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Testing to Promote Student Learning At this point in the semester, many courses are building toward a midterm... |
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Classroom Challenge: Handling Wrong Answers It's a common challenge: A student answers a question in class. But... |
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Exploring a Career in Higher Ed? Tools for Learning More about U.S. Institutions Are you currently searching for academic jobs or planning a higher ed job... |
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Student Learning and Analytics at Michigan Friday, September 13, kicked off another year of the Student Learning... |
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The Value of Midterm Feedback CRLT staff provide hundreds of Midterm Student Feedback sessions for UM... |
Graduate Teaching Consultants 2013-2014 (GTC)
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Armstrong, Chloe
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Chloe thinks about how the reformation and development of scientific practices in the 17th and 18th centuries spurred philosophical debates and movements. In her research she seeks to understand the philosophical work of G. W. Leibniz (1646-1714) in the context of his advances in physics and optics. As a PhD candidate in the philosophy department she is working on the transition from GSI to primary instructor, and is grateful for the community of reflective, dedicated, and experienced teachers in the philosophy department and university at large. |
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Arnold, Yanina
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I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. I specialize in nineteenth century Russian literature and culture, and my research focuses on the interaction between legal culture and literature in late imperial Russia and its lasting impact on Russian attitudes toward law. My "sub-academic" hobbies include reading nineteenth century Russian popular press, collecting caricatures, translating, and drawing. Before coming to Michigan, I earned an MA in English from the University of Idaho, where I also taught college composition for two years. At Michigan, I taught courses in Russian language, designed and taught my own course in Russian Literature titled "Short Masterpieces of the Long Nineteenth Century"(which was an upper-lever writing requirement course), and also served as a graduate student mentor in my home department. Oh, and I forgot to mention: I am a native of Saint-Petersburg (Russia, not Florida). |
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Atias, Daphna
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Daphna is third-year doctoral student in English Language and Literature. Her research centers on American literature written before the Civil War and particularly on the relationship between food, cookery, and literature--a set of interests that she uses to justify frequent snacking and browsing menus, cookbooks, and food blogs. Daphna earned a BA in English and Political Science from the University of Michigan in 2006. In the three years between before returning to Michigan for grad school, she taught tenth-grade English at independent schools in Massachusetts and Manhattan. While at U-M, she has served as a GSI for the English department's British literature sequence, designed and taught a first-year writing course (English 124), and taught in the New England Literature Program. |
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Boldenow, Erica
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Erica Boldenow is a PhD candidate in Toxicology at the School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the effects of Group B Streptococcus infection during pregnancy and the interactions it has with environmental contaminants. In practical terms, this means that she spends lots of time at the lab bench and gets to attend c-section births to collect placentas for her experiments. Erica is deeply interested in college level education and she has served as a graduate teaching instructor for Public Health 200 multiple semesters. Erica earned her Bachelor of Science at Calvin College in Biology and Chemistry. Before attending the University of Michigan she briefly worked for a pharmaceutical company and taught second grade in Gracias, Honduras. |
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Bonem, Emily
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Emily is a doctoral student in the Social Psychology Department. Her research looks at how different types of emotions can affect decisions involving risk. Specifically, she is especially interested in looking at specific emotions like fear, anger, happiness and hope and how they influence appraisals of risky situation. Emily has been a GSI for several different courses in the Psychology Department but her favorite class to teach is Research Methods in Psychology. She is also very interested in incorporating new technology into teaching and assessing the efficacy of new teaching methods. Emily received her undergraduate degree from Williams College with a dual major in Psychology and Music. Some of her other interests include non-academic reading, cooking, knitting and playing the cello in the Life Sciences Orchestra. |
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Crider, Sara
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I’m a Ph.D. candidate in the Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Sociology. My research interests include intergroup dialogue, identity development, attitude change, and social justice education programs. I’m especially interested in the potential role of dialogue as both an intervention and a pedagogical tool, particularly in the areas of sociology and social work education. I earned my M.S.W. from the University of Michigan in 2008. I’ve worked as a GSI for the department of Sociology (topics including religion, sexuality, and social psychology) and for the Office of Intergroup Relations at UM. I really love teaching, and I always enjoy chatting with others about teaching strategies and techniques. And, in my spare time (what?! I wish!)… Well, I would read some good fiction, travel, play the piano, and take a printmaking class. |
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Engel, Steve
