Teaching Mentors

Isaac Barnhill

Teaching Departments: Physics

Isaac began teaching as a peer mentor tutor in the UW Physics Learning Center during undergraduate studies. Now a PhD student in the Physics Department, Isaac has primarily taught electromagnetism, circuits, and optics at the introductory level. Isaac’s research is focused on increasing student agency and decision making in the laboratory component of their physics classes. By shifting the focus of lab activities from content reinforcement to engaging in authentic scientific practices, Isaac hopes to increase students’ sense of engagement and intellectual ownership in the classroom while simultaneously helping students build their data literacy and critical thinking skills. One of his favorite aspects of teaching is seeing students improve their ability to understand, describe, and predict the physical world around them. He always seeks to center the student by promoting active learning in the classroom, allowing students to work out their thoughts in an environment with both high expectations and high support.

Laura Broman

Teaching Department: Communication Arts

Laura is a PhD candidate in Media and Cultural Studies in the Communication Arts department. She has four years of teaching experience, two from the University of Southern California and two from UW-Madison. She has found that working as a Teaching Assistant in the Comm Arts class “Survey of Contemporary Media” has been hugely important to her own education as a teacher. Her goal for that course—and as a teacher in general—has been to get students to think critically about the role media plays in their society and their own lives. In leading discussions on these topics, she seeks to create a safe, welcoming atmosphere where students are encouraged to be curious and work through complex topics together.

Wil Dubree

Teaching Department: School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Wil has been teaching undergraduate and graduate students across multiple universities since the age of 19. He specializes in delivering technical and quantitative coursework to students with limited backgrounds in mathematics and coding. Recognizing the challenges these subjects present, he prioritizes adaptive teaching methods tailored to individual learning needs. His approach emphasizes clarity, accessibility, and structured peer collaboration to enhance comprehension and engagement. Committed to fostering an inclusive learning environment, Wil strives to make complex concepts approachable and relevant, helping students gain both technical proficiency and confidence in their abilities.

Michelle Marrero Garcia

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: Physics

Michelle started teaching in her first semester of the Physics PhD program. She has taught either kinematics or electromagnetism at the introductory level (every semester since then), but she loves teaching any subject within Physics. Her favorite part is watching the face of her students light up as they explore the world through a new lens. In Michelle’s approach to teaching, she always tries to be empathic and put herself in the student’s position. She has found that having changed her field of study from mechanical engineering (as an undergrad) to physics (as a grad) gave her the ability to understand how students that are new to the subject think and feel.

Marissa Gurtler

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: Classical & Ancient Near Eastern Studies 

Patricia Haberkorn

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: German, Nordic, & Slavic+

Patricia (she/her) is a Ph.D. student in Second Language Acquisition and German. Since 2021, she has been teaching German language and culture courses in both German and English at UW-Madison. Patricia’s student-centered teaching approach integrates universal design for learning and culturally sustaining pedagogy. Patricia cares about students as individuals with different identities, about their learning inside and outside of her classroom, and about class community and learning atmosphere. By bringing authentic materials that reflect diverse perspectives into the classroom, Patricia encourages students to find, make, and have important connections, changes, and opportunities. As a lifelong learner herself, she continuously attends workshops, broadens her horizon by reading scholarly articles on pedagogy and second language acquisition, critically reflects and evaluates her lessons, and regularly takes risks by trying new methods and approaches.

Rachel Hutchins

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: Communication Arts

Rachel is a Ph.D. student in the Communication Arts department. She has been teaching at UW-Madison for five years and previously taught a variety of classes with both adult learners and children of various ages. Here at UW-Madison, she has been both a teaching assistant and an instructor of record; has taught in multiple departments; and has taught just about every modality (in-person, hybrid, online synchronous, online asynchronous). She has yet to find a topic she doesn’t enjoy teaching. In all her classes, Rachel strives to share this enthusiasm with students by promoting curiosity and helping students draw connections between classroom learning and the real world.

Haley Johnson

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: English

Haley has been teaching for over two years, in multiple areas including feminist literature, film and literature, a 100-level legal studies course, a 100-level ethnic studies class, and presently an English 100 class. Haley enjoys changing disciplines because she appreciates the opportunity to grow and be challenged as she develops as an educator, and each term she strives to gain a new skillset. Her very favorite class to teach was also her first class – ENGL 144, African Feminisms with her advisor and mentor Professor Ainehi Edoro. Professor Edoro really nurtured Haley’s creative approach to teaching and Haley has developed close bonds with those students that continue today, many letters of recommendation and office hours later! Teaching ENGL 144 taught Haley how to reach students and connect them to their interests, but also how to model for your students a standard of excellence and rigor. Haley’s approach to teaching since having that experience has been to make learning engaging, and to create an environment where students feel comfortable growing and supporting one another.

