Nick Reynolds History Faculty Colgate University, B.A. Interests: Traveling abroad whenever I can: In recent summers I’ve traveled to Thailand and worked for Rustic Pathways in Fiji. This summer I will be working for the same company in Australia. I also enjoy playing guitar, scuba diving, photography, skiing, ultimate Frisbee and reading.

The best thing about teaching at CSW is the fact that I am not restricted to a text book and can provide my students with a wide array of readings, so that they are able to gain a more thorough and comprehensive view of history as they learn to become critical historians. I almost feel as if I am teaching shortened college classes because the majority of courses do not rely on textbooks, and allow for an in-depth study on more specific periods, countries and movements in history. The module system and the small class sizes allow me to hear the opinions and thoughts of all of my students, and the material never becomes stagnant because I teach new courses every five weeks. The faculty members I work with provide me with creative feedback on my own ideas and I am always able to gain new insights from them.

My favorite course to teach is National Identity and the Australian Consciousness to freshmen because it is a subject and country that I have such a passion for. Australia has such a unique history that goes beyond its criminal colony past and this course offers students new to CSW a perspective on a country that they might not every study again.

The best thing about CSW students is the fact that our students really want to be here and enjoy studying the subjects which they have chosen. I never stop learning from my students, and the enthusiasm that they bring to my history classes allows for reflective discussions, which the students often lead. With the five-week module system it is difficult for them to become bored with their classes, and they often share readings with me that they have found outside of the course curriculum if they have a real passion for the history that we are studying. By considering their readings with mine, the entire class benefits because we work in collaboration with each other.

A student project that really stands out in my mind is a PowerPoint presentation that a student created about the evolution of medicine throughout the course of the Civil War. This project illustrated research into a subject matter that the student was truly passionate about because he is seriously thinking about pursuing a career in medicine after they graduate from CSW. This student educated the class on material that we had not covered in the course and allowed them to more fully understand how primitive the methods doctors used still were at that point in history.