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Ellie Louson, Ph.D.

Ellie Louson
  • Assistant Teaching Professor
  • LB Course Subject Area: Science and Society
  • Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation
  • Pronouns: she/her

LBC COURSES

  • LB 133: Introduction to History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science
  • LB 240: Bioethics: Theories and Methods
  • LB 325A: Science and the Environment - Arts and Humanities
  • LB 325B: Science and the Environment - Social Sciences
  • LB 492: The Senior Capstone

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Ellie Louson teaches courses on the history, philosophy, and sociology of science. She also teaches a summer study away course about nature and infrastructure in coastal Maine. Her research is on wildlife films and their representation of animal behavior; she is also interested in science communication, science in the media, documentary, and the history and philosophy of biology. Her work fits within a broader conversation about the historical and cultural treatment of nature, environment, and wilderness. It's important because we don't study nature in a vacuum: our ideas about nature feed back on and draw from what we think about human beings and society. She also works as a learning designer at MSU's new Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation to support educators and to improve interdisciplinary, experiential learning at MSU.

EDUCATION

  • Ph.D., Science & Technology Studies, York University. “Never Before Seen: Spectacle, Staging, and Story in Wildlife Film’s Blue-Chip Renaissance” 
  • M.A., IHPST, University of Toronto
  • B.A., Philosophy Honors, Bishop’s University
  • B.Sc., Biochemistry Honors, Bishop’s University

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  • 2021. Performing authenticity: The making-of documentary in wildlife film's blue-chip renaissance. People and Nature 3(6): 1147-1159. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10281 (shortlisted for the 2021 Rachel Carson Prize)
  • 2021. Heinrich, W. F., Ludwig, P., McCarthy, S.R., Lewis, E.J., Swayne, N., Louson, E.. Testing Assessments of Integrated Experiential Learning. In Applying Design Thinking to the Measurement of Experiential Learning, eds. Adam Peck and Danielle DeSawal, 288-309. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-7768-4.ch018
  • 2021. Heinrich, W. F., Louson, E., Blommel, C., & Green, A. R. Who Coaches the Coaches? The Development of a Coaching Model for Experiential Learning. Innov High Educ 46, 357–375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-020-09537-3
  • 2020. You Can Teach Online! Designing effective and engaging online courses. Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science Communiqué. 102(Winter): 42-44. http://www.yorku.ca/cshps1/pdf/Communique102.pdf
  • 2019. Beginning to Unsettle Study Away in Maine: Decentering Settler Narratives in HPS Context (co-authored with Isaac Record). Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science Communiqué. 100(Autumn): 23-24. http://www.yorku.ca/cshps1/pdf/Communique100.pdf
  • 2019. “We fire all our scientists”: The Sheepfarmer Case as Engaged Learning (co-authored with Melissa Charenko). Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science Communiqué. 99(Winter): 16-18. https://www.yorku.ca/cshps1/pdf/Communique99.pdf
  • 2018. Taking Spectacle Seriously: Wildlife Film and the Legacy of Natural History Display. Science in Context 31(1): 15-38. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0269889718000030

LINKS

Personal Website