Alison Gash
2020 | HERMAN AWARD FOR SPECIALIZED PEDAGOGY
“While studying family law, a group of seven students decided to replicate a self-help group. Together, they realized each had experience with divorce and custody battles. They shared their stories and analyzed how their experiences mirrored or conflicted with the cases we had read. Their honesty and bravery compelled others in the class to also share their experiences and to make connections to the doctrines and the broader themes we had been discussing. My students had, on their own, carried the discussion to a more sophisticated, honest and meaningful place.”
Gash’s research focus in the College of Arts and Sciences is on the intersection of law and social policy with a specific interest in race, gender, sexuality, and disability in the context of housing and family.
“We live in a complicated world and it is often difficult to follow the trajectory of policy discussions, political debates, or court battles,” Gash says. “Yet, it is also critical that we understand how politics, policies, and legal debates are embedded in larger contexts, and how these debates and policies affect specific communities.”
“I’m making sure they feel connected to each other, to the course material, to the instructors or the GEs. Providing assignments and facilitating activities that are conducive to—and take advantage of—the online space. Attending to concerns about scheduling and organization (online classes can be difficult to track and decipher—especially for students with ADHD or anxiety). And, taking advantage of the quarantine and of Zoom to provide access to special guest speakers that, ordinarily, I would not be able to attract.”
Classes with Gash
PS 106
Power, Politics and Inequality
PS 275
Legal Process
PS 466/566
Civil Rights Law
PS 399
Facts in Politics
PS 302
States' Rights, State Wrongs
PS 484
The U.S. Supreme Court
PS 386
Gender and the Law
PS 465/565
LGBTQ RIghts in the Courts
PS 485
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
PS 618
U.S. Institutions
PS 625
Public Policy Seminar
“I would like to thank my colleagues for creating a culture that privileges pedagogical responsiveness, my students for keeping their hope alive despite the often ‘bad news’ they receive about the state of the world from my classes, and my family for dealing with evening interruptions as I respond to emails or update my lesson plans.”
When I get to play my own music (which is rarely) I will listen to an eclectic mix of old school hip hop (The Roots, Tribe, etc.), some jazz, some classical.
Driving my children to their various activities or in my backyard.
I actually really hated high school. I started carrying around a “Guide to Best Colleges” as early as ninth grade so that I could comb through the pages and count down the days until graduation!