Pedagogy Fellows Program

Robert Bednarczyk’s primary role is instructing non-biology majors as part of the General Education Requirement in Biological Sciences as part of The Core. He also participates in instructing non-biology majors that are interested in the health professions as well as biology majors. Examples of courses that he teaches for non-biology majors include "Inquiry-based Exploration of Biology" that focuses on the theme of infectious disease and a topics course called "Biology and Epidemiology of Cancer." He also co-instructed an elective course for biology majors titled "From Diagnostics to Therapy: The Application of Translational Research in Cancer." His pedagogical goals as an instructor include but are not limited to assisting students in the development of learning and critical thinking skills; establishing an inclusive learning environment; and promoting student engagement. These pedagogical goals continue to evolve as he does as an educator. What Robert enjoys most about UChicago students is their enthusiasm to learn no matter what their academic area of focus. They are highly motivated, and each student brings a unique perspective to be shared in class. As an instructor, he teaches his students, but reciprocally, he learns from them with each course taught allowing for an enlightening experience for all.

Anindita Chatterjee teaches courses on global capitalism(s) through a range of sites including philanthropy, fashion, piracy and the university. Her courses reflect her interdisciplinary training in Law, Development Studies and Human Geography. Drawing on these and other fields including Political Economy, History, Cultural Studies among others, her courses examine the relationships and processes through which the global economy is constituted, paying special attention to questions of power. She also teach Global Studies II, a core course that introduces students to research in the four tracks of the major, as well as the two-sequence Global Studies BA Thesis Seminar, which guides Global Studies majors in developing and writing their research projects. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Anindita advises a cohort of GS majors each year. Her pedagogical goal across courses is to enable students to dissect what Gramsci calls "common sense"—the assumptions, categories and logic that underlie our everyday thought and action—and revisit the questions we ask of the contemporary world and of our place and role in it. She is also interested in exploring non-traditional modes of assessment without sacrificing intellectual rigor. Another goal she'd like to pursue over the next couple of years is to teach a course that is open not just to students, but also to people outside the University.

Jean Clipperton sees the classroom as an empowering place for students to learn challenging content and apply a growth mindset. She incorporates active learning exercises and uses specifications grading to assess learning. Jean works to meet students where they are, and to help them work toward content mastery in a way that calls upon their backgrounds, skills, and interests. Learning can be simultaneously challenging and enjoyable and she tries to model that in the classroom.

Sara Dallavalle teaches language and culture courses in Italian, coordinate the first-year Italian sequence, mentor graduate instructors, and help organize cultural events for the Program. She sees language learning as a living process, and she strives to create classrooms where students feel both challenged and inspired to use Italian in meaningful ways. She enjoys experimenting with project-based activities and drawing on films, comics, music, social media, and contemporary literature to bring today’s Italy into focus. What she values most about teaching UChicago students is their curiosity and willingness to think critically, which pushes her to keep her courses fresh and engaging. Building on her background in popular culture and translation studies, she has also created courses on comics that invite students to explore Italian history and society through a lens they are not usually accustomed to, opening up new ways of reading and interpreting across cultures.

Natalie Dowling teaches courses in the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences (MAPSS) on the psychology of communication, critical argument, and applied quantitative methods for social scientists using R and open science frameworks. Her courses emphasize the value of interdisciplinary perspectives, encouraging students to connect concepts across disciplines and methodological approaches. Natalie's research examines how people use language and gesture to co‑create conversation, informing a classroom approach that treats students' own interactional experiences as meaningful data for inquiry. She appreciates the curiosity, skepticism, and tenacity that UChicago students bring into the classroom, creating collaborative environments where students are comfortable taking risks and supporting one another.

Tamara Golan is an art historian who teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses on medieval and early modern art, such as "The Art of Death and Dying in the Middle Ages" and "Witchcraft and the Cultural Imagination." She uses a discovery-based learning approach that emphasizes close-looking and collaborative group work to help students develop visual literacy and learn to analyze art within its historical contexts. Her courses are designed to give students a peek under the hood at how art historical knowledge is created, encouraging them to question the narratives the discipline has constructed and what it privileges as worthy of study. Currently, she is redesigning her Core class on the art of the Reformation to better align the assessments with her pedagogical approach, developing alternatives to traditional assignments that more authentically evaluate the analytical and collaborative skills the students practice in class. She treasures teaching UChicago's exceptionally curious and passionate students and takes particular joy in demystifying art history for those encountering it for the first time.

Kara Ann Hooser is an Assistant Instructional Professor in the Committee on International Relations and an affiliate with the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at the University of Chicago. She offers courses on international relations theory, feminist and queer approaches to global politics, and the everyday practices of peacebuilding, approaching the classroom as a collaborative space where students bring their own experiences and questions into conversation with theory. Her teaching emphasizes storytelling, critical reflection, and creative methods to make global politics feel lived and relational rather than distant or abstract. What Kara enjoys most about teaching UChicago students is their willingness to take intellectual risks and think across boundaries, and she designs her courses to cultivate inclusive, intellectually adventurous spaces where students can connect their learning to questions of justice and practice.

