How Prof. Tim Essington Works

Tim Essington, Professor

Department/program: School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Research focus: Marine Biology and Conservation

Tim Essington is a marine biologist whose research focuses on fisheries policy tools and fisheries management. In a recent feature article by the Whole U, Essington explained how comedy improv helped him learn to embrace mistakes. Now, he teaches an improv course for students in the environmental studies department, aimed at helping them communicate their research.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work:

Positively

How do you manage your to-dos?

I am completely reliant on Todoist. I keep multiple to-do lists going, one for short term (daily), another for medium term (weekly +) and then another for long term (quarterly). Most importantly, I never use my email as a de facto to do list. All emails are either assigned to the ToDoist app, responded to, or deleted immediately.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

R, iCalendar, Chrome, Adobe Acrobat, MS Office, Matlab, Todoist

Where do you most often work?

On campus, in my office.

How do you manage your time?

I schedule time for everything. If it doesn’t go on my calendar, I won’t do it. I try to get blocks of dedicated time for particular activities, keeping in mind that my mind is usually mush between 2 and 4 p.m. but is much sharper from 8—11 a.m.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

Saying “no” to interesting opportunities.

What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in academia?

Scheduling time to do things that are important, and delegating tasks as much as possible. Like most people, I find the challenge lies in seeing the forest beyond the trees.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at?

I am very good at trying to reduce the amount of North Italian white wines in the world.

What are you currently reading for pleasure?

The Sellout by Paul Beatty

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

Oh gosh, I laugh all the time. I perform at a local comedy improv theater, so every practice and every show I’m surrounded by very funny people. I’ve noticed that ever since I started doing this, I see the funny in everyday life much more clearly.

How do you recharge?

Exercise, work-free days with my spouse, and learning new things.

What’s your sleep routine like?

Rigid!

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Say what you do and do what you say.

Who’s your support system?

My amazing spouse. She’s simply amazing.

What pitfall do you consistently see students falling into?

Worrying that they aren’t doing “enough” and being overly critical of their own work.

What do your most successful students do?

They take ownership and leadership over their research, take risks and have a decent work/life balance.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

Did you enjoy this series? Check back Wednesdays during the Spring quarter for the latest mid-week motivation! While you wait, you can read more in this series, nominate a student or professor to be featured, or answer the questions yourself! (Students should answer the questions via this form; faculty should use this form. If you prefer to answer the questions over email, drop us a line at gradnews@uw.edu).

How Laura Koehn Works

Laura Koehn, Ph.D. Student, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

Neighborhood: Fremont
Area of study, as you would tell your advisor: Fisheries management
Area of study, as you would tell your family: Marine ecology

Laura Koehn studies interactions between forage fish, predators and forage fisheries in the California Current. She is the recipient of several scholarships and grants, including a North Pacific Marine Science Organization travel award and a Pacific Seabird Group Travel award this year. In 2015, Koehn received an honorable mention for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. As an undergraduate at the UW, she studied penguins in Argentina with Dee Boersma and The Penguin Project.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work:

Effectively

How do you manage your to-dos?

I write to-do lists in a notebook or day planner.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

R studio, Dropbox, Excel, Gmail

Where do you most often work?

My office.

How do you manage your time?

When I have a bunch of things that need to get done, I tackle what I’m most interested in working on first, unless there is something with a nearer deadline. I also like to give myself deadlines for smaller tasks that make up a bigger task.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

I use the people around me as resources when I don’t know answers instead of endlessly Googling/searching.

What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in school?

Focus on small chunks of work to accomplish bigger tasks, that way you feel good about completing something sooner. Take breaks — if you really can’t focus, it’s better to take a 15 minute or so break and get some fresh air than continue to try and struggle through. Alternate between tasks you find fun and those that are mundane or hard.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at?

Riding the bus.

What are you currently reading? For pleasure, if possible.

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

When I was cooking an egg tonight and went to flip it and dropped it off the stove.

How do you recharge?

Going for little adventures around town — trips to bookstores, new breakfast restaurants, etc.

What’s your sleep routine like?

