Interview - Michelle Rossi, Hannah Nelson, Nina Fontana, Alicia Garcia, and Peter Torres

Description

Five Teaching Assistant Consultants from the Center for Educational Effectiveness discuss transitioning from remote to in-person teaching and learning, technology tools that help with such transitions, and the lessons learned about assessing UC Davis students in our classes.

Link to the video: https://video.ucdavis.edu/media/SITT+2021+--+Interview+with+Five+TA+Consultants+on+Teaching+Remotely+and+In+Person/1_mdzwuju6


About the Interviewees

Michelle Rossi is a PhD Candidate in Sociology, where she has served as an Associate Instructor and TA for six years. As well, she works in the Center for Educational Effectiveness as a Graduate Student Researcher and Teaching Assistant Consulting Fellow and for Student Affairs, as a Success Coach and Learning Strategist. Her dissertation research explores Graduate and Professional Education and the structural mechanisms that reproduce inequalities.

Hannah Nelson is a PhD candidate in the Population Biology Graduate Group, a Teaching Assistant and Associate Instructor for the Evolution & Ecology Department, and a Teaching Assistant Consultant Fellow for the Center for Educational Effectiveness. She’s been teaching for six years and is passionate about creating engaging and inclusive classrooms. Her research investigates life history evolution in the sea and how college students think about animal diversity.

Nina Fontana is a Ph.D. candidate in Ecology and a Teaching Assistant Consultant Fellow for the Center for Educational Effectiveness. With 15 years of teaching in both the secondary and postsecondary setting, internationally and nationally, Nina is committed to fostering student creativity, inquiry and critical thinking, both in and out of the classroom. Her research centers around traditional ecological knowledge, food sovereignty, and translational ecology.

Alicia Garcia is a Ph.D. candidate in Education and a Teaching Assistant Consultant Fellow for the Center for Educational Effectiveness. Alicia has served as a Teaching Assistant for the School of Education and Chicana/o Studies department for five years, and an Assistant Instructor for Education for the past four years. Her research focuses on minoritized students who have experienced academic challenges, such as academic probation and academic dismissal on their path to graduation.

Peter Torres is a PhD candidate in Linguistics and a Teaching Assistant Consultant fellow for the Center of Educational Effectiveness. He has been teaching at UC Davis for five years as either a TA or Associate Instructor. His research is on the language of opioid policies and the vocal expression of chronic pain in medical interactions. His teaching style combines accessibility, integrated design, and personality to make sure students are learning.

Hannah Nelson
Hannah Nelson
Nina Fontana
Nina Fontana
Alicia Garcia
Alicia Garcia
Peter Torres
Peter Torres