I'm an artist who writes and writer who arts. I play with words as art and art as language.
I am a first-generation doctoral candidate and recovering academic on hiatus, slowing down to focus on personal and exploratory critical reading, writing, and thinking as an important part of the teaching, learning, and research process. My interests include arts-based teaching and learning, arts-based knowledge translation, and rhetoric and critical literacy for building understanding, finding common ground, and making more informed choices about what we feel, think, and do in our daily lives. I believe in the power of intellectual humility and am comfortable saying "I don't know." Curiosity is my superpower and I practice co-building that value collectively across across difference, relationships, and environments.
As an advocate for critical thinking through arts-based teaching and learning, I am committed to championing public education in Iowa and beyond. I was born and raised in Cedar Falls, and grew up in a working-class family. My ancestors emigrated from Northern Europe and I am a fifth-generation Iowan whose paternal great-grandfather, Charles Burton Santee, was a legislator and civic leader serving as a Representative in the Iowa Legislature from 1917-1923, not long before the onset of the Great Depression. He served on many committees including the House Normal Schools committee of the 37th General Assembly. Also known as C.B. Santee, he served on the board of education in Cedar Falls and was a champion of the cause of public schools. In 1912 he was elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in support of Senator A.B. Cummins, leader of Progressive reforms in Washington DC and Iowa.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Where are you from? My mother's uterus.
Education? The best education is life. I'm currently a doctoral candidate in Teaching and Learning at the University of Iowa. I have an MA in English-Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a BA in Art-Teaching with a minor in Anthropology from the University of Northern Iowa.
What classes do you teach? I have an interdisciplinary background. These are some classes I've taught across multiple disciplines:
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Seminar in Critical Reading, Writing, and Thinking (UWEC)
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Exploring Visual Arts: Production and Critique (UWEC)
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Sketchbooks: Exploring Creative Processes (UWEC)
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Teacher as Change Agent (UNI)
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PreK-8 Exploratory Art (UNI, Malcolm Price Laboratory School)
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Educational Psychology (IOWA)
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Creativity, Imagination, Play, Human Development through the Arts (IOWA)
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Introduction and Practicum: Secondary English (IOWA)
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Family Literacy Program English Language Class
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Continuing Education classes and community workshops
What advice do you have for young people online? Remember they are called influencers for a reason. You are already good enough. You matter. Critical thinking takes time. Critical thinking builds self-trust. Critical thinking is empowering individually and collectively across difference, relationships, and environments. That matters for all of us.
What are your favorite books? All of them. That's hyperbole. I've read so many books that I don't remember them all. I tend to read nonfiction most often. I love history and cultural studies. A few fiction authors I read repeatedly include Louise Erdrich, Barbara Kingsolver, and Toni Morrison. A favorite novel is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Bettie Smith.