Sam Kramer

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: Physics

Sam is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics and has been teaching for Physics 202, a course for engineering major undergraduates that focuses on electricity, magnetism, and optics, since arriving in Madison. Sam also taught for a similar course as an undergraduate at Saint Louis University. In this role, he leads both discussions, which focus on problem solving, and labs, which provide hands-on experience with the concepts being taught. Physics can be an overwhelming subject, so Sam tries to distill the material into manageable chunks for the students, emphasizing the broader concepts underlying the formulas students use and drawing explicit connections between parts of the curricula. This is meant to develop the dynamic problem solving skills students need when encountering problems they have not seen before.

Aleisha LaChette

Teaching Department: Political Science

Aleisha began her teaching career as a middle school science educator. Her first experience as a graduate teaching assistant was during her master’s program in Political Science at Virginia Tech. Since coming to UW-Madison, Aleisha has taken advantage of teaching development opportunities to continuously improve her pedagogy. She has been able to apply her growing teaching knowledge to her assistantships and experiences as an instructor of record. Central to her pedagogy is building individual connections with students and adopting a beginner’s mindset when designing lessons, ensuring they effectively address foundational knowledge and facilitate student growth. Her favorite course to teach is Literature & Politics, where she gets to introduce students to science fiction’s engagement with the political. But no matter the course, Aleisha pushes students to critique the questions that have motivated our current bodies of knowledge just as much as we critique the arguments and theories themselves.

Rebecca Laurent

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: Sociology

Rebecca is a PhD student studying environmental justice and culture. She has been taught for three years in both the Sociology Department and the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology. Rebecca loves facilitating class discussions on sensitive and salient topics and has enjoyed teaching Ethnic Movements in the US, Intro to Environmental Sociology, and Food, Culture, & Society. She tries to create a class environment where students want to participate in dialogue with others, where they feel both welcome and valued, as well as challenged and excited to learn new perspectives and interrogate their own. In other words, she asks a lot of questions she doesn’t have answers to.

Linqi Lu

Teaching Departments: School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Linqi has been teaching J564: Media and the Consumer for three years, first as a TA (lab instructor) and now as a lecturer. She guides students through the evolving landscape of advertising, market economics, and consumer behavior, blending theory with hands-on group projects to equip them with the research skills needed to interpret real-world trends and craft effective communication strategies. Her classroom is a dynamic space where curiosity sparks discovery, self-motivation and peer encouragement drive growth, and routine reflective study logs deepen engagement and critical thinking. She always encourages students to see learning not only as a path to self-growth but as a force for making society more empathetic, thoughtful, and kind. She believes that understanding media is not just about decoding influence—it’s about shaping a more responsible world.

Kyle Miron

Teaching Department: History

Teaching became an important part of Kyle’s life in high school when they taught ballet to toddlers. In college they majored in Education and worked for three years in the Vassar College Writing Center, developing a love for mixing the history and sociology of education with on-the-ground pedagogy. They have been teaching at UW-Madison for three years to both undergraduate students and men incarcerated at a nearby prison. They are especially excited about developing students’ intellectual curiosity and empowering them to think deeply together about why history matters. Kyle believes that this is best done in a supportive intellectual community and has worked to nurture collaborative and generous classrooms.

Katya Pak

Teaching Department: Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic+

Katya is an experienced instructor of Russian and a PhD student in Slavic Languages and Literature, originally from Kazakhstan. She is dedicated to creating inclusive, student-centered classrooms that promote diverse cultures and perspectives of the Russian-speaking world. Her teaching emphasizes communicative approach and cultural understanding. Katya is passionate about helping students develop confidence and curiosity as language learners.

Julia Perroni

Teaching Department: Classical & Ancient Near Eastern Studies

Julia (she/her/hers) has been teaching Latin, classical literature, and ancient mediterranean cultural studies at UW-Madison since 2021. Prior to arriving in Madison, she has taught and tutored informally at many levels of education. She particularly enjoys teaching students the skills of expression and argument, and delights in seeing students develop confident attitudes toward their mastery of material in her classroom. Her favourite courses to teach thus far had been Latin and Classical Mythology, both of which provide rich opportunities for students to engage with the ancient world directly. Julia works hard to make Greek and Roman material fun and accessible to students, and to ensure that every student leaves her classroom with a lasting curiosity about other cultures and the skills to investigate the mysteries of our own culture and others.

