Teacher of the Year 2004-2005
Name: Dr. Jessica Harland-Jacobs
Department: History
College: CLAS
Rank: Assistant Professor
Years at UF: 5
Year and Institution of Ph.D.: 2000, Duke University
Activities that led to award:
I love to hear students tell me that my classes are unlike any other history classes they have taken. I do not believe in innovation for the sake of innovation. But I do think that learning about history and learning to think historically require more than listening to lectures, taking exams, and writing papers. I begin with the course topics themselves. Rather than teaching “Modern Ireland”, I teach “ Ireland in the British Empire.” Rather than binding myself to the traditional unit of historical analysis, the nation state, I teach courses like “Atlantic Exchanges from Columbus to NATO.” I also use innovative course materials (such as novels and films) and active-learning techniques. Referring to the fact that I frequently ask my students to rearrange the furniture in the classroom, a senior colleague once described me as “one of those circle people.” Group activities (like “Designing a Penal Colony” and “Merchants and their Products”) also facilitate the free exchange of ideas and opinions among students. Getting my students invested in the class in these ways helps me achieve my primary goals as a professor of British imperial history: conveying the absolute necessity of understanding the past, demanding students’ think critically, and helping students develop their written communication skills.