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Steve Engel is a PhD candidate in the Joint Program in English and Education (JPEE). He has taught courses in both the English Department Writing Program and the School of Education. His research interests include teachers' narratives about plagiarism and the challenges and affordances new media place on writing instruction. Prior to coming to the University of Michigan, Steve taught high school English and drama for 14 years in upstate New York. He was named a White House Commission on Presidential Scholars Distinguished Teacher and a New York State English Council Educator of Excellence. |
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Green, Tim
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Tim Green is a doctoral candidate in the English and Education Joint PhD Program, and a Graduate Student Instructor in the English Department. He has been an English teacher for many years, having taught middle and high school students in South Texas, Nicaragua, and Chicago before beginning graduate study. At UM, Tim has taught introductory courses in writing and in literature, helped teach a course on the history of the English language, taught graduate-level academic writing in the summer immersion program at the English Language Institute, and has served as a Graduate Research Assistant (GSRA) at the Sweetland Writing Center. Tim's research focuses on the development of language attitudes in the history of English, with a special focus on the influence of religious belief upon Renaissance-era language debates. He holds an MA in English Literature from DePaul University and earned both a BA in English and History and a Masters of Education from the University of Notre Dame. |
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Greenberg, Ronit
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Ronit completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia in 2009, where she worked with Dr. Chris Hertzog and Dr. Eric Schumacher on a project involving metacognition and neuroimaging. While a graduate student here at UM, Ronit served as a GSI for both Cognitive Psychology (Psych 240) and Cognitive Neuroscience (Psych 345, 245) courses over the span of five semesters. Ronit is currently a 5th year Ph.D. student in the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Area of the Psychology program here at the University of Michigan, working primarily with Dr. Priti Shah. Ronit’s current research interests involve visualization comprehension. More specifically, she is investigating what types of formats are most effective for comprehension of presented information in media such as graphs and diagrams and whether this is task-dependent. She is particularly interested in long-term retention of the presented material and the role of desirable difficulties in enhanced comprehension and retention. Additionally, Ronit is investigating the role of individual differences in relation to visualization comprehension and hopes to apply her research to the realm of education and curriculum development. She is also extremely interested in learning analytics and in developing cognitive interventions for ADHD students. |
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Harmon, Annie
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Annie is a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in the Health Behavior and Health Education (HBHE) department. She is originally from St. Louis, MO, where she earned her MS in Gerontology in 2008. Annie's research focuses on the psychosocial processes and effects of driving reduction and cessation for older adults and their loved ones. She has served as a graduate student instructor for two first-year master's level courses at the School of Public Health. Outside of research and teaching, Annie enthusiastically devours movies and books. |
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Herold, Warren
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Warren is a PhD candidate in the Philosophy Department at the University of Michigan. His primary research interests are in ethics, moral psychology, and the history of ethics (especially Adam Smith and David Hume). He is also interested in political philosophy, the philosophy of economics, the philosophy of education, and applied ethics. He has taught undergraduate courses in ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of religion, as well as several introductory survey courses. When he's not thinking about philosophy (and sometimes when he is), he spends most of his time playing with his son and/or riding his bike. |
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Jackman, Dana
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Dana Jackman is a PhD candidate at the School of Natural Resources and Environment and a MA candidate in the Department of Economics. Dana is also affiliated with the Center for the Study of Complex Systems. Her research interests focus on uncoordinated climate policy, cooperative use and management of environmental goods, and policy-induced market and societal transformations. Dana has served as a Teaching Assistant or Graduate Student Instructor for eleven semesters. In that capacity, she has taught calculus, probability and statics, analytical methods, environmental economics, microeconomics, and environmental problems. Before attending the University of Michigan, Dana earned a BA at the College of Wooster and MA at the University of Virgina, both in Mathematics. Her background also includes several years of experience as an actuary and consultant in Washington DC. |
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Jakle, Alex
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Alex Jakle is a Ph. D Candidate in Political Science and a first-year student at the Law School. He has taught in both the United States and in Wales, and has taught test preparation, political theory, public law... and swim lessons. He is currently training first time Graduate Student Instructors in the Political Science department. He researches compliance and rule-breaking behavior, and is fresh off six grueling weeks of fieldwork on Cape Cod. |
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Kilgore, Trevor
