SEU to You: Faculty Voices on Teaching

What is the 4th Industrial Revolution? Associate Professor of Computer Science Bilal Shebaro shares opportunities for internships, micro-certifications and events offered by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Science (i4 Institute) to prepare students for this very exciting time in which we live.

Teaching one of the most timely courses on campus, Dr. Michelle Robertson invites you to observe and understand the social world, learn why it functions the way it does, and explore your role as an architect in that process. Dive deep in exciting topics spanning from culture, social structure and current events.

Whether you dream of being a Broadway star or just want to learn more about the theater and movement, adjunct professor of Dance Andrea Ariel's hybrid course  will help you develop your own creative expression through movement. 

Associate Professor of Philosophy Jack Musselman explores the political, ethical and moral trade-offs of living greener in the 21st century in this overview of his Environmental Ethics course.

Assistant Professor of Theater Design Susan Branch Towne discusses what sets her Design for Performance course apart from the others.

Adjunct Theater Arts instructor Cara Firestone and university accompanist Susan Finnigan are partnering to teach Musical Theater Showcase this spring, an upper-level course that's part of the Musical Theater minor — perfect for anyone considering a career in it or just has a passion for musicals.

Are we living through an apocalypse? Students and doomsday seekers in Professor of Religious and Theological Studies Kelley Coblentz Bautch's course will explore this question by looking at historical context and distinctive theologies within social movements, along with Biblical text. 

This timely course, taught by Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Lisa Holleran, will explore questions with students about the criminal justice system, such as: Why do some people commit crimes while others do not? What are the relevant factors in a person's life that contribute to crime? What do police officers actually do on the job? How come only 6% of cases go to trial? What happens to the rest? Who helps victims? 

Assistant Professor of Social Work Natalie Beck discusses teaching her dream course, which addresses the way that school systems are structured to track some students to college and others to prison. 

Assistant Professor of Social Work Laurie Cook Heffron explores the safety net in the United States and the network of policies and programs that aim to prevent poverty in her Spring 2020 course.

Certified athletic trainer and an instructor in the Kinesiology program Andi Chambers introduces students to a subject that she's passionate about in her Spring 2020 course: athletic training and sports medicine. 

Students in Associate Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience Jessica Boyette-Davis' Biopsychology course will explore how the brain and nervous system direct our thoughts, emotions and behaviors. They'll have in-depth discussions on subjects such as the brain science behind mental illness.

The School of Natural Sciences Associate Dean Lisa Goering welcomes students to a collaborative, learning-filled semester both in the classroom and in the school's two centers of excellence: Wild Basin Creative Research Center and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Science.

School of Behavioral & Social Sciences Dean Catherine Campbell welcomes students to fall classes, when they'll learn from award-winning faculty members who prioritize student learning.

The Bill Munday School of Business Dean Marianne Ward-Peradoza shares how students will develop critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills amid Austin's dynamic business environment in their classes this fall.

School of Arts & Humanities Dean Sharon Nell welcomes students to the fall semester and shares the many opportunities that await. 

Over the years, students in Beth Eakman's grant writing course have raised more than $200,000 for local nonprofits. This semester, a new group of Hilltoppers will hone their grant-writing skills to research, write and edit their grant proposals in the course. 

In the first part of Assistant Professor of Political Science David Thomason's course, students may be surprised at what they learn about American politics. In the second part, they will undertake an online simulated game. The semester will conclude with discussions on practical policy. 

This course may never have been as critical as it is right now. Students taking Associate Professor of Management Mary Dunn's class will gain insights in improving effectiveness in their careers, especially in today's challenging and uncertain environment.

2020 has been quite a year — full of rich examples of human behavior. Assistant Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience Emily Barton's online General Psychology class will look at how and why people behave the way they do. 

The study of the Hebrew Bible isn't all chaos monsters, fallen angels, blood taboos, peasants' revolts, vanquished kings, messiahs, ecstatic prophecy and apocalypse. In Professor of Religious and Theological Studies Kelley Coblentz Bautch's RELS 2321 course, students will also take up key questions that speak to pressing issues of today.

Associate Professor of Physics Paul Walter's course will incorporate an online tool that makes complicated textbook passages more accessible and exams that incorporate team and individual rounds. Lab activities will focus on data analysis and opportunities to use VPython. 

Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing Tim Braun's Freshman Seminar — with 42 rules and a backward syllabus — will help students acclimate to college, while building projects like graphic novels and games. 

The editor's role is to help the writer best achieve the writer's aims. In Professor of Writing and Rhetoric Drew Loewe's online course, students will study the craft from the macro to micro level of editing.

In this class students, study Spanish grammar from a sociolinguistic perspective. We learn about dialect variation and why bilingual speakers often use Spanish differently than monolingual speakers.

En esta clase se estudia la gramática española desde una perspectiva sociolingüística. Aprendemos sobre la variación dialectal y por qué el habla de los hablantes bilingües suele diferenciarse del habla de los monolingües.

How much remains unseen? Students in Associate Professor of Creative Writing Sasha West's Poetry I class will explore the art of attention — what's in our lives and what we have been missing. 

Virtual mock crime scenes and VR headsets meet in-person crime-scene sketching and evidence processing in Associate Professor of Forensic Science Casie Parish Fisher's Crime Scene Investigations course. 

By studying periods of changes from the past, we have tools that can help us make sense of our own age, in which change is happening before our eyes. Students in Professor of History Christie Wilson's synchronous online course will study the ancient world through the 20th century to understand the complex ways that societies are transformed.

In Associate Professor of Marketing Monica Hernandez's class, students will earn industry certifications in SEO and digital advertising measurement and gain real-life experience by participating in a global marketing competition that pairs students with nonprofit organizations. 

While Zoom or other digital formats will never take the place of an in-person persuasive speech, these digital formats have other advantages that students will explore in Jim McNabb's Presentational Speaking course. 

Imagine that you are seeking answers to your most burning questions about human interaction. In this online synchronous course, students will examine what tools to use to answer those questions, and by the end of the semester, they'll have the knowledge to have a conversation with someone around those topics.

Innovation happens in the digital world — and we’re watching it unfold real-time. In live Zoom sessions, students in Principles of Digital Media with Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship David Altounian will discuss and debate current events through the lens of class materials and end the semester having learned something new and (often) mind blowing.

Discussions, group work, problem solving and activities — including a semester-long disease project — will be part of Associate Professor Lisa Goering's online biology intro class. 

Professor of Art Hollis Hammonds focuses on teaching both in-class and virtual students in her studio art classes. 

Associate Professor of Journalism and Digital Media Jena Heath shares how the current moment is inspiring her Fall 2020 class.