I usually get to bed around 11 p.m. and wake up around 7:30 a.m. I get at least eight hours of sleep the majority of nights. However, my cat wakes me up a lot in the middle of the night so my sleep is interrupted, which I don’t recommend.

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Know how to communicate your science to any audience.

Who’s your support system?

My boyfriend and the other ladies in my lab. And my cat.

What do you wish you had started doing sooner in grad school?

Stating my thoughts, opinions and ideas more readily and openly at group meetings, with my advisory committee, and during collaborative projects — i.e., being more confident in my own ideas.

Stopped doing sooner?

Neglecting my health. I wish I had stopped not leaving time to exercise and take care of myself.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

From an Overworked TA

The class I am a TA for requires 12 hours of student interaction and about half a day of preparing materials. Every week. This is way more than the 20 hours/week that I am paid to do. The instructor knows this and had originally requested twice as many TAs as we have, but the department, being broke, only assigned two of us for this awful job. This particular class is known to be this way, as I have learned from talking to past sufferers. I have been TA-ing for two years now and have noticed a wild disparity in the workload for different classes. My question is: how is this fair? The department pays everyone the same amount, still how is it that some TAs get away with just 4 hours of work while others have to do upwards of 20? Since this is an issue of the department, I don’t know how to proceed. The officials in the department get very defensive when asked this. I don’t want to risk not being considered for future TA positions and am therefore not going to pursue the topic with them, but isn’t this just exploitation of us students by those in power? If the department has no money, they should figure out a better way to do this than exploit two students every  quarter (yes, this class is taught every quarter). I am at a loss here and am losing my sanity not finding time to do anything else that actually matters for my Ph.D. Please help. –Anonymous

This week’s answer is provided after consultation from the Labor Relation’s Office.

Yikes. I’m sorry this TA-ship has been such a negative experience for you. Fortunately, you have resources at your disposal to help you resolve some of these issues.

You’ve said you do not wish to pursue these issues with your department. But you should know all academic staff employees are covered under a collective bargaining agreement by UAW Local Union 4121. If you do want to file a grievance against your department, the Union will help you do that. A Union representative urges Academic Student Employees to remember that addressing workplace concerns is time-sensitive under the Union contract.

Another resource available to you is the Office of the Ombud, which provides a space for members of the UW community to voice their concerns and develop plans for addressing difficult situations. The Ombud is easily accessible, with offices on all three campuses. Students contact the Ombud to discuss a range of issues including TA appointments. They are your go-to for addressing problems with the department’s culture. They’ll advise you on your situation without starting a formal complaint or grievance, and they won’t contact your department about the matter unless you ask them to do so.

Best of luck!

Ask the Grad School Guide is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the guide doesn’t know the answer, the guide will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The guide is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →

How Alex Bolton Works

Alex Bolton, J.D. ’16, (former) GPSS President

Department/program: Law
Neighborhood: Ballard and Orting
Area of study, as you would tell your advisor: Law
Area of study, as you would tell you family: Law, with an interest in state government and higher education

Alex Bolton, J.D. ’16, bleeds purple and gold. He earned his B.A., a M.P.A. and his J.D. from the University of Washington, and was named to the Husky 100 in 2016. Keeping with his service to the UW, he was President of the Graduate & Professional Student Senate from 2015-2016. He has worked as a legal intern for the Washington State Senate Committee Services and as a Law Clerk for the Washington State Office of the Attorney General.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work:

Strategically.

How do you manage your to-dos?

Prioritize, delegate, write lists and use email as a de facto list.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

Email, calendar, Twitter

Where do you most often work?

I do my GPSS work at the office, and my school work at the library.

How do you manage your time?

Prioritize and review my calendar each morning.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

Being in the office and available — I think it helps avoid emails and additional meetings.

What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in school?

Learning how to prioritize, and often realizing that not everything is going to get done. Properly valuing sleep has helped as well to make sure that I am more productive while awake. I have flirted with the minimal sleep boundary a little too much this year.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at?

Listening.

What are you currently reading? For pleasure, if possible.

Astoria by John Jacob Astor and Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Thomas Jefferson

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

The Grinder.

How do you recharge?

Sleep, spending time with my girlfriend and her two daughters, traveling, hiking, Husky sports.

