The projects are:

The Jail Library Project, a partnership between the Dane County Library Service, Dane County Sheriff’s Office and the School of Library and Information Studies.

Southwest Madison Community Organizers, a partnership between neighborhood leaders representing the five neighborhoods under the SWMCO umbrella, Southwest Youth leaders from Youth Empowering Solutions and Meadowood Youth Advisory Board, Public Health of Madison and Dane County and UW-Madison faculty members and graduate students from the School of Social Work, Department of Community and Environmental Sociology, School of Human Ecology, and School of Education.

The awards are sponsored by UW-Madison’s Office of Community Relations and Community Partnerships and Outreach Staff Network, with support from the Office of the Chancellor and the Morgridge Center for Public Service. They will be presented at an event at Olin House.

The Community-University Partnership Awards recognize the work of UW-Madison faculty, staff and students, along with community partners as they address pressing public issues in Madison and the surrounding region. In thanking these community partners, the awards highlight exemplary partnerships that get to the heart of the Wisconsin Idea: community members and UW-Madison personnel working collaboratively to transform the campus and community for the public good.

To learn more about the awards and see the full list of honorees, read the full story from University Communications.

UW-Madison Space Place Director Jim Lattis reinstalls the Planet Trek marker for the dwarf planet Ceres. The marker has gone missing several times over the past few years. (Photo courtesy Jen Lattis)

The Rodney Dangerfield of celestial bodies is back.

Ceres is a dwarf planet ambiguously added to the roster of planets in our solar system by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, the same year Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status. But Ceres is still considered by some to be an asteroid, giving it a dual personality and no doubt confounding any student pondering a report on the solar system.

As a component of Planet Trek Dane County, the scale solar system that stretches from the Sun (Monona Terrace) to Pluto (Mount Horeb), Ceres seems to have fared no better.

Over the past several years, the framed, illustrated panel for Ceres, one of 11 that make up Planet Trek, has disappeared three times from its orbit on the bike trail just south of the Charter Street Heating and Cooling Plant on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The most recent disappearing act occurred in April, not long after it was installed for the 2013 biking season.

“The first one was gone in two weeks in 2009,” notes Jim Lattis, director of UW-Madison’s Space Place, which developed the Planet Trek scale solar system with support from the Friends of the Washburn Observatory and in cooperation with the Madison Parks Department and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “In 2012, Ceres disappeared in August.”

Planet Trek Dane County is one of a number of scale solar systems in the world, and is one of the largest in the United States. The trek begins at Monona Terrace, where there is a panel with information about the sun as well as an interactive sundial.

The remaining 10 illustrated panels with information on Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are dispersed along Dane County bicycle trails, with the distances between planets reduced to a scale of 200 million to one. Pluto, the most distant planet from the sun, is 23 miles from Monona Terrace along the Military Ridge Bicycle Trail in Mount Horeb.

“The idea was develop a scale solar system in a way that integrates fun science with a physical activity,” explains Lattis. “All of our planets are accessible by bike, and they are all handicapped accessible.”

A new Ceres panel is now back in place, and with luck the little planet will remain in orbit until the panels are packed away for the winter next fall.

Story by Terry Devitt, University Communications

Reschovsky

Madison taxpayers can now pay their property taxes in four installments due to an ordinance change adopted by the city council June 5, a couple years after a La Follette School of Public Affairs analysis found that property owners are less likely to be late with tax payments if they can make three installment payments a year instead of two.

The La Follette School study came about after Madison treasurer Dave Gawenda noticed an increase in property tax delinquency and wondered whether increasing the number of payment installments would bring it down. He contacted La Follette School economist Andrew Reschovsky who, with then-student Paul Waldhart (BA’10, English and Political Science; MPA’11, Public Affairs), who is now an analyst with the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau, conducted the analysis using data from Wisconsin municipalities for 2005 through 2009.

“It was clear in the debate at the Madison Common Council that many of the policymakers were persuaded by the analysis Andy and Paul had done,” Gawenda says. “I think it’s a great example of city government benefiting from the presence of the La Follette School here in Madison.”

At the time of the study, about 60 of Wisconsin’s 1,850 municipalities allowed more than two installments for real estate taxes, Reschovsky says. “Our study provided statistical evidence that allowing property owners to pay their property taxes in more than two installments would result in lower rates of tax delinquency.”

A revised version of the report submitted to Gawenda was published in late 2012 in the scholarly journal Public Finance and Management. The analysis also is available as La Follette School Working Paper No. 2012-013.

