WYO-Gold Teacher of the Year

May 13, 2021
head photo of a woman
McKensie Harris. (Photo by Steve Miller, UW)

WYO-Gold, the student RSO of the UWAA, has named Assistant Lecturer McKensie Harris as Teacher of the Year, citing the instructor’s engaging food and meat science courses. 

By Jeff Victor 

Harris believes that hands-on experience is a critical component of any education. That’s why, in her food science courses, students frequently find themselves in the university’s meat lab, processing and slaughtering as they learn about the science and business of turning animals into protein.

“I feel like if we can get a little bit more hands-on—and apply principles that students are probably familiar with through other courses—the lesson seeps in a little bit better, and they start to enjoy it,” Harris says.

Harris grew up near Laramie, raising livestock with her family. But it wasn’t until her undergraduate experience at UW that she started to consider a career in meat science.

“I participated in the university’s meat judging team, and we traveled around the country, learning how to evaluate meat products based on their value,” Harris says. “We got to see a lot of university meat labs and large meat processing facilities, and that really intrigued me and spurred my interest.”

Harris earned a graduate degree in meat science from Texas A&M, eventually returning to UW as an instructor. Having so recently been a student herself, Harris was able to ask how she learned best and apply that to the courses she teaches now.

In the lab, Harris teaches carcass fabrication, meat processing and a livestock slaughter practicum.

“Students who are enrolled in those courses spend the majority of their time learning in the meat laboratory and using the equipment the university has available,” she says. “So every week it’s kind of a progression through the species that we process through there—beef, lamb and pork.”

Harris also teaches outside the lab—notably an introductory food science course that students highlighted specifically when nominating Harris for WYO-Gold Teacher of the Year.

“The students make my job a lot of fun,” she says. “Getting to interact with them and getting to know about them and their background really help me create an environment where they can connect to the things we’re learning. I enjoy opening up with them and getting them to chit-chat amongst each other and then chit-chat with me, because I think that creates a collaborative learning environment.”

Harris credits her teaching skill to her involvement with LAMP—the Learning Actively Mentoring Program. LAMP is a professional development program at UW with the aim of giving teachers like Harris strategies for adopting active learning in their classrooms.

“It’s a neat program,” she says. “I would not be the teacher I am without it.”

Harris said that being named Teacher of the Year came as a surprise.

“When I read the email, I thought, wow, a student actually felt like they had either a really great experience in my class, or they really liked me as a person,” she says. “I hope it’s the experience in class, because I work really hard to make class more than your typical sit-in-a-chair-and-be-talked-to-for-50-minutes.”

 

 

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