“Wholeheartedly, I adore Ms. Newman. Her experience with literature and writing precede her. She is more than her past education and qualifications; she is a person with a lot of care and curiosity to share. It’s easy to feel her commitment and undivided attention. During class, I would often find myself staring in awe as she interacted with a wide range of students who attended class. She focused on each student with varying perspectives, understanding their characteristics, triumphs, and challenges in order to effectively get through to them. As an educator, her pedagogy includes daring students to question challenging topics and encouraging us to dissect different literary texts from academic papers to informal writing.

Often, she urged me to be mindful of what I wrote. I learned the process of forming a sound and specific thesis, how to restructure sentences concisely without losing their meaning, and techniques to enhance my oral skills. I appreciated her mixture of constructive criticism while keeping it encouraging. Sometimes, I wouldn’t quite understand what exactly I wanted to say, and yet she was able to guide me through my thought process and transfer it into articulate writing – a skill I have seldom noticed in many other educators.

As a student at the UW, I can confidently attest that her mentoring continuously impacts my writing and critical thinking in my current courses. She has been a shining pillar for me in my literacy. I am grateful to have learned from her.”

Willa, class of 2022