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I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of History. My research and teaching fields are post-World War II European history and culture and the global history of the Roman Catholic Church. My current project examines occupations of Italian Catholic churches during the late 1960s. I am also exploring how Catholics practice their faith in places primarily defined by their mobility and modernity. At the University of Michigan, I have taught (or will soon be teaching) courses on religious terrorism, cultures of death and remembrance, and the mafia in Italy and the United States. I have also served as a Junior Fellow in the Sweetland Center for Writing’s Fellows Seminar, a Mentor in the History Department’s Graduate Student Instructor Training Program, and a Graduate Student Instructor for five history courses. Before arriving at the University of Michigan, I earned a BA in History and a BS in Business Administration from the University of Montana. |
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Lillge, Danielle
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Danielle is a PhD candidate in the Joint Program in English and Education. Her passion for teaching and learning informs her research interests in instructor's ongoing professional learning and development, disciplinary literacy, and urban education. As a GSI for the English Department Writing Program and School of Education, former high school teacher, and professional development facilitator, she has enjoyed the challenges and rewards of teaching a range of courses and learners. In an attempt to maintain some semblance of sanity, Danielle attempts to ride her bike, hike, and swim as often as she can. |
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Meade, Chris
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Chris is a PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature. He studies different American literatures: Latin American, US-American and Luso-American. His research focuses on the perception of space in literature and the ideological and material bases of those perceptions. His teaching experience includes courses for the departments of Classics, Comparative Literature, English and Spanish, including both survey courses under the direction of a tenured faculty and self-designed courses in literature and composition. He loves teaching and the challenge of making coursework relevant to students. Outside of school Chris is an avid swimmer and cyclist but spends most of his time with books. |
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Nielsen, Karen
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Karen is a third-year PhD student in the Statistics Department. She has been a Graduate Student Instructor for Introductory Statistics and served as a Graduate Student Mentor to other Statistics GSIs. She has also worked with an interdisciplinary group to bring online learning objects to large introductory courses. Before coming to Michigan, she received her BA in Mathematics and Psychology at the University of Oklahoma (Boomer Sooner!). In her free time, she likes to try out new restaurants in downtown Ann Arbor, travel, cook, and watch TV. |
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Pugh, Melody
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Melody Pugh is a PhD candidate in the Joint Program in English and Education (JPEE). She has teaches courses in the English Department Writing Program and has worked with Outreach programs to underrepresented high schools through the Ross School of Business and the IDEA institute. Her research interests focus on how students understand the relationship between academic and extracurricular literacy practices. Prior to coming to the University of Michigan, Melody taught writing and literature in a Liberal Arts College and worked in online editorial at a small niche-publishing house. |
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Smith, George
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George is a fourth year PhD student in the Social Psychology Department. His research deals with issues of identity and academic motivation, specifically, how different framings of identity can be motivating or demotivating for students in school. He is also interested in the impact of role models and the messages they send about the likelihood of different academic outcomes. More recently, he has been doing work on the metacognitive experience of difficulty and how it can foster both disengagement and increased effort by students in school. He also has begun doing research on aggressive behavior and intergroup interactions. He has been a GSI several semesters at Michigan and has teaching experience in other settings as well; his favorite class to teach is Violence in the Media. He received his undergraduate degree from the fantastic University of Florida (Go Gators!). |
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Whitlinger, Claire
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I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology. My research examines the causes and consequences of commemorating difficult pasts and, in particular, the processes through which various forms of memory work (commemorations, truth commissions, etc.) facilitate social change. In addition to this research, I have worked as a GSI for a variety of courses with a wide array of classroom dynamics. These have ranged from upper level writing courses required of majors (Sociological Theory, and Intro to Sociological Research Methods) to popular electives (The UN and Human Rights), as well as courses that have dealt with sensitive topics (The Sociology of Race and Ethnicity) and focused on service learning (Project Community). Before attending the University of Michigan, I earned my BA at the George Washington University where I had the opportunity to study at the University of Cape Town and the Universiteit van Amsterdam. |
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Williams, Timeka
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Timeka N. Williams is a Rackham Merit Fellow in the Communication Studies Doctoral Program at the University of Michigan and a recipient of the Mary Gardner Award for Graduate Research (AEJMC). She studies Black audiences throughout sites of the African Diaspora and focuses on questions of race, gender, and faith, as they converge around everyday media. Williams’ current work explores transnational codes of womanhood and spirituality in Black women’s media landscape. Her work appears in the anthology, "Interpreting Tyler Perry: Perspectives on Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality" (Routledge, 2013). She has also given research presentations and guest lectures at conferences and programs around the world, including, the University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), Mansfield College at Oxford University (UK), and the Syracuse University-sponsored Paris Noir Program (Paris, France). |
