Teaching Philosophy
I hold caring for the whole person (cura personalis) paramount to the study of literature. Literature, I tell my students, is meaningful in the context of the cultures and histories people create. My research attunes me to the ways literary representation can reveal how historical cultures conceptualized personhood; my teaching, meanwhile, attunes me to the ways that literature can open the minds of students to empathize with people outside of their own cultures. I importantly ask students to consider personhood beyond Western concepts of the “enlightened” human individual. If a person does not look, think, or hold the same values as we do, does that make them less worthy of ethical care? What if the “person” is not human? How do we weigh the scales of justice when rights conflict? The answers to these questions depend upon how we define personhood and care for persons. While I invite students to question their own assumptions about personhood and care, I strive to model cura personalis in my own teaching practice.
Featured Courses
Student Evaluations
ONLINE READING, WRITING, AND INQUIRY
I liked how we were able to incorporate a lot of the media and technology as a part of the course, especially since it was online. I also really liked how it related to our interests as college students.
HISTORY OF LITERATURE
BEOWULF - MILTON
The classes Julie taught were by far my favorite. She brought in history and culture in really helpful ways that painted a more full picture.
I loved how she tied in readings that discussed current issues. Class discussions on the articles that we read were engaging and really made me look forward
to UCWR.
I’ll be honest writing wasn’t my favorite thing in the world and now I absolutely love doing it! She really changed my outlook on writing and
helped me see my potential.
DYSTOPIA IN
POPULAR CULTURE
I liked the overall topic of the course and the material we covered. Dystopias have always been fascinating to me, so taking this course helped me learn more about them while implementing the reading and writing aspect to the course. I thought my instructor was always well prepared and was willing to help all of us in our writing skills.