Story by University Communications

Zedler

Joy Zedler, professor of botany and Aldo Leopold Chair of Restoration Ecology, was elected fellow of the Society of Wetland Scientists at the group’s annual international conference this week in Duluth, Minn.

The award subcommittee called Zedler “a world leader in wetland restoration ecology and invasive species ecology, who made restoration a science by using restoration projects to conduct experiments.”

“By working directly with managers to improve design and management, she has had a fundamental impact on restoration practice and improved their effectiveness,” the subcommittee wrote. “Through her publications, teaching, and application of her findings she has made significant intellectual and practical contributions to the development of the field of restoration and invasion ecology.”

Upon receiving the award and accompanying sculpture of a clear-blue water drop, Zedler thanked “all the wonderful students with whom I have been privileged to work.”

Fellow is the highest recognition of membership bestowed by the SSW. Zedler joins 35 fellows of the 3,500-member society who have been elected since 1994. Fellows are nominated by other active members, recommended by the fellows committee, and elected by the SWS Board of Directors.

Zedler was also honored as SWS’s plenary speaker. Her presentation, entitled “Invasive species effects on wetland ecosystem services,” reviewed research on invasive wetland plants, then summarized effects of ponding and cattail invasion on experimental wetlands at the UW-Madison Arboretum.

Citing new evidence obtained with her UW-Madison collaborators Steve Loheide and Anita Thompson and graduate students Jim Doherty, Jeff Miller and Stephanie Prellwitz, Zedler highlighted the roles of mosses and cattails in treating urban runoff. She urged stormwater facility designers to include biological components in physical models that are currently used to predict how urban runoff will be cleansed.

Zedler cautions that when the biota is ignored, such models can predict that a system will trap nutrients when it actually exports nitrogen and phosphorus. More information can be found at the UW-Madison Arboretum’s website.

Motion 999 reads:

“Prohibit the Board of Regents from permitting the Center for Investigative Journalism to occupy any facilities owned or leased by the Board of Regents. In addition, prohibit UW employees from doing any work related to the Center for Investigative Journalism as part of their duties as a UW employee.”

UW-Madison officials reacted strongly to the budget provision, rejecting its attempt to limit university collaboration and emphasizing the center’s value to students and Wisconsin citizens.

“Arbitrarily prohibiting UW-Madison employees from doing any work related to the Center for Investigative Journalism is a direct assault on our academic freedom; simply, it is legislative micromanagement and overreach at its worst,” says Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters & Science, which oversees the journalism school.

“For 124 years, the College of Letters & Science has promoted a fearless tradition of sifting and winnowing in which our faculty, staff and students participate in teaching, research and public service to gain a deeper understanding of the world and help solve critical problems. Micromanagement like that posed by lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee undermines our efforts. It is a threat to the tradition of the college, the university and the state.”

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, founded in 2009, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization supported by private foundations, individuals and news organizations. Though it is housed in two small offices in Vilas Hall, it receives no funding from UW-Madison.

However, its innovative collaboration with the journalism school has won national acclaim. And its work has been cited favorably by a legislative committee as recently as last month. The center provides at least five paid internships each year to journalism students. The executive director is required to provide student-centered service each week, teaching topics such as computer-assisted reporting, interviewing techniques and crafting of in-depth news reports.

Deborah Blum, Helen Firstbrook Franklin Professor of Journalism and winner of a Pulitzer Prize, regards the center as an exceptional resource. As she challenges her students to create the kind of multidisciplinary packages required in a changing media landscape, she appreciates the center’s emphasis on analytical thinking, in-depth research and rigorous fact-checking.

“It not only helps make our students more skilled, it helps make them some of the most employable young journalists in the country,” says Blum. “The collaboration with WCIJ is one of remarkable value to our institution, and one that should not be lost.”

Finished pieces are available not only through the center’s website but through free distribution to news organizations. Reporting from the center has reached an estimated 25 million readers through more than 230 news outlets across Wisconsin and the United States.

In its short history, the center has racked up an array of statewide and national awards. In 2012, the Associated Press Media Editors honored the Center and university jointly as the first recipients of an award for Innovator of the Year for College Students.

“This is a smart and innovative way for a journalism school to lead investigative reporting,” the APME judges said.

At the time, Brant Houston, the center’s board president and Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, called the collaboration at UW-Madison “one of the best models in the nation. The school and center have pioneered effective ways to involve students in producing award-winning journalism in the public interest.”