What’s your sleep routine like?

This year, not enough during the week. I try to get no less than six hours a night. Before this year, I shot for eight hours, and usually got seven hours.

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Nobody’s going to die if you don’t do it perfect.

Who’s your support system?

My girlfriend, best friends from undergrad and friends I have made through GPSS. Coach Petersen.

What do you wish you had started doing sooner in grad school?

Prioritizing working out (I still haven’t).

Stopped doing sooner?

I weaned off of coffee somehow and switched to tea during law school. I wish I would have done that sooner.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

How Prof. Scott Freeman Works

Scott Freeman, Principal Lecturer

Department/program: Biology
Research focus: Teaching — course innovations and their impact on student learning

Scott Freeman is known on campus as a champion of active-learning strategies. A lecturer in Biology, he employs flipped-classroom learning techniques in his courses, and students are responding with higher GPAs and lower fail rates. A former UW graduate student himself, Freeman earned his Ph.D. in zoology in 1991, and after a post-doctoral fellowship at Princeton, returned to the UW as Director of Public Programs at the Burke Museum. Freeman was a recipient of the UW Distinguished Teaching Award in 2010.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work:

Lots.

How do you manage your to-dos?

Hand-written notes, also sticky notes on my computer start-up screen.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

Microsoft Office Suite (standard stuff), Acrobat Professional, DropBox, Google Docs (less so).

Where do you most often work?

My office in Hitchcock Hall.

How do you manage your time?

Start work in the very early morning, when there few distractions. Be disciplined about web surfing.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

Bike commute as exercise.

What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in academia?

Say no to travel (or research or service) opportunities unless they are particularly high impact. Teach the same courses over and over and make them better each time, versus many new preps.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at?

Telling Toyvo and Lena jokes.

Who are Toyvo and Lena?

Sometimes called Ole and Lena jokes, they are jokes told in a heavy Swedish accent about first-generation Scandinavians in Minneysotor. I mean Minnesota.

What are you currently reading for pleasure?

Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

Changes every few minutes.

How do you recharge?

Work in the woods (reforestation project); raise puppies for a service dog agency. Weekly dinners with family from the area.

What’s your sleep routine like?

In bed by 10 p.m., up by 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. Sleep until 7 a.m., or even 8 a.m. on weekends. Here you can find catalog when you can purchase peptides easily, fast shipping from US

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Get back up, and keep going.

Who’s your support system?

My spouse, family and friends.

What pitfall do you consistently see students falling into?

Self-doubt is number one; for some, poor time management.

What do your most successful students do?

Focus. And believe in themselves and the importance of their work.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

How Prof. Pepper Schwartz Works

Pepper Schwartz, Professor

Department/program: Sociology
Research focus: Intimate Relationships, Sexuality, Gender, Communication

Got love problems? As a sociologist and sexologist, Pepper Schwartz has some solutions. She is the author of 16 books, including The Great Sex Weekend, The Lifetime Love and Sex Quiz Book, and Everything You Know About Love and Sex is Wrong. She’s the national Love & Relationship Expert & Ambassador for the AARP, and has written advice columns on love and sex for decades. Got time management problems? Schwartz helps us tackle those, too, with a few tips for getting things done.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work:

Focused

How do you manage your to-dos?

I make a lot of lists and constantly revise them (especially when I continually don’t meet my own expectations of what I hope to accomplish on a specific day). I sometimes put them on my phone, but I really am still a paper and pencil girl, so I usually have a sheet of paper near my desk about what I hope to do and what is on the horizon. I am often wildly optimistic and have to deal with the often experienced reality that everything takes longer than you think it will.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

I use my computer and my iPhone. I am not a technophobe but I am a late adopter to say the least.

Where do you most often work?

I go back and forth between my home office and my office at the University. I almost always working at a desk. I think I am trained to work at a desk. When I am working with someone else it will often be at a table. A few times I have gone away with a co-author just to get away from anything but the project at hand.

How do you manage your time?

