Kate McGlone West, PhD
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    • Current Project Summary
    • Dissertation: Researcher Trustworthiness
    • Genetics and Research Ethics
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    • Academic Service: Beyond the Classroom
    • Workshops
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Teaching Examples

Introduction to Collaborative Approaches and Respectful Partnerships in Global Health
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University of Washington, Department of Global Health.  I proposed this course to address key competencies in the then-developing Global Health track of Public Health undergraduate major.

I developed it during my maternity leave, in consultation with Dr. Kristin Beima-Sofie. During the Fall of 2018, we co-taught it with the invaluable support of our teaching assistant, Dr. Sali Ahmed.  Students represented several departments, in addition to Public Health majors and Global Health minors. Offered an updated version of the course for the Fall quarter of 2019, and plan to continue to offer it into the future!

Download the syllabus, below.

gh306_syllabus9_24_18.pdf
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Student comments:
  • “Absolutely! This class was in a style and had content unlike any I had experienced before. It made me think about collaborative partnerships in different and various ways from the main narrative.”
  • “This class challenged many of my perceptions regarding global health and forced me to think about my intentions in wanting to pursue opportunities in the field.”
  • “Thank you for always creating a welcoming environment for your students! I always felt comfortable sharing my thoughts and I appreciated that you took the time to get to know your students very opening and welcome.”
  • “I loved how the course was super interactive! It was definitely a respectful and inclusive climate thanks to all three instructors.”
  • “This class helped me figure out how I want to go about working in the field. It stretched my thinking on how I viewed global health partnerships and it helped me think about the role I want to play in working in the global health field.”
  • “The instructors were really engaged and obviously so knowledgeable about the content, also really open to explaining concepts to us.”
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Global Health and Justice
University of Washington, Department of Global Health.  I was asked to collaborate on the redesign of this course, and then co-teach the course starting in Winter 2020. The course had been taught for the preceding 5 years by Dr. Beth Rivin, focused on human rights and the legal frameworks that articulate injustices around the world, as they relate to health.  I added to the ethics content, and applied evidence-based teaching approaches to create a more interactive and engaging course. Similar to all of the other university instructors teaching in March 2020, we quickly adjusted to the developing threat of COVID-19, and moved the last two weeks of our course to an all-online format.  
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Applied Research Design, Evaluation & Application 3: Community-Based Research Ethics 
Bastyr University, Department of Midwifery, for the Maternal/Child Health Systems Master's program. I teach the third in the required 3-course series on research, for professionals in perinatal health care. Students include mid-career midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, from around the US and abroad, seeking to expand their skills into the policy and advocacy domain. My research ethics course introduces concepts of harm done to communities in the context of health research, and community-based approaches to conducting responsible research in partnership with those affected by the research topic or outcomes.
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Download the syllabus, below.
Student Comments:
  • “Kate is a valuable asset to the overall master's degree program and I have learned so much from her in terms of the nuances and limitations around ethics in research.”
  • “She has rich, professional research experience and this underpins her work as an instructor. It is valuable in illustrating her subject matter - probably more than Kate realizes. Her accounts of working with indigenous populations is done respectfully. Kate is perfect for running this course.”
  • “Her stories were beautiful illustrations to support what she was teaching.”
  • “Kate is extremely well prepared (which is doubly impressive, given she has a young child). The materials she provides are second to none and they illustrate her in-depth knowledge on this subject.”
  •  “Kate is supportive, enthusiastic and enquiring. It is clear she values her interactive time with students and uses that for personal learning as well as to instruct. It's a nice Socratic approach.”
mchs_wi-19_syllabus1_2_19.docx
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Ethical Issues in the Food System and Public Health:  University of Washington, in the Department of Bioethics and Humanities. I created this course under the mentorship of Dr. Kelly Edwards, and taught during the Spring quarter, 2014. Participants included both masters and PhD students from across campus, including Departments/Schools of Public Health, Anthropology, Geography, Social Work, and Bioethics.
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Student comments:
  • “This was a phenomenally unique course and one of the most valuable over the course of my MPH here at UW…Make this a permanent offering!!” 
  • “This class taught me to open my eyes to where I have carried cynicism instead of hope, blame of individuals where systems are more at fault, and to understand the concept of valuing the agency and resiliency of individuals and communities rather than see victims. It started in week 1 looking at the food system and all its sectors, all the way to today and how to put knowledge to action.”
  • “The multidisciplinary lens stays true to life, which isn’t compartmentalized into isolated academic sectors, but a convergence of them.”  
  • “[The course] forced me to give reasons and to question each of my beliefs.”  
  • "Your class was still my favorite, of all of the classes I have taken!" -- Student, after graduation 
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Download the syllabus at the link below. 