In May, the center received eight awards (two gold, four silver and two bronze), including a sweep of the “Best Innovative Feature” category, from the Milwaukee Press Club. Student journalists bested seasoned professionals from across the state. The center has received 17 awards since 2010.

Master’s student Mario Koran, who will graduate in August, recently returned from a highly competitive student journalism institute run by The New York Times. Within this selective group, his work garnered him an additional scholarship, as chosen by Times staffers.

“It was a credit to the training I’d received through the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism as well as the University of Wisconsin,” says Koran. “We have a rigorous fact checking system; it’s quite cumbersome to adjust to, but while we’re fact checking I’ve learned to put myself into that mindset. Without even being aware of it, this must be reflected in the quality of the news pieces I produce.”

This hard work has also produced results. Following a tip from the family member of an offender, Koran and his colleagues spent nine months researching potential flaws in the GPS monitoring system used by the state Department of Corrections. The Center’s work revealed that offenders have repeatedly been jailed when they may not have actually violated their monitoring conditions — disrupting their lives and costing the state time and money.

As chair of the Assembly Committee on Corrections, Rep. Garey Bies, R-Sister Bay, called a public hearing ten days after the center released its first story. Lawmakers specifically cited the center’s work. On May 13, the Joint Finance Committee voted unanimously to withhold funding until the Department of Corrections detailed its plan to use the money in its proposed GPS program expansion. The committee also ordered the department to do a study on the effective and efficient use of GPS monitoring.

Jack Mitchell, a member of the center’s board of directors and professor emeritus of journalism, says the center would continue its mission in another location if forced to leave its offices at UW-Madison. However, being off-site would likely diminish student participation.

“The best training for students is to actually do the work,” says Mitchell. “The experience here goes beyond the classroom. Students actually produce stories that get published and win awards, which is good for the students. And it is good for the public because they get the benefit of these investigative stories.”

Story by Susannah Brooks and Greg Bump, University Communications

Hilmes

Michele Hilmes, professor and chair of the Department of Communication Arts, has received a Fulbright Award to enable her to conduct research into “transnational” British and American broadcasting at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom for six months in 2013-14.

Created by treaty in 1948, the U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission is the only bilateral, transatlantic scholarship program, offering awards for study or research in any field, at accredited U.S. and U.K. universities. The commission is part of the Fulbright program conceived by Senator J. William Fulbright in the aftermath of World War II to promote leadership, learning and empathy between nations through educational exchange.

Hilmes, a professor of media and cultural studies, is conducting research for her next book, a follow-up to “Network Nations: A Transnational History of British and American Broadcasting.”

“My book, which came out in 2011, took this British-U.S. history up to the 1970s, so my next book takes it from there and goes forward,” she says. “There was a huge change that happened around then which was satellite broadcasting, something we take for granted now.”

At the University of Nottingham, she will be working with the culture, film and media faculty to explore the history of television co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom.

She explains that her research focuses on programs made with both U.K. and U.S. audiences in mind versus shows that are adaptations, such as “The Office” or “House of Cards.”

“When we watch a program like ‘Downton Abbey,’ it’s a bonding experience. We are all enjoying this wonderful drama, and we are attached to it,” she says. “It is really creating a sensibility that is uniting us across national, cultural boundaries. I call that the transnational public.”

That transnational public is especially what interests Hilmes.

She also is an ardent fan of radio and creative sound work as developed by the BBC, and looks forward to developing a greater knowledge of British radio and television during her Fulbright term.

“After many research trips to the UK over the last several years, I am delighted to be able to spend a longer period of time actually living in Nottingham and getting to know the country as a resident,” she says.

Hilmes, who grew up in Indianapolis, received her BA with Honors in comparative literature from Indiana University in Bloomington, and earned her MA and Ph.D. degrees in cinema studies at New York University.

She joined the UW-Madison faculty in 1993. Her work focuses on media history and historiography, particularly in the area of transnational influence and cultural exchange in the fields of radio and television.

In selecting scholars, the Fulbright Commission looks not only for academic excellence but a focused application, a range of extracurricular and community activities, demonstrated ambassadorial skills, a desire to further the Fulbright Program and a plan to give back to the recipient’s home country upon returning.

Nearly 300,000 women and men from all over the world have participated in the Fulbright Program. Of these alumni, approximately 15,000 U.K. nationals have studied in the U.S. and 12,000 U.S. nationals in the U.K. on Fulbright educational exchange programs.

