Katherine Watier's Academics: Smith Class Evaluation

Department of Psychology

Smith College, College Lane
Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 (413) 585-3804 Fax

(413) 585-3786

May 6,1998

To Whom it May Concern:

Katherine Watier attended my seminar on the psychology of political activism during the spring semester 1998 at Smith College. The seminar focused on people's motivations to participate in political activism, especially activism around social issues. Assignments included heavy of theoretical and empirical work from psychology, sociology, and political science about social movements, along with some personal accounts from activists. Students were also responsible for writing weekly reaction papers (I -3 pages in length), in which they developed and supported a thesis about anything that struck them about the current week's readings. Their final projects involved applying theories about motivation for activism to explain how and why an activist of their choice became involved in her or his particular cause(s).

Ms. Watier was an important member of the seminar, contributing weekly to our class discussions, and often bringing up topics that generated a lot of discussion. Over the course of the semester, Ms. Watier's reaction papers became more sophisticated and thoughtful as she learned to carefully critique writings and defend her thesis statements. One of the stated course goals for this seminar was to help students develop critical thinking and writing skills, and I would say that is where Ms. Watier showed the most improvement. She also became very good at integrating past readings with current ones, often referring to theories previously discussed in class in interesting ways. Her final paper fell a bit short of expectations, probably because she got carried away with her enthusiasm for her subject, Bella Abzug, and somewhat lost focus on the application of theories to Abzug's life. Ms. Watier is very capable of writing clearly and persuasively, and demonstrated a lot of enthusiasm for topics presented in class. I enjoyed very much her participation in my seminar.

Sincerely,

Lauren E. Duncan, Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Smith College





				w Department of Psychology Smith College, College Lane Northampton, Massachusetts 01063 (413) 585-3804 Fax (413) 585-3786 May 6,1998 To Whom it May Concern: Katherine Watier attended my seminar on the psychology of political activism during the spring semester 1998 at Smith College. The seminar focused on people's motivations to participate in political activism, especially activism around social issues. Assignments included heavy of theoretical and empirical work from psychology, sociology, and political science about social movements, along with some personal accounts from activists. Students were also responsible for writing weekly reaction papers (I -3 pages in length), in which they developed and supported a thesis about anything that struck them about the current week's readings. Their final projects involved applying theories about motivation for activism to explain how and why an activist of their choice became involved in her or his particular cause(s). Ms. Watier was an important member of the seminar, contributing weekly to our class discussions, and often bringing up topics that generated a lot of discussion. Over the course of the semester, Ms. Watier's reaction papers became more sophisticated and thoughtful as she learned to carefully critique writings and defend her thesis statements. One of the stated course goals for this seminar was to help students develop critical thinking and writing skills, and I would say that is where Ms. Watier showed the most improvement. She also became very good at integrating past readings with current ones, often referring to theories previously discussed in class in interesting ways. Her final paper fell a bit short of expectations, probably because she got carried away with her enthusiasm for her subject, Bella Abzug, and somewhat lost focus on the application of theories to Abzug's life. Ms. Watier is very capable of writing clearly and persuasively, and demonstrated a lot of enthusiasm for topics presented in class. I enjoyed very much her participation in my seminar. Sincerely, Lauren E. Duncan, Ph.D. Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Smith College
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