Ian Allen graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. He became a high school Physics and Mathematics teacher in Phoenix, Arizona while working on a Master of Education at ASU. His thesis investigated ‘gamification’ of curriculum as an alternative teaching method to reach more diverse types of learners. Now, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics, with research focusing on disparities in public school funding.

As a graduate student in the Literature Department, Shane Baker’s work revolves around narratives of disenchantment and re-enchantment as related to definitions of “nature” and environmental ethics discourses. Shane sees “the disenchantment of the world,” endemic to the modern Western mind, as a causative agent in our ethically fraught relationship with the more-than-human world, and therefore ask if a re-enchantment of the world is possible or ultimately desirable, and what forms it could take. His interests include American nature writing, Romanticism, Transcendentalism, (eco)mysticism, deep time and evolutionary theory, deep ecology, (post)secularity, and new religio-social movements like ayahuasca shamanic tourism and “green religion.” He is also very interested in writing studies, and is excited to be a Graduate Pedagogy Fellow so as to–among other things!­–grow into a more effective writing instructor.

Joseph “Zippy” Connell is a Ph.D. student studying theoretical particle physics. He aims to become a college professor or lecturer in a place similar to Santa Cruz, where Nature and the ocean bedazzle us daily. Joseph most enjoys intertwining scientific principles with psychology, philosophy, and surfing and writing songs about it.

Ben Eischens is a Ph.D. student in Linguistics whose research focuses on San Martín Peras Mixtec, an Oto-Manguean language of Oaxaca, Mexico. He is interested in using evidence-based teaching strategies in the classroom to better support students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in higher education, as well as making inclusive teaching resources easily available to educators.

Alberto is a Ph.D. student in the Politics Department. He holds a Master’s degree in Media Studies from Erasmus University Rotterdam and his research interests include sub-state nationalism, migration, media, European politics, and comparative politics. He looks forward to working with the CITL to learn the best pedagogical practices to implement in his teaching and in his department. His goal is to become a university professor.

Xiangjian Gao is a Ph.D. student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. His research focuses on wireless communications related to RF energy harvesting and 5G telecommunications. He hopes to improve his teaching strategy to increase student participation and to create active and positive classes through the Graduate Pedagogy Fellow program, and he wants to support his department in creating an equitable and supportive learning environment.

Kathryn (Katie) Gougelet is a Ph.D. student in cultural anthropology studying the ways that communities make sense of their health, wellbeing, and futures while living amid petrochemical pollution from fracking sites across the United States. She employs an interdisciplinary approach in her research, drawing from medical anthropology, feminist studies, critical race and ethnic studies, and creative writing to understand the science and experiences of exposure — as well as transformative politics for futures beyond fossil fuels. As a Graduate Pedagogy Fellow, she aims to explore her passion for teaching, learn best practices for teaching social sciences, and hone her skills as a writing instructor.

Alexandra Grundler is a Ph.D. student in Philosophy. Her highest intention is to become the best facilitator of growth and learning that she can be, and is grateful to be a part of the Graduate Pedagogy Fellows community. She hopes to learn tools to employ inclusive teaching practices such as encouraging respectful, open-minded dialogue and meaningful, accessible participation through activities. She hops to apply this directly to her teaching and share it with the Philosophy graduate community.

Theresa Hice Johnson is earning her Ph.D. in Sociology with designated emphases in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies and Feminist Studies. Her transdisciplinary research focuses on Black American youth racial identity formation in the context of global travel. As a Graduate Pedagogy Fellow, Theresa hopes to improve her teaching practices by better incorporating active learning strategies and more confidently facilitating community building in the classroom.

Isaac Karth is a Ph.D. student in the Computational Media Department, working in the Design Reasoning Lab with Adam M. Smith. His research primarily focuses on procedural generation and related areas, with a particular emphasis on developing frameworks for evaluation and the poetics of generativity. He has an M.F.A. in Arts and Technology from the University of Texas at Dallas and a B.F.A. in Digital Media from Kendall College of Art and Design. He is currently co-organizing the 11th Workshop on Procedural Content Generation.

Katie Kobayashi is a Ph.D. candidate in the Freshwater and Coastal Ecology Lab and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department. Her research asks how life history diversity in steelhead and rainbow trout can influence food web dynamics in stream ecosystems. Since starting grad school at UC Santa Cruz, Katie has found a passion in teaching and working with undergraduate students. She looks forward to using her experience as a Graduate Pedagogy Fellow to foster equitable and inclusive teaching practices in her department and career.

