The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences has named three recipients of the 2016-17 Outstanding Teaching Award: Daniel Brewster, Kristina Hash and Alex Snow.
“Eberly is proud of its tradition of excellence in teaching and learning,” said Gregory Dunaway, dean for the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. “This year’s awardees for outstanding teaching exemplify the high standards and values that are embedded in our tradition of excellence. I am extremely grateful for the contributions made by these individuals on behalf of our students’ education and our entire college is fortunate to have Daniel Brewster, Kristina Hash, and Alex Snow among our ranks.”
Daniel Brewster, an instructor in the department of sociology and anthropology, incorporates the study of media into his classes to illustrate how it influences our understanding. He said he aspires to teach students that the subjects most divisive in our society are mostly social constructions of realities.
“In each of my classes, I attempt to bring the humanity to the classroom, to relate to my students on a level that they will understand, to speak with them, rather than to them,” Brewster said. “In every lecture, I attempt to relate it to my life, their lives, our campus, our state, our country or their generation.”
His teaching interests include race, class, gender, sexuality, social change and movements, conflict theory, feminist theory and how the media influences our understanding. Brewster received his master’s degree in communication studies from West Virginia University in 2004.
Kristina Hash, professor in the department of social work, helped develop the Gerontology Certificate Program and a continuing education-based Gerontology Practitioner Certificate.
“In the past 14 years, I have worked to influence geriatric education along the full continuum,” she said. “Living and teaching in the second oldest state where its elder residents experience significant disadvantages, I have felt a responsibility to commit to this content area.”
Her research interests include aging and health care, family caregiving, gay and lesbian issues, geriatric education and use of technology in teaching and research. Hash received her doctorate in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2001.
Alex Snow, assistant professor of religious studies, bases his courses on the idea that the study of religion and culture is not a task of memorization, but an opportunity to listen, to respond, to tell a story and see the world in all its complexity.
“As an undergraduate, it was the excitement and engagement I sensed in my professors for their own work that drew me to the liberal arts and humanities environment,” Snow said. “Today, I try to show that same passion for my work and teaching to my own students.”
His research interests include comparative forays into international, contemporary science studies and the mutual metaphors of place and vibration within these disciplines. Snow received his doctorate in religion from Syracuse in 2009.
