Marquette Faculty Profiles
Get to Know: Dr. Melissa Shew, visiting assistant professor in philosophy
We’re proud to spotlight Dr. Melissa Shew — a participating faculty member in the Philosophy Department — as part of our new transformational faculty series. Going forward, we’ll be featuring Q&As with Marquette faculty, which will highlight their professional accomplishments as well as some personal fun facts.
Get to know Dr. Melissa Shew, an award-winning educator who was promoted to Visiting Associate Professorship in Philosophy for next fall at Marquette University, where she started teaching in Fall 2007. She also holds the position of Senior Faculty Fellow in the Center for Teaching and Learning, where she coaches, mentors, and trains faculty in face-to-face, synchronous remote, and asynchronous remote modes of education.
Name: Melissa Shew
Hometown: Detroit, Michigan
Family: Spouse (Mike), two kids (Sebastian, age 6 and Gabriel, age 4)
Hobbies and interests: In my free time, I enjoy exploring Lake Michigan, refinishing old furniture, cooking, doing art with my kids, spending time with my parents and sister, reading, going on very long walks, and drinking good coffee
Favorite movies: Lost in Translation; Arrival; Sorry To Bother You
Heroes: Those who work in invisible ways to bring about positive change and create beauty in our world.
Favorite quotes/mottos: Know yourself (written atop the Delphic Oracle)
Currently reading: Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel, Klara and the Sun. I love and have taught his novel Never Let Me Go several times. My spouse and I attended a virtual interview with him recently, which was hosted by Boswell Books and two other midwestern independent bookstores. Ishiguro is brilliant, and I can’t wait to dive further into his new book.
Favorite vacation spots: The Oregon coast, specifically Yachats
Biggest career learning experience: It’s essential for a person, regardless of her formal title, to do things she deems important, interesting and life-giving.
Fun facts: I just gave a TEDx talk called “Women and Intellectual Empowerment.” It was the most stressful and nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done, but it was also exhilarating.
Research interests: Philosophy of education; feminist philosophy, especially equity in philosophy/academia; ancient philosophy; philosophy of literature and the arts.
I am currently working on several projects: A big one in its initial stages is a book project on Ignatian, Socratic, feminist, critical, and indigenous pedagogies. Another big project is called The Persephone Project, which is a philosophy/humanities-based project to support younger people, especially those who identify as girls or women or as gender fluid/nonbinary. Aside from these recent undertakings, I have longstanding research interests in ancient philosophy, the history of philosophy and philosophy of education.
Classes you teach: I teach a lot of different classes in a lot of different ways. Since the pandemic, I have taught a few sections of PHIL 4330 (Business Ethics); CORE 1929H: What I Am To Myself (with Ann E. Millard in Occupational Therapy); CORE 3949H: An Honors Core Capstone Seminar on Being in a Strange World (taught with Lynne Shumow and Alexandra Crampton); several sections of PHIL 1001 and PHIL 1001H; ExBU 6571: Ethical and Social Issues in Business; ExBU 6572: Corporate Social Responsibility; HOPR 3957: On Authenticity. I am currently working to design a special section of CORE 4929H, the new culminating experience course for all Marquette students, for Fall 2021 with Jennifer Henery in Theology. It’s exciting.
Other roles you fill on campus: I work in a substantial role as the Senior Faculty Fellow in the Center for Teaching and Learning, where I provide training, support, coaching, and seminars for faculty and graduate student instructors. Jennifer Maney (the CTL Director) and I are currently putting together a book titled On the Vocation of the Educator in This Moment, which will have about twenty-five chapter contributions from faculty across Marquette. Faculty from Arts and Sciences are beautifully represented in this book, along with faculty across campus. I also am a member of the Faculty Advisory Council for the Institute for Women’s Leadership, a longtime member of the Participating Faculty Task Force Committee, affiliated faculty with the Executive MBA Program, and a regular teacher in the Honors Program at Marquette.
What led you to Marquette: It was a happy accident. I was dissertating at the University of Oregon, and my spouse Mike landed a final interview for a job teaching English at Marquette University High School. I flew out with him and had an impromptu interview in the Philosophy Department after I walked down there with my CV. Turns out, they needed to do some extra hiring, so they offered me a job a month after Mike accepted at MUHS and we were moving to Milwaukee, where the plan was for me to finish my dissertation and go on the job market. I promised him three years in Milwaukee before I would apply for dream academic jobs, but I ended up loving my job, Marquette and Milwaukee. So, I stayed and taught at at Marquette from 2007–2012. I left briefly — from 2012 to 2017 — to pursue an opportunity teaching at an all-girls high school, which coincided with my interests to help young women develop their intellectual capabilities and strengths. I returned to Marquette University in 2017 and have been here since.
Favorite part of your job: Working with dedicated, visionary and brilliant colleagues across campus to create high impact learning experiences for our students — and form a vibrant teaching and learning community in the process. I love learning from our talented and thoughtful colleagues about their research and interests, too. And, of course, I deeply and sincerely love our students.
Your hopes for your work/for Marquette: To continue to grow both in my vocation and my job at Marquette.
