Example Instructor Pages

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON  |  INSTRUCTOR: ERIC SEVERSON

Eric SeversonHi everyone!  Greetings and welcome to the course. My name is Eric Severson, and I teach philosophy at Seattle University. I was born in Seattle, and raised in Kirkland, Washington.  I met my wife, Misha, when we were both in junior high, and we married right after college.  For the last 15 years I've been teaching various levels of college and graduate philosophy, philosophy of religion and theology.  My Ph.D. is from Boston University, and I taught for 10 years at Eastern Nazarene College, just south of Boston in Quincy, Massachusetts.  We have three kids (now they are ages 18, 15 and 7) and after a decade in Boston we began to wish that our kids could grow up closer to our families. So, in 2013 I resigned my position at ENC and moved back to the Seattle area.  I built a house in Kenmore, Washington, where I currently live next door to my parents, and very near my two sisters and their families.  We figured if we were going to uproot from Boston we had better make good on the promise to connect our lives with the family.

Though I didn't have much experience or training in building, I served as the "builder" for my house, as well as the one for my parents and for my sister. Though we have lived in the place for a year, I'm still working on various parts of the house.  I'm not a great carpenter, but fortunately my family isn't very picky, so I keep putting things together.  My strategy is to over-build everything.  I can hardly lift some of the cabinets and furniture I build, but at least it won't fall apart! HERE (Links to an external site.) is a bed I built out of pallet wood (the wall is pallet wood too).

Though we moved back to the Pacific Northwest for family, I really do love the area.  Hiking is probably my favorite hobby, though I love the ferries, the lakes and the mild weather in the area. Last summer my 15 year old son and I hiked the un-touched Olympic wilderness coast. (Links to an external site.)

In my years as an academic I've published a number of articles and books (Links to an external site.), mostly dealing with ethics, theology and responsibility.  Lately I've been working at the point of intersection between philosophy and psychology.   Mostly it's been the case that my publication work has emerged from my teachings, as is the case with one of the books for this course.

I have many years of experience teaching in classroom, online and hybrid courses, but I have much more to learn.  I am very excited to be teaching for SU's School of New and Continuing Studies.  I particularly appreciate learning alongside students who have years of life experience outside of the academy - when studying philosophy, nothing really can replicate the value of lived experience.  I think you'll find my teaching to be intense but sincere; I take the opportunity to serve in this role very seriously, and will strive at each turn to make this a positive and challenging experience for each of you.

The best way to make contact with me is by email: seversoe@seattleu.edu.  If you have the need for a phone or Skype conversation during the course when I'm not on campus, I can make arrangements to connect with you that way - just start by shooting me an email.  I'm looking forward to getting to know each of you!

 

BUDDHISM & FILM  |  INSTRUCTOR: SHARON SUH

Dr. Sharon A. Suh

Professor

Theology and Religious Studies

Seattle University

suhs@seattleu.edu

(206) 296-6409

I am a Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Seattle University and Pigott McCone Endowed Chair in the Humanities. I earned my Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University and am the author Being Buddhist in a Christian World: Gender and Community (University of Washington Press, 2004) and Silver Screen Buddha: Buddhism in Asian and Western Film (Bloomsbury Press, 2015). Here at Seattle University, I teach courses in Buddhist Thought and Practice; Buddhism, Gender, and Sexuality; Socially Engaged Buddhism; Buddhism and Film, Introduction to Mindfulness; and Introduction to Yoga: History and Practice. In addition to my academic work, I completed my 200 hundred yoga teacher certification training; Yoga for Trauma training, and advanced work in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindful Eating-Conscious Living through the USCD Center for Mindfulness. I offer teachings, lectures, and workshops on the topics of feminism and Buddhism, Buddhism, Gender, and Race, Socially Engaged Buddhism and have also developed and presented workshops on mindful movement, meditation, and mindful eating practices.

Best Way to Contact Me

The best way to contact me is through my email address at suhs@seattle.edu.  Generally, I will respond to your email messages in during the regular business hours of Monday through Friday and will post responses to discussion questions on the Canvas site. You are also welcome to leave a message on my voicemail. My office number is 206-296-6409. I am also available for individual consultations through Zoom or skype. Just make sure to arrange with me at least a three days in advance.

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE QUR'AN  |  INSTRUCTOR: ERICA MARTIN

 

PEOPLE, POWER, & POLITICS  |  INSTRUCTOR: PATRICK SCHOETTMER

Patrick SchoettmerPatrick Schoettmer, PhD
Department of Political Science
Seattle University
schoettp@seattleu.edu
(206) 398-4614
Office: Rianna 102

Howdy! You have the good fortune of having me as your guide to the wonderful world of citizenship and activism in the United States of America. As it happens, I am an expert in American politics. I am a political junkie, so I consume political information voraciously. I am happy to answer any question you might have about how things work, and I am as excited to learn a little bit from each of you as I am to share with you what I know about American politics.

I got my doctoral degree at the University of Notre Dame, and have taught in Oklahoma as well as here at Seattle U. As a scholar and a researcher, I write in particular about how religion and race shape elections, and about how politics shapes our personal identities. I have written about politics among American Muslims and American Buddhists, as well as on how women in evangelical and Catholic churches are differently mobilized into political or community activities. I have also engaged in research on how American politics is changing in response to the growing number of Americans who answer the religion question with a "none of the above". I am currently working on a project looking at how divorce impacts people politically as well as writing a book on American Muslim politics.

BEST WAY TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME
E-mail is always best. As noted above, schoettp@seattleu.edu is the way to go.