Sometimes well; sometimes not so impressively. I tend to write every day, but the time of day changes depending on what else I have to do (teach, see friends, family stuff, traveling). I am very efficient and focused on airplanes. I think of them as big floating offices and get a lot done on them.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

I have someone else to do some of the library research for me. When she or he has assembled either summaries of things I need to read, or arranged the articles for me to read them, I can write speedily and well. I also try and hire student workers for just about everything I can: to write letters, follow up on lecture commitments, get supplies, you name it.

What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in academia?

I have worked a lot with graduate students which, of course, helps us both. I love having someone to think with; sometimes they write the first draft, but I often do, or edit quite heavily. I also write a lot late at night when it’s quiet in the house and I can get mesmerized by what I am doing without interruptions.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at?

I write first drafts very quickly.

What are you currently reading for pleasure?

I have decided just this year to read fiction again — a seriously guilty pleasure. I read Circling the Sun, a fictionalized story about Beryl Markham, the woman pilot in Africa who was part of a fascinating group of people. I am in a book club and this helps me try out things I wouldn’t ordinarily read. I do love historical biographies too and will go through binges of reading them — and then stop when I need to use that time for something else. I also do some travel writing and research, so I love to read travel writers and travel magazines.

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

Amy Schumer in Trainwreck. It was a hysterical movie — she is crude and funny and very smart. I love movies that are not tragic or violent — that sculpts my choices down a bit.

How do you recharge?

I ride my horse, play with my dogs, have dinner with my guy, meet a friend for coffee. I love almost any kind of romantic travel.

What’s your sleep routine like?

Uneven. When I am with my fiancé we go to sleep at about 10 p.m. When I am home alone I tend to read or work or watch a movie too late. When I am home alone, my dogs gather ‘round me and my German Shepard takes Fred’s place on the other pillow. Wherever I am, I wake up about 7 a.m.

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Never sell yourself short. Another thing that sounds bad but was invaluable was when my mom told me, “remember you are always alone.” She meant that you had to be true to yourself and not do things just to be liked or fit in. Ultimately you are alone with yourself, and you better learn how to like that and be comfortable with that.

Who’s your support system?

I am lucky, and I have worked hard to have depth and quantity in my support system. It includes many close women friends, a few close male friends, my fiancé, my son and daughter. When I was younger I had an extraordinary colleagueship and friendship with Phil Blumstein. He was my colleague, co-author and best friend for many years. Tragically, he died of AIDS and like many gay men of his time was robbed of the full length of life he deserved. He was amazing and we were continually with each other for twenty years. I have another close friend who teaches in L.A., Janet Lever who has been my friend and often co-author since undergraduate school days. I am close to several ex-students and people who have worked with and for me.

What pitfall do you consistently see students falling into?

Doing their dissertation on something that is not their passion and not something they can build a deep research agenda around.

What do your most successful students do?

Get passionate about a research area, snag a professor to help them develop it, publish early and stay excited about their work.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

How Prof. Dee Boersma Works

Dee Boersma, Wadsworth Endowed Chair in Conservation Science and Director, Center for Ecosystem Sentinels

Department/Program: Biology
Research focus: Seabirds and Conservation

Known as the Jane Goodall of penguins, Boersma is, by all accounts, a force of nature. At age 22, she spent a year living on the uninhabited Galapagos Islands, studying penguins. Since then, she has become a highly distinguished researcher of seabirds. Her research focuses on the well-being of penguins and what they tell us about the state of our environment. Boersma has received more than a dozen awards for her work, including a UW Distinguished Teaching Award in 1993.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work:

Smart.

How do you manage your to-dos?

Often with lists.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

There are few apps I enjoy.

Where do you most often work?

Outside.

How do you manage your time?

I save some for something I want to do.

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

I use a canned letter for students interested in graduate school that is long, detailed, and should help them think about if they need to go to graduate school and where they should consider applying.

Life

What are you currently reading for pleasure?

The AARP magazine.

How do you recharge?

I get away from apps, email and other technologies.

What’s your sleep routine like?

I go to bed at 10:21 each night.

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

It doesn’t matter where you go to graduate school as long as it is a PAC-12, Big 10 or Ivy League School.

Who’s your support system?

My friends.

What pitfall do you consistently see students falling into?

