Research Interests: Universal design for online learning; nature writing and the personal narrative; teaching critical thinking; critical animal studies.
Social Change Interests: Disability equity; anti-racism; animal rights; protecting wildlife habitat; climate change and sustainable plant-based agriculture.
Joined Walden: 2017
Location: Kansas
About Chris: I have been teaching in distance education since 2003. I hold an MFA in creative writing and an MS in adult education. I enjoy teaching Grad Writing I, II, and III. My goal is to assist students in achieving their research and writing goals. I love teaching and helping students make connections between academic writing and their roles as social change agents. When I am not teaching, I am at a nearby wetlands or state park doing wildlife photography and nature writing.
Being Together in Place: Indigenous Coexistence in a More Than Human World, by Soren C. Larsen and Jay T. Johnson, University of Minnesota Press, 2017. Wakarusa Wetlands photo contributions.
Culture of the Wakarusa Wetlands" Photos and interview in Environmental Issues of the Wakarusa Wetlands, University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kansas, May 2014.
My Advice to Walden Students
Believe your voice matters. Think about the passion that brought you to Walden and let that passion inform your work as a scholar.
Make connections between your research, writing, and social change. Believe your actions ripple out and make waves.
Believe your scholarly work can change the world.
Why I Enjoy Teaching at Walden:
I believe strongly in education as both revelatory and transformative. As a returning adult and first-generation college student, university education changed my life. The professors who taught and mentored me made such a difference in my life. There is joy in seeing others make those connections and transform their lives.
My Teaching Philosophy:
I respect the previous knowledge of learners and believe we are the experts on our own lives. I believe in meeting students where they are and supporting them in their educational goals. In my role teaching Graduate Writing I, II, and III, my goal is always to help students become more effective academic writers, turning scholarship into practice.