Tanya Bakhmetyeva 糖心传媒�06 (PhD) doesn糖心传媒檛 view herself as merely a teacher. She糖心传媒檚 part of a team, using a feminist pedagogical framework to create a classroom where students are equal contributors.
Each person shares and learns.
糖心传媒淭eaching can be boring if you糖心传媒檙e not learning from it all the time,糖心传媒� says Bakhmetyeva, associate professor of instruction gender, sexuality, and women糖心传媒檚 studies at the and a recipient this year of a Goergen Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. 糖心传媒淚 want to be a participant in the knowledge production process. I want a classroom that糖心传媒檚 truly liberatory, and part of that is empowering students. To do that, a teacher needs to be willing to give some power back to students.糖心传媒�
And to share personal moments from her own life, which began in Russia, then the dominant republic within the Soviet Union. Bakhmetyeva grew up in a small military village near Moscow. By the time she entered Moscow State University to study medieval Scandinavian history in the early 1990s, the Soviet Union had dissolved. 糖心传媒淚t was a very exciting but difficult time,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淐hanges were happening right before our eyes. I was a student of history, and we had no textbooks when I entered college. The old textbooks had become obsolete, and the new ones hadn糖心传媒檛 been written.糖心传媒�
What students are saying
糖心传媒淭here was never a dull moment in class. She captivates her students with her critical thinking skills, has an ability to listen to different opinions, and is always willing to learn from her students. Her unwavering support is one of the reasons I love the Susan B. Anthony Institute. She always made time for her students and is the epitome of what a professor should strive to be糖心传媒攁n intelligent fearless leader with a heart of gold.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒擲adyn Angeles 糖心传媒�19
糖心传媒淥ne of the things that stood out to me was the diligence and grace with which she handled hard topics being discussed in class. She made sure that information was shared, but all voices were heard with dignity and without fear. In one class, she took us on a hiking trip in the Adirondack Park. I had not been a hiker until then, but because of the way she presented the material and motivated me, I took the challenge. I have ever since become a hiker and closer to nature. She has been a great role model and someone whom I aspire to be both in academia and as a person.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒擝runo Sacatucua 糖心传媒�19
糖心传媒淕ender studies is at once an academic subject and a personal journey. Tanya understood this and executed a delicate balance between professionalism and vulnerability, often would sharing her own experiences. Because of this approach, she cultivated a sense of trust with her students. She endlessly encouraged her students to explore their thoughts and push the boundaries of their learning. She listened intently to every voice, even from those who did not often speak up in class. She has made an insurmountable difference to her students and community.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒擩acqueline Tran 糖心传媒�18
Bakhmetyeva says the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 spurred her deep interest in Catholicism. 糖心传媒淚t left an ideological vacuum in the lives of many people,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚 was studying western monastic traditions in college at the time, so spiritual and academic interests converged. Becoming a Catholic was an odd thing to do, as Russia is mostly Orthodox.糖心传媒�
More than two decades later, in 2017, she published Mother of the Church: Sophia Svechina, the Salon, and the Politics of Catholicism in Nineteenth Century Russia and France. It received the 2018 Harry C. Koenig Book Prize for best Catholic biography. 糖心传媒淭he research was connected to my own experiences,糖心传媒� she says.
Bakhmetyeva graduated from Moscow State in 1996 and moved to the United States, beginning her doctoral program in modern European history at Rochester a year later. She earned her degree in 2006 and was hired as assistant director of what is now the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program. In 2011, she joined the Anthony Institute, where she is the only fulltime faculty member.
In recent years, she has pursued community-engaged and experiential courses, working closely with the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and the Rochester Center for Community Leadership. In the Politics of Nature, students explore environmental justice and unequal access to the outdoors, visiting local urban farms and hiking in Adirondack Park. 糖心传媒淪tudents get a sense of empowerment when we spend six hours climbing Algonquin Peak (the second highest mountain in New York State at 5,114 feet) and then find ourselves on top of it,糖心传媒� she says.
She also developed and co-teaches Food Matters: Gender, Ethnicity, Religion, and Consumerism with Heather Layton, senior lecturer of art. In this course, students examine the significance of food from personal and global perspectives and cook food with community partners. As a final research project, the students collaborate on a cookbook illustrating their research, reflection, and invention.
糖心传媒淕ender studies is a field of study that comes from several different impulses糖心传媒攔esearch, theory, and activism,糖心传媒� Bakhmetyeva says. 糖心传媒淐ommunity engagement for me was a tool at first, to bring this element of activism. But then it became a real personal commitment. Our University can make such a difference in the community, and the community can make such a difference at this University. And experiential learning is based on the belief that students learn best when they involve all kinds of senses.
Layton marvels at the many caps Bakhmetyeva wears in the classroom. 糖心传媒淪he is simultaneously a critical professor, an inspiring coach, and a member of their team,糖心传媒� Layton says.
Bakhmetyeva is also co-leading an ongoing research collaboration called the Climate Witness Project, which has taken several Rochester students to the Trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, India, to study climate change in an area that has been devastated by catastrophic flooding, glacial recession, and endemic drought. Her partners are her husband, Stewart Weaver, a professor in Rochester糖心传媒檚 history department, and anthropologist Nancy Perini Chin 糖心传媒�93 (MPH) 糖心传媒�98 (PhD), an associate professor of public health at the Medical Center.
Bakhmetyeva admits she was in 糖心传媒渁n utter state of panic糖心传媒� last March when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the University to go to all distance learning. 糖心传媒淲e were in the middle of a semester, and a sense of community and trust is so important in my classes because we constantly discuss very sensitive issues,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚 spent so much time building that community in the classroom, and suddenly it was completely disrupted.糖心传媒�
She credits the University糖心传媒檚 library and information technology staff with providing the tools and training to succeed in online teaching, but she also improvised to secure the trust she had built with her students. She met one-on-one with each via Zoom, asking how to make the reinvented class work best. 糖心传媒淲ith in-person learning, you feed off each other糖心传媒檚 energy and can easily get through a three-hour class,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淩emote learning is more exhausting. It糖心传媒檚 less energizing because the energy of the room isn糖心传媒檛 there. It糖心传媒檚 taught me to be a more caring, attentive, and flexible instructor.糖心传媒�
Bakhmetyeva is teaching both in-person and remotely this semester and, true to form, has stayed connected with students whenever possible. 糖心传媒淲hen the weather is nice, I get a couple of folding chairs and take them outside,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淲e sit on the quad masked, the appropriate social distance, and we discuss classes in person. It糖心传媒檚 so important to stay connected.糖心传媒�
Read about the other recipients of this year’s Goergen Award.