Not focusing on the problem they are trying to solve. They get distracted by technology and do not spend time thinking.

What do your most successful students do?

They use their time productively and work smart.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

How Prof. Shawn Wong Works

Shawn Wong, Professor
Department/program: English and Comparative Literature, Cinema and Media
Research focus: Asian American literature, fiction, screenwriting, creative writing

Professor Shawn Wong has taught around the globe — at Universität Tübingen (Germany), Jean Moulin Université (Lyon, France), University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and at the University of Washington Rome Center (Italy). He’s been honored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the author of several anthologies and novels; one of his novels, American Knees, was made into a movie in 2013. He is one of the founding teachers of The Red Badge Project, a collaboration with actor Tom Skeritt that uses the power of storytelling to help veterans process trauma. He’s given advice for first-year students at the UW, and now he’s giving us some tips and tricks for getting it all done.

Work

Give us a one-word description of how you work.

Creatively.

How do you manage your to-dos?

I write them down in a notebook, then try and remember where I put the notebook.

What are your essential apps, software or tools?

Word, Google, the New York Times

What is your best time-saving shortcut?

I work in my office rather than at home.

What are some of your productivity strategies you’ve honed over your years in academia?

Though it takes more time, I prefer to meet face-to-face with my students rather than send them an email so that we can have a conversation, debate, come to agreement, etc. I like to “see” that they understand something. I think it’s more effective to comment on their writing in person rather than write notes in the margin that they might not read. Also, I like my students to work collaboratively on almost everything from writing papers, doing research and even taking exams.

Life

What mundane thing are you really exceptional at?

Housecleaning.

What are you currently reading for pleasure?

Novels written by friends of mine (so I don’t have to lie to them anymore about having read their books).

What’s the last thing that made you laugh?

My son’s concept of the world.

How do you recharge?

I own a 1968 Plymouth Roadrunner muscle car.

Inspiration

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

My mentor, the American writer Kay Boyle, told me, “Writing is about belief.”

Who’s your support system?

My family.

What pitfall do you consistently see students falling into?

Choosing a path that they aren’t committed to, or choosing a path that’s chosen by their parents or someone else.

What do your most successful students do?

They find a path that satisfies their heart and their mind.

How UW Works was inspired by LifeHacker’s How I Work.

Tips for Postdocs from National Postdoc Association Meeting

On March 18-19, 2017, leadership from OPA and UWPA participated in the 15^th Annual National Postdoc Association meeting in San Francisco. Three members from the Fred Hutch Student and Postdoc Advisory Committee also attended, and a postdoc from Center for Infectious Disease Research (CIDR) so Seattle was well-represented! There were many good working sessions and an opportunity to learn from our peer institutions and other postdoc-led organizations. Here are just a few insights for postdocs gathered from the meeting – we will be sharing more in the coming weeks.

Seek experiences outside your primary research group. Peter Fiske, plenary speaker and consultant/entrepreneur, advised spending as much as 20% of your time exploring other resources and experiences on and off campus. Academic training is good at providing deep expertise, and yet “you have a keel without a boat”. PhDs have a tremendous amount to offer, but need more experience in adaptability, collaborative problem-solving, leadership to be successful in future careers, in and outside academia.
All jobs come through relationships. Expand your network. Networking is about genuine relationships created through shared interests or connections; it is not about shallow schmoozing with dozens. Use your existing network of peers and advisors to connect you. Ask for help. Join our UW Postdoc LinkedIn group as one starting point, and seek out other online spaces (including Twitter) where your professional societies or disciplines connect.
Know your rights. As a pregnant postdoc, you have federal protections under the ADA and Title IX. We will do a separate blog post on this to clarify rights of pregnant and parenting postdocs. One national survey showed only 40% of pregnant postdocs requested some kind of accommodation during pregnancy (e.g. modifying schedules, avoiding lifting, limiting toxic exposures, etc.) as compared to 70% in other sectors. You need to ask – it is a protected right!
Build your Mentoring Plan: We heard advice from the NSF program officers that the culture is changing for postdocs from an apprenticeship model (where you learn by doing and watching) to professional training model. Be explicit with your research advisor about the time you want to spend on professional development, how and why. And build your mentoring team also, so you have a broader base of input to guide your career development.
Include Work/Life Balance in your IDP. Resilience is coping with, bouncing back from, and adapting to difficult situations – and academic life is full of them. Resilience requires we invest in ourselves and the things that renew or sustain us. Set goals and milestones for dimensions of the “wellness wheel” that are important for you now (e.g. financial, physical, nutritional, relational, spiritual…). Schedule yourself on your calendar to make sure these things happen.
Make your dollars go further. Apply for travel awards through professional societies and foundations. Ask your PI or department to match what you bring in. Seek external sponsors for events you want to hold (e.g. donating pizza to a lunch gathering). Consult with the librarian who researches funding sources and can advise you on tailoring your searches (at UW it is the Graduate Funding Information Service).
Culture Fit: If you are considering a position, how do you find out about the organizational culture there? Culture goes beyond stated vision and values to daily practices, and how people engage with each other. Culture is “the way we do things around here”. Ask a range of people about it during your interviews and site visits. Also, do the self-reflection and assessment work to learn what is most important to you in a workplace culture (what makes you happy and productive?). Do your research and ask yourself: Will you thrive, personally and professionally in the organizational culture?

