations of me. I employ feminist and decolonial methodologies. This involves being transparent in all decision-making regarding content choices, grading, and learning generally. It means advocating for and modeling how to step forward and to step back so that all individuals can discuss, question, and learn.

Assist students in becoming critical thinkers who can analyze and critique art and society, and engage with others’ interpretations by harnessing supporting evidence and communicating their thoughts and ideas effectively.

I model how to analyze sources, reflect on biases, and formulate and articulate original ideas. A variety of assignments and activities ask students to develop the research, reading, writing and speaking skills that allow them to communicate effectively.

Maintain intellectual rigor.

I am constantly changing content based on new scholarship. Readings, assignments, and activities revolve around current scholarship and the critical examination of it, while also asking students to connect the relevance of this scholarship to their own lives.

Facilitate connections to positively engage students.

I try to engage and provoke students from the beginning by creating connections on multiple levels, both social and intellectual. I strive to establish, build, and maintain faculty-student, student-student, and student-content connections using a variety of activities and assignments designed for diverse learning styles. I try to connect to students by using new technologies when appropriate. Students learn when they can relate to material. Ideally the learning process helps students develop skills that they can directly apply in their lives.

Provide and receive feedback for continuous growth.

I am explicit with objectives and scaffold assignments across the course so that students demonstrate their learning process. I also take student evaluations and suggestions into consideration when revising my courses each year. Just as I expect my students to engage with the process of learning, I model it by attending conferences and professional development whenever I am able. I strive to continually evolve my courses and demonstrate my development as a scholar and teacher.

Courses Taught (select syllabi below)

· Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies (Honors section)

· WGS/ArtHist crosslist: Race and Representation in Art

· WGS/ArtHist crosslist: Art, Ecology, and Empire

· WGS/ArtHist crosslist: 19th Century Art (online since 2018)

· WGS/ArtHist crosslist: Late 20th-21st Century Art

· WGS/ArtHist crosslist pending: Northern Renaissance Art (online since 2015)

· WGS/ArtHist crosslist pending: 17th-18th Century Art

· Art and Globalization

· Avant-garde in Art and Music (Honors seminar)

· Survey Art History II (1400-Present)

· Italian Renaissance Art (online since 2013)

· Early 20th Century Art

· Seminar for Art History Majors: Research Methods and Writing

· Arts of Africa

· Graduate Course: Curriculum and Pedagogy in Art Education (online)

· Graduate Course: Research and Writing (online)