Amanda Jotte is an Assistant Instructional Professor of Statistics and Data Science at the University of Chicago, where she teaches courses in Python programming, machine learning, and data science ethics to undergraduate students. She is actively developing interactive online labs, writing a free, online data science textbook, and creating open educational materials that make coding and statistical reasoning approachable for students of all backgrounds. Her teaching emphasizes reproducibility, creativity, and critical thinking about data. Amanda particularly enjoys the curiosity UChicago students bring to class discussions and their willingness to question assumptions and connect data science to broader social, scientific, and ethical contexts.

Harris Jhan joined the Department of Mathematics at the University of Chicago as an Assistant Instructional Professor in 2024. He primarily teaches introductory classes such as calculus and linear algebra. He has taught these courses many times across institutions, but hopes to adjust his pedagogical approach to better fit the teaching context of UChicago—specifically, the fast-paced nine-week quarter. Harris aims to figure out how to balance this fast pace with active learning and alternative grading, all without overloading himself or his students. He loves that his role at UChicago provides him the opportunity to set multi-year long plans for the way he runs his courses, and he is excited to start incrementally improving.

Kerry Ledoux has been an Instructional Professor at the University since 2014, first in the Social Sciences Division of the College, and then in the Psychology Department beginning in 2018. Kerry teaches in the College’s Mind series, and teaches classes in Psychology including Sensation and Perception, Psychology Research Incubator, and The Disordered Mind. Kerry earned her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before going on to do postdoctoral research at the University of California, Davis. She then worked as a Research Associate in the Department of Neurology at Johns Hopkins before coming to the University of Chicago. Kerry’s research interests are in psycholinguistics; she has used behavioral and electrophysiological measures to study language comprehension in adults, children, and in patient populations (including autism, schizophrenia, and aphasia).

Suhail is an Assistant Instructional Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, where he focuses on teaching introductory computer science courses and database systems. He is passionate about promoting computational thinking as a fundamental skill for all learners and enjoys working with a diverse student body, including undergraduates in the College, master’s students in Public Policy, and Ph.D. students in Computer Science.

Carrie has taught and mentored undergraduates, graduate, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and residents in the laboratory, classroom, and lecture halls at The University of Chicago and beyond. Her pedagogy is informed by her belief that human creativity is essential to navigating blind alleys and dead ends inherent to the scientific process. She is currently working on a new cross-disciplinary course which integrates science, the arts, and culture to "reimagine" cancer metastasis. Her goals for the Pedagogy Fellows Program including expanding and strengthening my pedagogic toolbox and developing this innovative course. Carrie believes UChicago students are world-class, and nothing is more exciting than seeing them develop confidence as they build their scientific and creativity toolboxes. 

As instructional faculty in the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, Tristan’s primary teaching is M. A. students, though he also teaches many upper-level undergraduates and some Ph.D. students. His research area is the Atlantic long eighteenth century, and as a teacher, he designs courses that put eighteenth century literatures and histories into conversation with modern concerns. For example, Tristan is currently teaching a course on ships in literature and film that spans the eighteenth century through the present, and he often teaches a course on Jane Austen that looks at film and television adaptation in addition to Austen's novels. He also teaches in MAPH's Core course and our thesis workshops. Tristan loves how varied our MA students are in background and interests -- everyone from people right out of undergrad to people getting a graduate degree after lengthy careers, and focuses spanning the entirety of the humanities. He aims to work to continue to develop syllabuses and assignment structures that support a wide range of academic and career goals.

Christopher Simon is a former Society of Classical Studies TLL Fellow, who received a PhD from Yale University following a project that explored how ancient thinking about language shaped the historiography of early Rome. He regularly teaches courses in Ancient Greek and Latin at all levels, as well as pedagogy courses for language instructors with a focus on ancient and pre-modern languages. In the Department of Classics, he collaborates closely with instructors throughout the language program, coordinate instruction across the introductory and intermediate language sequences, advise and mentor graduate student instructors, and oversee language placement in Ancient Greek and Latin.

Melissa Tartari teaches empirically focused courses that help students connect economic theory to real-world data—often through hands-on work in R, causal inference, and research design. She works with undergraduates in the standard Economics track and the Data Science specialization, advising on course sequencing and mentoring BA theses. She also serves as preceptor and thesis advisor to MACSS students. Her teaching goals are simple and steady: help students learn to pose sharp economic questions, build credible identification strategies, analyze messy data with reproducible workflows, and communicate findings clearly to technical and non-technical audiences. Melissa emphasizes collaboration, code clarity, and writing as part of the same analytic craft. In light of her non-academic work experience, Melissa also strives to connect the tech industry to academia through real-world data problems and guest practitioners. What she enjoys most about teaching UChicago students is their intellectual curiosity and willingness to wrestle with hard problems. 

Joshua Weatherston is the Assistant Laboratory Director in the Department of Chemistry. He facilitates and supervises chemistry labs and assessments, helps manage laboratory teaching spaces, and teaches general chemistry courses. He also manages the Collaborative Learning in Chemistry (CLiC) program, which brings students together to solve problems through guided collaboration. In the classroom, he particularly enjoys relating scientific principles to everyday observations, helping students to engage with the course material at a deeper level. He has been deeply impressed with the ability of his UChicago students to make these connections, both independently and in collaboration across diverse backgrounds. His current pedagogical goal is to use course design to drive active learning in the classroom.