Story by Kerry Hill, University Communications

Ralph Morse, Getty Images

On June 6, 1944, a massive military force arrived on the beaches of Normandy in a surprise invasion intended to overthrow Nazi Germany. The story of brave Allied forces splashing ashore under heavy fire has been immortalized in novels, memoirs, documentary films, and blockbuster movies — with American GIs cast as the unequivocal heroes of the day.

A famous photo circulating the globe at the time summed things up: a happy GI embracing a French girl.

Roberts

But that photo also illuminates a darker side of the story, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison History Professor Mary Louise Roberts. In her new book, “What Soldiers Do: Sex and the American GI in World War II France,” (University of Chicago Press), Roberts writes that while heroism abounded during liberation, for some Allied troops, command of geographical territory meant command of sexual territory, as well. As they entered and occupied the port towns of Le Havre, Reims, Cherbourg and Marseilles, many soldiers took what they wanted — when and where they wanted — from the French female population.

Back home, the story was spun of grateful (and promiscuous) French damsels rescued in their distress. But French archives, Roberts discovered, held vastly different accounts.

Roberts remembers the moment she opened the thick dossier, sealed for some 70 years, in the little archive in Le Havre, the French port city at the heart of Allied troop movement.

“What Soldiers Do: Sex and The American GI in World War II France”

“I discovered I was sitting on a bomb,” says Roberts. “Here were letters, between the mayor of Le Havre and Colonel Weed[the American commander in the region], pleading for better regulation of troops’ behavior — as well as police reports and citizen complaints about everything they were witnessing.”

“Everything” included public sex, harassment, prostitution, and rape. The information posed a direct threat to the “myth of the manly GI,” says Roberts. Determined to air the French perspective, which she says has long been missing from widely-read accounts of the Allied liberation of France, she began to tug on the end of this thread.

“I started digging in more archives,” she says. “I went to the police archives in Paris. I spent much time in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., looking through hundreds of boxes from SHAEF [Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces]. Men did fight heroically. What we accomplished was amazing. But I don’t think we should purify it. That’s when we run into trouble.”

Since its publication last month, Roberts’ book has been covered by the the UK’s Times Higher Education and the New York Times, among others. Last week, Roberts appeared on CBS News and National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.

Deconstructing what scholars call a sacred national myth can bring down an onslaught of criticism from those who prefer U.S. history varnished and gleaming.

But John Hall, a UW-Madison professor of military history, says that when we only focus on what went right, we miss the opportunity to lay out problems in detail and examine them.

“It’s why historians accentuate the negative,” he says. “There is far more to be learned from our mistakes, than from those episodes we think redound to our credit.”

Hall, who taught at the U.S. Military Academy before coming to UW-Madison, says young cadets arrive at West Point believing that unflattering renditions of American history are un-American. But he says West Point instructors teach them that dwelling on errors is vital to military history.

Like all historians, Roberts and Hall are trained to look critically at established narratives and engage colleagues and students in questioning and analysis. The tradition, far from unique to UW-Madison, enjoys a special motto here, known as “fearless sifting and winnowing.”

“The task of academic historians is to separate national mythology from what actually happened,” says Hall. “As a student of history, if you want a more complete picture, you’ll have to read broadly.”

But what exactly is national mythology?

World War II holds a place in our collective consciousness as “the Good War.” According to Mary Layoun, a UW-Madison professor of comparative literature who has studied the nationalistic narratives that arise in crisis and has written about occupations and invasions, from World War II onward, the myth in this context does not mean something untrue.  Rather, it is a story that becomes larger than life — and brooks no challenge.

“It’s a way of explaining forces in the world around us,” she says. “But when we mythologize battle or war, we adopt a preferred self-image that presents itself as unequivocal or indisputable.”

And therein lies the danger.

“If we only have unequivocal heroes, then we shortchange heroism itself,” says Layoun. “There are plenty of reasons to step back and say, ‘From whose point of view is that the case? What are the other pieces of this story? What is this image serving?’”

Like Roberts, Layoun has dug deep into the ways in which women are exploited in wartime. Peering under established narratives about battle and valor, she has discovered untold stories, such as the rise of women’s organizations in Bosnia and Cyprus that teach and talk about the gender-specific impacts of conflicts there. Looking through an alternative lens allows room for a richer narrative, she says.

“Theirs are stories of courage and heroism, too,” she points out.

