Dr. Katherine Polzer Q&A

Teaching in the MLA since:				2018
Specialty/Area of Research:				Capital Punishment
MLA Courses Taught:				Capital Punishment in a Social Context When Prisoners Come Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many years have you been teaching in the MLA program and what class or classes have you taught?

I have been teaching in the MLA program for over 6 years and I teach When Prisoners Come Home and Capital Punishment in a Social Context

 

Tell us a little bit about your specialty or area of research?

My area of research is capital punishment with focus on wrongful convictions and I also do research on punishment and sentencing with focus on mass incarceration and prisoner reentry issues.

 

 

How does your background inform your teaching and scholarship?

Working with various organizations over the years for my research has brought a more real-life aspect to my teaching and research. Working with the Innocence Project of Texas, meeting with people who spent decades in prison or death row for crimes they did not commit and the lawyers who preserved and never gave up puts a face and actual experience with many of these topics. Going to reentry centers and touring prisons humanizes these populations that are otherwise ostracized and can help increase understanding, empathy and compassion. Adding this to my lectures and writing can really help others understand the plight and journey with a new lens.

 

How do you try to make the material in your class engaging considering most students complete their MLA degree 100% online?

As tough as it can be in a 100% online class, I think I have found some ways to increase engagement and participation. I do almost weekly discussions to have students answer a prompt and have students respond to their viewpoints. I also like to add in various forms of media to add to the lecture notes and assigned readings and articles. Every week students might have a podcast, video, or Ted Talk to watch or listen to that pertains to the topic we are discussing that week. I do this to try and give as many perspectives on the topic as possible, especially when I am teaching classes that are very divisive topics, like the death penalty.

 

What do you hope students walk away from your class having learned or gained?

My hope is my students walk away with new knowledge and understanding of a topic they might not have thought much about or known much about. In the two classes I teach in the MLA department, I have students who have said they had no idea about the history, background and deeply rooted issues and problems with concerning these topics, it was something they never really thought of but now walked away with a new understanding. This is the true beauty of MLA, you get to learn about so many interesting topics you might not have gotten to otherwise, this program really promotes life long learning and quest for knowledge.

 

How do your courses relate to events that your students experience or read about on a day-to-day basis?

On any given day you will find at least one new article about the topics in the classes I teach. Unfortunately we see men and women walking out of prison for crimes they did not commit or we see new articles of mass incarceration rates, high recidivism rates, funding prison programs to reduce those problems and other sentencing related issues, often related to the War on Drugs.