One of our dear colleagues, Jenna Guitar, received the 2018 Graduate Assistant Teaching Excellence Award for her teaching in the Gender & Women’s Studies Department.
Jenna was nominated by Professor Jody Lisberger, and several students also wrote her in for the award, a testament to her teaching. The Graduate Council received the nominations and made their final decision.
Jenna is Ph.D. candidate in the English and Gender Women’s Studies departments. She holds an M.A. in English Literature from SUNY New Paltz and two B.A.s in English and Theatre Arts from New Mexico State University. Her research interests include gender in Gothic literature, queer & feminist theory, pop culture studies, and fairy tales.
In terms of her teaching philosophy and practice, Jenna is student-centered, discussion-based, employs creativity and spontaneity, and makes every attempt to deliver excitement for the subject matter to her students. Perhaps most crucial, Jenna creates a safe space for discussion, allowing her students to relate to topics on their own personal level, and bring real-world concerns and issues into the classroom. Jenna also uses several forms of media in her teaching approach, engaging her students with different modes of representation.
Some of her own favorite texts for the classroom include bell hooks; favorite fairy tales including “Bluebeard,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Beauty and the Beast”; Michelle Alexander, whose work focuses on topics including mass incarceration and “New Jim Crow.” Visual texts include the film, Fruitvale Station, and Buffy and Angel television series.
Jenna’s favorite teaching moment is when students reveal their excitement and passion in discussion, or when someone has changed their mind or gets outraged, questioning why they never learned about such important issues like the wage gap, affirmative action, and so forth, before college.
Although her first undergraduate degree is in theater, Jenna has not participated on the stage for years, but still enjoys seeing plays and musicals. She also teaches drama and its theatrical elements. One of her favorite plays is Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. The genre has shaped her as an instructor—she is very performative.
Heather J. Macpherson is co-editor, alongside colleague Afua Ansong, of Essential Context, the URI English Grad Student Blog. Heather is a PhD student in English at URI, studying creative nonfiction and the essay; she is under the advisement of Dr. Mary Cappello. Her work has appeared in The Doctor T J Eckleburg Review, 580 Split, Concourse-a Journal of the Arts & Sciences, Gravel, and other fine places.