And don’t forget that all UW postdocs, faculty, and staff are eligible for a free membership with NPA because UW is a sustaining institutional member. You get access to resources behind their firewall and also connected with their networks. Please email OPA if you are interested in the affiliated membership from NPA.

Strategies to Create Learning Environments for All

The UW Office of the Provost sent an e-mail to faculty and teaching assistants outlining concrete recommendations for sustaining “vibrant classroom discussions at a time when current events have produced sharp political differences among us.” The goal of the message was to equip all of our instructors with best practices to “establish… respectful class discussions in which students from across the spectrum may fully engage.” As we all wrap up the Winter Quarter and prepare for Spring, there might be a few ideas from that message to consider.

While designed for instructors, the Provost’s recommendations can be shared and practiced by all UW students—as we all have the capacity to foster inclusive learning environments. We at Core Programs have adapted and expanded upon these tips as you’ll see below. If you are interested in learning more, check out these resources curated by the UW Seattle Center for Teaching and Learning.

Engaging Each Other. Collaborate with your peers to come up with discussion guidelines that will help you down the road, if a discussion feels challenging or becomes heated. UW Professor Gino Aisenberg and doctoral student Ada Onyewueni provide excellent examples of guidelines for engagement from their course syllabi:

Listen well without interrupting
Practice being present to each member of the group
Notice if you’re speaking a lot, then step back to make room for peers to speak
Assume that you might miss things that peers see and see things that peers miss
Surface your feelings in such a way that makes it easier for peers to surface theirs
Regard your views as a perspective onto the world, not the world itself
Reiterating these discussion guidelines periodically can help ensure that all students’ voices are heard

Creating Norms. Fundamental to any inclusive learning environment is honoring the belief that disagreement is okay, but disrespect is not. This is accomplished by setting up and practicing norms for intentional, respectful dialogue. Consider these practices offered by the University of Michigan:

Criticize ideas, not individuals in your group
Avoid blame, speculation, or derogatory language
Avoid assumptions about members of your discussion group
Avoid generalizations about social groups based on race, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, or citizenship
Do not ask individuals to speak for their (perceived) social or cultural group

This Takes Practice. Creating intentional and respectful dialogues among peers takes consistent and sustained practice. There will be discomfort, yet in discomfort there is also the possibility of learning. As we work together, we will all make mis-steps in different ways and need to recover. There is a lot going on in any one person’s history and life, and it can help to give a generous read to see where a person might be coming from. Depending on how much energy you have in the moment, you can choose what to do with a conversation mis-step. Each day will be different. Consider what could work for you and your peers.

We hope that as the new quarter begins, you may try out something from these recommendations and see what works for you and your peers.

Best,

Kelly, Jaye, and Ziyan
Core Programs Team

Additional Resources

Watch a recent panel discussion on the meaning of free speech in the context of a public university called Speech and Counter Speech: Rights and Responsibilities, sponsored by the UW Race & Equity Initiative.