Dr. Tim Personn

I came to the University of Victoria in 2011 with a degree in bilingual education (Philosophy and English) from Universität Hamburg, Germany. In 2018, I completed an interdisciplinary PhD in English and CSPT (Cultural, Social and Political Thought) funded by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. I have been teaching as a Sessional Instructor at the University of Victoria since 2015, including the following courses: ENGL 135 (“Introduction to Academic Reading and Writing”), ENGL 146 (“The Literature of Our Era”), ENGL 201 (“Introduction to Modernism”), and ENGL 429C (“Contemporary American Fiction”).

As an instructor of first-year rhetoric and composition courses, I aim to empower students not only to succeed in their disciplines, but also to become participants in a public culture of debate. I therefore help my students develop the critical reading and writing skills that allow them to formulate an opinion in the absence of absolute proof. This exercise, I believe, is a valuable lesson in how to grow into the responsibilities of adulthood in our pluralistic world. For my teaching, I have been awarded the 2017/2018 Graduate Sessional Teaching Award by the Department of English.

A more detailed Statement of Teaching Philosophy can be found here: http://www.timpersonn.com/teaching/teaching-philosophy