bh597_ethicsfoodsyllabus_final.pdf
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UW Honors Course Proposal:  Public Trust and Distrust of Science for UW Undergraduate Honors Program. Proposed for 2016.
​I developed this course outline in accordance with the interdisciplinary Honors Program requirements, and drawing from topics in my dissertation research. It is a 5-credit course, intended to offer students skills in a qualitative research method, as well as a chance to bridge the public/academic divide in their writing. Products from this course could contribute to students' web-based portfolios. 


LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
  1. To engage concepts of trust and trustworthiness.
  2. To explore various histories of distrust in research and science for different publics.
  3. To identify approaches to reduce distrust in populations with varied experiences with science.
  4. To critically analyze arguments in the popular media using discourse analysis methods, to highlight the assumptions and angle put forth.
  5. To convey a commitment to trustworthiness to a public audience through respectfully engaging a distrustful perspective on science. 
westhonors_course11_11_15.pdf
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​Introduction to Ethics in Public Health Genetics:  for Upward Bound, Public Health Class, 2014 & 2015.
Upward Bound is a federally supported program for low-income high school students who have the potential to be the first in their families to attend college. The Seattle program  includes a 6-week summer school on the university campus, to offer students a taste of college coursework, and career exploration. As part of the Public Health course, I co-designed, with Tory Brundage, a 2-session module on an introduction to the field of Public Health Genetics, combined with and introduction to the application of ethical analysis in Public Health policy making. Students participated in a case study of the NCAA policy on Sickle Cell genetic screening of collegiate athletes, and a debate, representing various stakeholder perspectives on the issue. 

Introduction to Using Ethical Frameworks in Public Health:  ​for SPH481 Ethics, Social Justice and Policy, School of Public Health undergraduate major core course
I collaborated with Dr. Sara Mackenzie to redesign this course, including drafting new ethics-focused learning objectives, and creating a 2-session ethics module for Public Health majors. We piloted the module in 2013 and have presented it each year since. The module combined interactive lecture with active learning around a case study involving a policy impacting participants in the Job Corps program. Students used ethical frameworks to consider the policy from various perspectives and make a decision regarding whether to maintain or change the policy. 
westpresentation1_13_14.pdf
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Teaching your own class: The first day and beyond:   for the UW Center for Teaching and Learning TA/RA Conference, 2014 & 2015.  
I developed and facilitated a 75-minute workshop for graduate students across a wide range of disciplines, including engineering, history, art, nursing, and computer science. The workshop combined interactive lecture, discussion, small group work, and practical skills to help prepare student teachers to feel confident on their first day of teaching.  We covered what to include in a syllabus, backward course design to develop course content, activities and learning goals; brainstormed how to inspire students to come back after the first day of class; practiced how to thoughtfully introduce ourselves as instructors; and addressed participants' concerns about teaching on their own. 
The presentation is linked below.
west_teachingownclass2015.pdf
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Atlas.ti Qualitative Analysis Software:  training for the graduate students learning qualitative data analysis. I created this workshop and presented it for masters, PhD and post-doctoral-level students at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (2009) and University of Washington (2012). This was an interactive workshop, with guided practice applying each of the steps. This workshop would translate well to an online training module, with some adjustments. Workshop handouts are available upon request.

atlastiworkshop2012.pptx
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Epigenetics: Is there a Promise?:  for BHLTH 497  Social Justice, Power and Health Care,  UW Bothell Nursing and Health Studies program
I guest lectured on embodiment of life experiences, including adverse childhood experiences. We covered the scientific mechanisms of epigenetic regulation, evidence for the developmental origins of health and disease, public interest in the issues, and several examples. We switched gears to address social justice, health disparities, and critically consider whether epigenetic science can contribute to reducing health disparities.
The presentation is linked below.
west_epigenetics.pptx
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  • Home
  • Research
    • Current Project Summary
    • Dissertation: Researcher Trustworthiness
    • Genetics and Research Ethics
    • Publications
  • Teaching & Service
    • Teaching
    • Academic Service: Beyond the Classroom
    • Workshops
  • Distractions