Seth Meisel named a Wisconsin Teaching Scholar
Released: November 3, 2005
“The history department has taken the lead at UW-Whitewater in placing writing at the center of its efforts to encourage analytical thinking and strong communication skills,” said University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Associate Professor Seth Meisel. His interest in exploring student research and written communication are what earned Meisel the UW-Whitewater Wisconsin Teaching Scholar for 2005-06.
The Wisconsin Teaching Scholars is a program designed to give participants the opportunity at a mid-career point to contemplate the nature of their teaching and their students’ learning. Each University of Wisconsin institution selects one mid-to late-career faculty member for a system total of fifteen teaching scholars per year.
“Seth Meisel was an excellent choice to serve as UW-Whitewater’s representative this year because in many ways he exemplifies what a mid-career faculty member should be about: perpetual and ongoing learning and development. From his grant-writing success, to his recent sabbatical, Seth is focused on learning new things in the context of being a better faculty member,” said Associate Dean of Graduate Studies John Stone.
As part of the teaching scholars program, Meisel will be re-evaluating and revising the senior seminar as a course where history majors can produce a significant writing project that exemplifies the skills they’ve acquired in their four years at UW-Whitewater. Meisel will be teaching the senior seminar course for the first time in spring 2006. He plans to incorporate his research findings into the course.
Meisel became interested in student research because of the problems he saw commonly occurring when he gave research assignments to his students. “I have found that students struggle with finding manageable topics to investigate,” he said. “Students take too long to figure out what their project is really about and then it is often too late to really express their findings in a well-developed essay.” This concern prompted Meisel’s quest to figure out how to better introduce students to the process of successfully carrying out large-scale research using original documentation and then placing their interpretations in the context of what other scholars have written about the topic.
“I hope the senior seminar students discover the pleasure of working on topics that interest them and produce essays that they are not only proud of, but will also show prospective employers their high level of research and communication skills,” he said.
As a teaching scholar, Meisel had the opportunity to attend seminars this past summer focusing on how to assess student learning. Meisel said, “One session in particular had helpful information on how to use student journals to ask questions about what they have learned, what their concerns are and the range of obstacles to completing assignments.” The UW System teaching scholars also come together every three months for advising and to discuss their projects. “This is a great opportunity to share ideas with a great group of faculty who are inspired teachers,” Meisel said.
Electronic documentation of the teaching scholar projects will be made available through the UW System’s Office of Professional and Instructional Development Web site. Meisel also plans to publish his results because he believes that the issues his research raises about student research will be of interest to scholars for years to come.
Stone said, “The teaching scholar program is right down Seth’s alley. He'll benefit. The students will benefit. The institution will benefit. And others in the System will benefit from Seth's perspectives.”- Shauna Stevens,stevenssm26@uww.edu