In “What Soldiers Do,” Roberts says she wanted to present an alternative history that explores war in a social context. With its focus on a previously ignored subject — the sexual habits of American soldiers — the book may provide useful insights into the sexual assault scandal unfolding in the U.S. military today, she says.

Araceli Alonso in Kenya in 2009.

An award from the United Nations is honoring the work of Araceli Alonso, a senior lecturer in the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women recently notified Alonso that she is the recipient of the 2013 United Nations Public Service Award for Gender, Health and Development for her service-learning project, Health by Motorbike. The award will be formally announced on United Nations Public Service Day on June 23.

Alonso developed Health by Motorbike after visiting Kenya in 2009. While talking to women in several villages, she learned that many had basic questions about women’s health, suffered from illnesses easily preventable with basic health care and knowledge, and lived more than 40 miles from the nearest medical facilities. Among other services, the project brings public health nurses to remote villages by motorbike to provide health education.

Alonso has also created a service-learning aspect of Health by Motorbike. UW-Madison students attend training on campus, then travel to Kenya and pass their knowledge along to women in the villages during intense summer camps. In place since summer 2010, the service-learning project is designed to teach the villagers how to sustain the health projects on their own.

“This award has proven to me that there is a hidden and powerful synergy in the universe, and that collaboration, knowledge, sharing, compassion, empathy and willpower go way further than financial resources,” Alonso says.

“We are exceptionally pleased that Dr. Alonso received this recognition,” says Nancy Mathews, director of UW-Madison’s Morgridge Center for Public Service, which has provided funding for the project along with the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment and the Global Health Institute. “Her work empowers women and ensures that that health care services, as well as information, reaches members of remote Masai communities in Kenya.”

Parts of the Health by Motorbike model will soon be replicated in eleven countries of the Great Lakes of Africa, and the entire model will be replicated in some of the most isolated indigenous communities of Guatemala.

Story by Carrie Anton, Morgridge Center for Public Service

John Karl Scholz will succeed Gary Sandefur as the dean of the College of Letters & Science. (Jeff Miller, University Communications)

John Karl Scholz, Nellie June Gray Professor of Economic Policy and chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been selected as the next dean of the College of Letters & Science, UW-Madison’s largest academic unit.

Scholz will succeed Gary Sandefur, who has led Letters & Science since 2004. Sandefur, a sociologist, will spend the next year on research leave before returning to the faculty.

“Karl is an outstanding academic and colleague whose wide-ranging experience will continue to be an asset,” says Interim Chancellor David Ward. “We are fortunate that the leadership of the College of Letters & Science will remain in such capable hands.”

Incoming chancellor Rebecca Blank, who will begin her appointment in mid-to-late July, also praised Scholz’s selection. Both Blank and Scholz are economists who have worked in intersecting areas.

“I am extremely pleased to begin my tenure at the same time Karl takes on this crucial leadership role,” says Blank. “I have long respected his work. He is passionate about the value of a liberal arts education, and I know that he will bring insight and energy to his new position.”

Scholz, who has led his department since 2011, came to UW-Madison in 1988 after receiving his doctorate from Stanford University. A former director of UW-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty, his studies include work on household saving, the earned income tax credit and low-wage labor markets, financial barriers to higher education and bankruptcy laws. He co-edits the American Economic Journal – Economic Policy and is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department and senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisors.

“The faculty, staff and students in the College of Letters & Science do remarkable things,” says Scholz. “It’s an honor to take over for Gary Sandefur, who has provided great leadership over the last eight years. I’m excited about working with campus colleagues and outside stakeholders to build on his legacy, preserving and enhancing our research and teaching excellence while navigating the challenges facing higher education.”

Jeff Hardin, professor and chair of zoology, chaired the 17-member search and screen committee, which recommended the finalists to Provost Paul M. DeLuca Jr. and Ward.

The College of Letters & Science provides the liberal arts foundation for the university at all levels of study. It confers nearly half of all UW-Madison degrees (including 57 percent of undergraduate degrees in 2011-12) and teaches more than 60 percent of all UW-Madison credit hours, including 84 percent of all freshman and sophomore credits.

The dean oversees more than 3,100 faculty and staff positions across 39 departments, 22 interdisciplinary programs, 70 research centers and institutes, and five professional schools. In 2011-12, the college received $105.1 million in federal research awards, second only to the School of Medicine and Public Health.

