Animal Poems!
read by
Denise Sweet
Wisconsin Poet Laureate
Professor Denise Sweet invites you to join her for an evening of Animal Poems on Thursday, September 25 at the Neville Public Museum (210 Museum Place, Green Bay). Bring your favorite animal poem to recite and listen to Dee recite familiar and unfamiliar animal poems, too!
Reading Sign Up – 6:00 p.m.
Open Reading – 6:30 p.m.
Featured Reader to Follow
For more information contact Matt Welter, Curator of Education (448-7851).
Liamar Duran Almarza is a new faculty member in Humanistic Studies and Spanish. We thought you might like to know a little more about your professor and colleague, so we asked her a few questions about herself.
Where did you go to college?
I studied at the University of Leon (Spain) for my B.A./M.A. in English Philology and M.A. in Linguistics. Then I moved to the University of Oviedo (Spain) to do the coursework for the Doctorate in Women’s Studies. I also spent one year with an European grant studying English and Irish Literature and Culture at Trinity College, Dublin.
Who was your favorite professor and why?
My favorite professor was Marina Maquiera who taught an introductory course to General Linguistics in my first college year. She was not a very popular teacher because she was very demanding, but I appreciated the fact that she was one of the few professors that would ask us students for our own perspectives and opinions. This is not very common in Spain where most classes are on a lecture format and the professor is the only one to talk for the whole hour….
You have a PhD in what field?
Women’s Studies.
What did you do your research on?
I focused on the works of two Dominican-American women writers and performers who share the experience of migration to the city of New York. In their work they explore issues of identity formation from two different but complementary perspectives: one gives voice to the experiences of a young Dominican migrant who struggles to adapt to the urban environment of New York City while the other depicts the difficulties faced by a returned migrant in the Dominican Republic.
What are your current research interests?
I am interested in Latino/a Cultures in the US, Caribbean Diaspora communities in the world and female narratives of displacement across cultures.
What courses do you teach?
This semester I am teaching Span 201-Intermediate Spanish I (2 sections) and Span 225-Intermediate Conversation and Composition. How would you describe your teaching style?
In teaching, my primary goal is to develop a learner-centered environment in which students get involved and take ownership in the process of learning. In my classes I try to encourage active learning with every activity and project that students have to complete both inside and outside the classroom, so that my students become knowledgeable not only of the Spanish language but also of the diverse cultures and communities in which Spanish is a means of communication. In my quest to develop critical and independent thinkers, I also endeavor to promote cross-cultural awareness and appreciation, and generate insightful learners who are enthusiastic observers of global cultures, informed and knowledgeable across the disciplines and active participants in their communities.
What do you like to do for fun (hobbies)?
I enjoy reading, watching movies, hiking, practicing yoga and downhill skiing.
What was the last good book you read?
Maridos (Husbands) by Angeles Mastretta.
If we looked at your playlist what would we find?
R.E.M., Maná, Bebe, Chambao, Amy Winehouse, Latin Jazz, and, of course, The Beatles.
Caroline Boswell is a faculty member in Humanistic Studies and History. We thought you might like to know a little more about your professor and colleague, so we asked her a few questions about herself.
Where did you go to college?
I went to UW-Madison for undergrad. Although I received my advanced degrees from Brown University, in my heart I will always be a Badger.
Who was your favorite professor and why?
My favorite professor at UW-Madison was Lee Wandel. Not only did she introduce me to historiography and early modern witchcraft (fascinating!), but also she taught us all that professors are first and foremost regular people.
You have a PhD in what field?
History – early modern British history, to be exact.
What do you research?
I research intersections between the politics of everyday life—social interactions, squabbles or ordinary power struggles—and larger political and social crises. My forthcoming book, Disaffection and Everyday Life in Interregnum England, explores such issues in England when, after having executed King Charles I, England became a Commonwealth and then a Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell (1650s). Using a series of case studies, I argue that the factional discourses and shifting power relations produced by civil war and revolution complicated traditional patterns of social interaction. Men and women who discussed unwelcome taxes by the market stall, griped over policies at the alehouse, and were pointedly silent before state pageants expressed their disaffection through acts of protest that threatened to provoke new divisions or redefine old conflicts. Grassroots agitation–from disaffected mutters to ritualistic violence against officials–formed an integral part of the broad political culture that shaped debates over governance during one of the most volatile decades in British history.
I am also increasingly engaged with the scholarship of teaching and learning. As many of my students may attest, I’m invested in digital pedagogies that enhance learning and promote student expression through a variety of rich media. Next semester students in my Foundations of Western Culture II course will contribute to a new online, open access resource for future students of European history. I hope to assess this project as a tool that fosters community and student engagement within large humanities courses.
What courses do you teach?
I teach a wide-variety of courses that touch on my interests and areas of expertise. Besides Foundations of Western Culture II, I teach our Humanistic Studies course the Age of Reason and Introduction to the Digital and Public Humanities, which I recently instructed with the amazing and awe-inspiring Chuck Rybak. In history I teach courses on the French and Haitian Revolutions, Drinking and Politics in the British Atlantic World, British History 1500-1700, and Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern Europe. I always have an eye on new courses, and I am very excited to teach our new Humanistic Studies course, HUM STUD 100 “Living the Humanities.” Three of us will team-teach this course, which is designed to introduce students to the humanities as a way of study. By grappling with one of humanity’s problems our students will explore various ways in which the strengths and values that are unique to the humanities can best prepare students for their future. Each section has a topic, and next year we plan to offer “Everybody Eats,” which will consider the culture, politics and ethics of eating.
How would you describe your teaching style?
Evolving. I’m always open to experimenting with new and innovative methods of teaching and I love playing with the ever expanding number of digital tools. Though I often teach large classes, I include a series of student-centered activities—debates, role-playing, and team-based assignments—to engage students directly in the learning process. I prefer problem-based approaches to learning that allow me to take students on an intellectual exploration of enduring historical questions or important trends in European society and culture. Recently I’ve been researching the “maker” movement and authentic learning, and as a result more and more of my courses have assignments that ask students to produce a resource that is designed to assist future learners, teachers, and/or members of the public.
What do you like to do for fun (hobbies)?
I love to explore sights unseen whether in my backyard or abroad. My academic research on drinking habits is matched by a love of beer, so I enjoy visiting breweries across the US when traveling. When I need a distraction I watch sports and when I need comfort I read murder mysteries.
If we looked at your playlist what would we find?
You should ask Prof. Gabriel Saxton-Ruiz, who, in his “spare” time, functions as my personal DJ. I tend to listen to albums, and I have toyed with the idea of teaching a course structured by The Kinks’ Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire). What do you think?
Professor Ganyard’s book is the first monograph to devote itself to the ideology of the Young German Order, a right-wing nationalist organization during Germany’s Weimar Republic. It affords a closer examination of the role ideas played in the development of Weimar political culture as charted through the ideological clash of the Young German Order and Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party.
© 2024 Humanities
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