Allison Laubach is a Ph.D. student in Ocean Sciences focusing on marine particle geochemistry. She began teaching as a TA as an undergrad, and is grateful to have had the opportunity to work with students with many different backgrounds. As a Pedagogy Fellow, she hopes to further expand the impact of her department’s existing TA training program.

Rachel Maxwell is a Ph.D student in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, focusing on lunar magnetism and gravity. She is also a leader in the GEODES (Geoscientists Encouraging Openness in Diversity in the Earth Sciences) group that aims to build community, provide professional development opportunities, and raise awareness of diversity issues within the Geosciences. Rachel’s ultimate goal is to become a professor at a research institution where she can advise and mentor students on research projects in addition to teaching classes. She enjoys teaching for the excitement and understanding that gets passed on to students and hopes to improve her skills through the Graduate Pedagogy Fellows Program.

Maureen McGuire is a graduate student in the History of Art and Visual Culture department. She currently researches the cultural patronage of Late Antique and Byzantine royal women. She loves art history and wants to foster a similar interest in students.

Jonas Oppenheimer is a Ph.D. student in Biomolecular Engineering, working in the UC Santa Cruz paleogenomics lab. His research focuses on understanding the evolutionary dynamics of Beringian megafauna through ancient DNA, investigating the consequences of climate, population history, and hybridization on these species. As a Graduate Pedagogy Fellow, he is excited to obtain a broad background in pedagogical techniques, in particular learning how to make an education in science accessible to all. He is also looking forward to sharing these techniques with other graduate students in his department and building a strong community of educators.

Amanda Quirk is a Ph.D. student in the Astronomy and Astrophysics department. She studies the dynamics of stars in nearby galaxies. After graduate school, Amanda plans to have a career in education with a focus on making classrooms and curricula more accessible to students. She is excited to join a community of educators through the Graduate Pedagogy Fellows Program and plans to help her department evolve its graduate TA training course to focus on best practices for inclusivity.

Alessandra Rodriguez y Baena is a Ph.D. student in the Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology where she studies blood development under stress conditions. Her prior teaching experiences at San Jose State University (BS) and at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (MS) inspired her to pursue a Ph.D. to learn more about pedagogy and gain more hands-on experience with teaching at the university level. Through the Graduate Pedagogy Fellow Program, she hopes to continue her department’s efforts in providing TA pedagogical training to develop more effective, equitable, and inclusive teaching practices.

Meleia Simon-Reynolds is a Ph.D. student in History with a designated emphasis in Visual Studies. Her research focuses on U.S. imperialism, migration, and labor in the Philippines and Hawai’i. She is interested in how imperial policy and practice affected Filipino migrant laborers who moved from one colonized space to another. Meleia is passionate about inclusive and creative teaching pedagogy. She strives to implement creative, fun activities to support her students’ learning and foster a welcoming environment in her classrooms.

Kara Stone is an artist and scholar interested in the affective and gendered experiences of psychosocial disability, debility, and healing as it relates to art production, particularly videogames. Her artwork has been featured in The Atlantic, Wired, and Vice. She is a member of the Different Games Collective. She holds a B.F.A. in Film Production and master’s degree in Communication and Culture from York University, and is currently a Ph.D. student in Film and Digital Media with a designated emphasis in Feminist Studies at UC Santa Cruz.

Taylor Wondergem is a Ph.D. candidate in Feminist Studies with an emphasis in Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. She is a committed and passionate teacher who continues to be convinced that academic classrooms can be transformative learning spaces when grounded in a feminist love praxis. Her research focuses on the relationships between the US military and the institution of psychiatry to consider the production of a normative subject through warfare, medicalization, and pathologization.

Christina Yang is a Ph.D. student in Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, where she aims to understand how bacterial pathogens modulate the host immune response and cause disease. Her experience as a TA and graduate student mentor to undergraduate students in the lab has fueled her interest in pedagogy. She is excited to use the knowledge from the Graduate Pedagogy Fellows Program to start a pedagogical training program to help graduate students mentor a diverse body of undergraduate students in the lab using inclusive and equitable teaching practices.