Story by Susannah Brooks, University Communications

Myles McNutt, lecturer in communication arts, in his office in Vilas Hall. (Bryce Richter, University Communications)

Watching and discussing television — its production, social impact and sense of place — has given Myles McNutt a unique perspective on the American experience. Through social media, McNutt, now a University of Wisconsin-Madison doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication Arts, has found the perfect intersection between research and real life.

During the past academic year, McNutt navigated cultural and industry conventions as a lecturer for Comm Arts 351, Introduction to Television. His own spin on this long-running class (now led by Assistant Professor Derek Johnson) is to let students use social media to provide opportunities for interaction and additional detail.

As an online critic for the Onion’s AV Club, McNutt presides over all levels of discourse — some profound, others less so. He has built relationships with people like “Scrubs” producer Bill Lawrence, who “crashed” one of the Comm Arts 351 connected screenings to virtually interact with students.

McNutt spoke with Inside UW-Madison about how he uses social media in his teaching and research.

Inside UW: How did you get started with social media?

McNutt: It’s a really gradual process. You don’t always start social media for a purpose; you start because you’re bored. In a class, I thought a blog would help me say, “I’m on the cutting edge.” I never thought, “I’m doing this to network.”

But I started blogging about TV because I was passionate about it, and my worlds started converging. What I do online fuels my passion for teaching and research. I’m lucky enough that what I talk about on social media is connected with what I teach. I want there to be a relationship between those things; I’m terrified of those things seeming separate.

As I researched Ph.D. programs, I saw Twitter as a valuable opportunity to chime in. Coming from Canada, I didn’t have access to conferences or a lot of academic communities, but I had that access over Twitter: following hashtags and participating in discourse. I think that’s a huge part of why I’m here; I had that opportunity to connect with the Comm Arts program from 4,000 miles away.

Inside UW: How do you view social media as a teaching tool?

McNutt: Twitter is a space in which we might engage on a casual or social level. But it’s also where we’re expected to engage with TV directly. The industry is moving in that direction: putting hashtags on the screen; having actors tweet from media events.

Bringing that to students gets them thinking about how their relationship with television extends into other platforms. It gives them a sense of how Twitter is engaged with the industry, and expectations for how it’s being used. They have the opportunity to not simply discuss, but also shape how we view the TV industry.

We introduced our connected screenings, saying, “We know you might use Twitter to talk about TV. Let’s take the screening period, have you use your phones and computers. Let’s put you up on the hashtag, put the hashtag up on the screen, and engage with this text in a particular way.” Students get more detail, and a more engaging or interactive experience.

Inside UW: Where do you find similarities between teaching and criticism?

McNutt: To me, the real conversation takes place in the comment sections. Some of the pedagogy we use has to extend itself into that environment.

As a critic, I’m responding two hours after I’ve seen something. My opinion is the first of what will hopefully become 50 comments, where people will embrace and express a dialogue. Other people have a day to think about it, and they’ll post incredibly insightful comments.

It’s the same as spending time in discussion when I’m teaching, or in office hours. All of those are spaces in which initial statements can be expanded upon and made better.

Many people think, “Comment sections are a mess.” They can be. I shape that in whatever way I can. If someone comes in with a completely deconstructed comment, I’ll often push back: “Can you expand on this?” Sometimes I’ll get really thoughtful responses. Instead of feeding the trolls, you kind of teach them how to eat.

Inside UW: What’s your guilty TV pleasure?

McNutt: I don’t want to be guilty about any of it. I want my students to feel safe in sharing what they’re watching. Growing up, I watched a lot of professional wrestling. I’ve had to reveal that to my students; I say, “I know you don’t believe me, but wrestling is important, too.”

So I say, “What’s a show that you might not list as your favorite but still enjoy?” … None of us will have the exact same opinions. Both critically and in terms of teaching, guilt is something I don’t want to express. I think we need to own that.

Inside UW: What do you hope your students take away — from your class and your social media use?

McNutt: What connects me with Bill Lawrence, or anyone on Twitter, is often just a desire to talk about TV. I wanted to sell that to my students by bringing in Bill, saying, “He’s actually a person.” On one level, it’s such a coincidental series of events; but on another, it’s natural.

That potential is what fuels media attention. The TV industry banks on that. … Ask my students who wants to be in the industry, and 2/3 of the hands go up.

If they end up in that position, maybe they’ll retain whatever we’re trying to teach them about issues of diversity in the workforce, or labor and cultural hierarchies. We can’t make TV, but we can hopefully educate those who will.

Story by Susannah Brooks, University Communications