TAC: Mara Evans

This is my second year as a UC Davis TA Consultant, and my first as a Co-coordinator for the Teaching Assistant Consultants Program at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. I am a fifth-year PhD student in the Ecology Graduate Group. I spend my time in local creeks, up to my hips in cold water looking for the tiny, non-native New Zealand Mudsnail. When I'm not sliding down a creek bank I'm teaching, thinking about teaching, or thinking about how to teach about teaching.

Graduate school has been a tremendous, often unpredictable experience. Having time and space to focus on my teaching has made these past four years incredibly rewarding and personally formative. I am happiest when I am immersed in teaching in some way, and I am getting a PhD to become a professor of Ecology with the hope of changing how we teach ecology at the college level, and changing how we help graduate students develop into educators.

As a TAC I especially look forward to working with new TAs so that teaching is not seen as a chore but a creative opportunity. Every year I learn right along with our workshop participants and this year I hope we can have conversations about social media in the classroom, facilitating classroom discussions, and helping students with disabilities thrive in our classrooms.

When I'm not teaching, I swim for the Davis Aquatic Masters team, spend time with friends and family and make quilts.