Zoe Ryan

Teaching Department: Botany

I have been working with students for 6 years, as a teaching assistant for 3 years, and half of that time here at UW-Madison. The students here are uniquely driven to succeed and collaborate, and I especially admire those who bring this attitude to classes outside of their major. I have taught a variety of courses for students throughout their college experience, from General Biology to the Vegetation of Wisconsin. I enjoy working with undergraduates earlier in their career the most because I like to help them explore a variety of topics new to them to find their interests. I find that they also are the most helpful in honing my teaching practice, the questions they ask help me reevaluate how I can present the material. I always want to keep learning new ways of helping students succeed, so that I can equip them to push their learning limits. I do this primarily through making the classroom as comfortable a space as possible, by connecting students with their peers, understanding their humanness, and being transparent with my material and learning goals.

Levi Sherman

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: Art History

Levi’s first teaching experience was over a decade ago, as an undergraduate TA in visual communication. Next, he taught as an MFA student in interdisciplinary art, and then as design faculty at a small art college before coming to UW—Madison to pursue a PhD in art history. Levi aims to enrich humanities teaching with the strengths of these other disciplines — creativity and self-expression from art and problem solving and communication from design. His favorite Art History course to TA has been “Seeing Through Conspiracy Theories,” where each student wrote their own conspiracy theory based on an object at the Chazen Museum of Art. In Spring 2025, Levi taught his own course using the Kohler Art Library’s artists’ book collection — “The Book as Art: A Hands-On History from 1750 to Today.”

Daria Tennikova

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Departments: Mead Witter School of Music

Daria Tennikova is a third year Doctoral Student at the Mead Witter School of Music, studying composition and piano performance, currently working on her dissertation project. She has completed her undergraduate Degree in Music Performance at UW-Madison in 2014, and a Master’s Degree in composition at Rice University in Houston in 2017, where she also took courses in higher education classroom pedagogy. Daria is a TA in Music Theory department. Daria has been teaching for over 10 years, and her experience encompasses various fields and age groups from 2-year-olds to adults of all ages. She has taught music theory, piano, composition, Russian and German languages, chess tactics and strategies. Her favorite subjects to teach are piano and music theory. Daria enjoys revealing the structure and meaningful details of the musical canvas to the students, aiming to illuminate their understanding of the musical language and enhance their potential as sensible interpreters.

Her teaching approach is driven by the desire to inspire the students to learn and discover the depths of the subject even beyond the classroom. In class she often stresses the direct connection between theory and performance practice, to get everyone in the room to participate and think critically about their own experiences. It is Daria’s strong conviction that an essential component of a successful teaching style is a flexible approach to finding solutions for any task, because we all learn differently and want to be involved in the process in a comfortable and efficient way. She always shares multiple methods of working on a task or assignment and explains the nuances of each method with concrete examples, so to help guide each student towards their right way.

Ethan vanderWilden

Lead Teaching Mentor

Teaching Department: Political Science

Ethan has served as a TA and lecturer in the Political Science department for the past four years. During that time, he has enjoyed teaching classes related to research design, using statistics for social science, and comparative/world politics. He is especially excited to teach classes that equip students with the tools and critical thinking skills that they need to pursue independent research projects. In the classroom, he strives to present material and facilitate discussion with a goal of accessibility, ensuring that all students feel comfortable taking risks, participating, and grappling with challenging material.

Mingxin Xie

Teaching Department: Economics

Mingxin is a rising fourth-year Ph.D. student in Economics at UW-Madison with three years of teaching experience in Principles of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Previously, he led Pre-calculus recitations at the Ohio State University as an undergraduate. Mingxin’s teaching focuses on empowering students to become effective problem-solvers while fostering a supportive learning environment. He actively seeks students’ feedback, incorporating suggestions, and address concerns promptly. In his discussion sections, Mingxin combines concise reviews with interactive group work, frequently checking in with students to help them build a strong foundation. He finds the most rewarding moments in teaching to be when students confidently explain their reasoning with clarity and precision.

2024 Teaching Mentors

2023 Teaching Mentors

Questions

Please contact Lynne Prost at lprost@wisc.edu with questions about the Teaching Mentor program.