Teaching Philosophy:

My teaching philosophy is informed by radical pedagogy and community-based learning, and the experience of practicing these approaches with diverse university populations. I see the classroom as a unique space where people can collectively raise awareness about taken for granted elements of culture and society, and gain tools to move beyond boundaries, as well as to imagine and practice alternatives. I teach highly interactive and interdisciplinary courses that engage students in both critical and creative exploration. My goal is to help students wrangle with course concepts in socially relevant ways and to apply their learning to understanding, questioning, and transforming their lives at personal and societal scales.

Experience:

I began teaching in higher education in 1998 as a professional journalist. Since then, I've taught a wide range of courses at three institutions of higher education, including the University of New Mexico, the University of Washington, and the University of Colorado at Denver's International College of Beijing.

Sample Courses:

EcoCulture: Humans and "the Environment" (C&J 512) – a graduate course that examines the cultural and communicative ways that humanity informs, shapes, and shifts relations with “the environment.” For photos one student took of Fall 2008 seminar's 2-day fieldstudy in northern New Mexico, go here. The seminar culminated in public gallery-style interactive creative and research presentations.

Critical and Cultural Studies (C&J 506) – a new graduate methodology course at the University of New Mexico. Students present their final projects in a public colloquium (2007), (2009).

Cultural Places and Spaces (C&J 512) - a graduate fieldstudy course that focuses on spaces as mediated material-symbolic constructions and explores issues of cultural-spatial cooption, resistance, struggle, and transformation. For photos one student took at field study sites in Spring 2009, go here.

EcoCulture: Communication and the Human Relationship with Nature (C&J 413) – an undergraduate course in which we explore local and global human-nature relations as both actively socially constructed and deeply materially experienced.

Introduction to Communication (C&J 101) – The department's introductory course. 100-students, 12 undergraduate facilitators, and one graduate TA.

Selected Publications & Presentations:

•      Milstein, Tema. (2007). Learning in the field: Engaging students via experience and application. Ecologue, Fall, 2-4.
•      Milstein, Tema. "Survive, Critique, and Create: Guideposts for Promoting Social Justice and Environmental Justice through Radical Pedagogy, Eco Pedagogy, and Public Scholarship." Communication and Instruction Interest Group. Western Communication Association. February 2007. Seattle, WA.
•      Milstein, Tema. "The Impact of the Professional Development Seminar Series on Doctoral Education: Moving Forward/Looking Back in Doctoral Education -- Incorporating Findings from the National Re-envisioning the Ph.D. Project into Doctoral Education in Communication in the 21st Century." Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Panel Discussion. National Communication Association, November 2004. Chicago, IL.
•      Milstein, Tema. "Turning Radical: Seeking Balance in Graduate Education." Panelist. Co-sponsored with theme sessions. National Communication Association, November 2001. Atlanta, GA.