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Faculty Sponsor Numbers (CRN's) |
Faculty Interviews |
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Interview with Greg MullinsRecent Teaching History At Evergreen I've mainly taught American Studies in coordinated
studies programs. Within the frame of American Studies, I
have a strong interest in urban literature and in the study
of cities more generally. I'm also very interested in transnational
comparative studies (U.S./Latin America, U.S./Canada, U.S./Africa)
and in emerging notions of globalism and global culture. I
have research interests in transnational Queer Studies and
in the relation of human rights to humanistic scholarship,
and these interests show up in my teaching as well. I haven’t been at Evergreen long enough to describe
a pattern of assigned readings. Because of the type of programs
I’ve been teaching, I’ve assigned a lot of American
literary classics from the colonial period to the present
day. As far as my taste in fiction and poetry, I love Melville,
Whitman, Wharton, Cather, Ellison and Morrison, just to name
a few American writers. Are there specific areas of interest or issues you want to work with students on in the current year? I'm especially interested in working with students on Queer
Studies contracts, because I know there is an unmet need in
this area and most of my teaching in programs is geared toward
American Studies. I am also interested in human rights related
contracts. I can work with American literature of all periods
and all kinds, including both minority literature and canonical
literature. I can help students who want to study literature as a discipline,
including literary history and literary theory. I can help
students with expository writing at all levels. (Expository
as opposed to creative writing.) In terms of individual contracts,
I am good at being able to ask questions about a project and
help students frame it and make it the appropriate depth and
length. What are key qualities you look for in student work? I look to students who: What techniques do you use to assess their work? I base assessment on their work: writing assignments, journals,
seminar participation, etc. I prefer to teach programs in
which a significant part of our work is to read student papers
aloud in small groups, so that students help each other assess
their own work. In these discussions, I make my own comments
after students have done most of the assessment themselves.
This is time consuming, but very beneficial for the students.
Seminars are also very important in all the teaching that
I do. I assess seminar participation based on my observations
of student development over time. Every two or three weeks,
I check in with the seminar to ask students what they are
getting out of it. I let them know that they are responsible
for their learning, and for what they get out of the program.
I ask the students to write a lot, and for me writing always
means multiple drafts. I also ask students to write about
their writing--to reflect on what they've learned in preparation
for writing a transcript self-evaluation. I'm also open to
giving exams, and that is a classic tool of assessment. How do you help students assess their work? Mainly by sheparding them through the process I've sketched
just now--through time set aside during the week to read papers
aloud and share comments on them. In this setting (a version
of an academic conference), students learn how to constructively
criticize their work and others' work. I also ask students
to assess their own final drafts before they hand them to
me. I have found that students tend to know where their own
work stands, what are its strong points and weak points. My
work then is to validate them, or to show them where I think
they are too critical. In many of my programs, students also
keep journals, and that can help the reflective self-assessment
process. Teaching Style:How would you characterize yourself as a teacher? I am very serious and passionate about the subject matter.
I have strong points of view, but I keep these to myself unless
I'm lecturing. In seminars, on a scale from very interventionist
to not at all interventionist, I come down on the side of
intervening, but not excessively. In the evaluations students
write of me, they say they like my seminar style because I
make sure we stay on track without forcing any agenda on the
discussion. I try to keep the students on task and I interject
questions to get them to probe deeper into the debate. A big
part of my teaching style is to listen very closely to what
is going on and to push people a little bit further from where
they are. What types of students tend to do well with you? Most of the students I have encountered have done well. Certainly,
students who are motivated and have a sense of purpose do
well. I work equally well with students who are going to graduate
school, and with those who plan to stop with a BA or BS. What types of students have a hard time with you? Students who don't come to class, who don't do the assigned
work, who don't know why they're in college, or who are too
narrow in what they want out of a program. What do your student evaluations say about the way you come across to students? Virtually every quarter they comment that they like that
I listen to them. They usually say they like the way I run
the seminars, that they feel I have appropriate intervention
in the seminar, that I am demanding (and they like that),
and that I'm a nice guy, in various ways. Expectations about Contracts, Internships, and Evaluations I am most interested in sponsoring contracts concerned with
cultural, literary, philosophical, historical, and political
aspects of Queer Studies. I have a strong research interest
in human rights in relation to the humanities, and can guide
projects in that area. What qualities do you look for in a student who comes to you for work in a contract? I look for a student with very clear learning goals, as opposed
to someone who simply wants to "do" something. I
look for specificity. I am willing to hammer out the details
of a contract with someone, but I want them to know what they
want to learn. I also look for evidence that they can do independent
work and that they are able to do upper division work, which
I think of contracts as being. What information do you want to see when a person comes to look for a contract? I ask them to bring a writing sample and recent evaluations.
I also ask them to visit my web pages, where they can learn
more about what I am looking for when I work with a contract
student. Other Web page: http://www.evergreen.edu/users2/mullinsg/home.htm
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