Senior Instructor

About

  • Find Me On:

    linkedin

  • Website

    Wisdom Workshop Blog

  • Office Hours

    Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays: 1:00 pm - 1:50 pm; Fridays 11:00 am -11:50 am and by appointment

  • Role

    Faculty

  • Position

    • Senior Instructor

  • Concentration

    • Composition and Humanities

  • Department

    • English, Philosophy Alumni, and University Composition Program

  • Education

    • Dual M.A. (English Education and Philosophy)

  • Curriculum Vitae:

Biography

I am an educator, philosopher, and musical artist. I write for the love and the joy of it. I am a pluralist, pragmatist, existentialist, and positive psychology enthusiast.

I teach full-time in the Department of English

I’ve been teaching for eighteen years at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Currently, I teach College Composition (CO150), Writing Arguments (CO300), and Writing in Digital Environments (CO302). My Master’s thesis in English Education provides a way for high school English teachers to introduce philosophy using young adult literature.

I used to teach in the Department of Philosophy

I’ve taught Logic and Critical Thinking (PL110), Introduction to Ethics (PL104), and World Philosophies (PL170). I wrote my Masters thesis in comparative epistemology: “Metaphysics, epistemology, and depression: the philosophical and pragmatic dimensions of the modern biomedical and Tibetan Buddhist approach to well-being.” I love for east/west contemplative approaches to living well.

I’ve made a living making music

I am an active recording and performing artist who has played 1000+ shows and 150k+ streams with  Sean Waters & the Sunrise Genius on Spotify or Apple Music. Most of those shows were logged with a group called the Seers, with pianist Brian Collins. Fun, bizarre fact: my mom had a dream she should name me ‘Seers’ when I was in utero. ‘Sean’ was as close as she could get in good conscience.

I am an educational artist

They say “write the book you want to read.” I’m creating the courses I want to take. I believe Wisdom is our skillfulness in relating to ourselves, to our lives, to others, and to the world. With the Wisdom Workshop, I’ve designed the courses that I would want to take over and over again. Paul Marcus, a retiring psychotherapist, said: “It’s the most educational thing I’ve done outside of my education, and the most therapeutic thing I’ve done outside of therapy.”  

I write by hand every day 

I’m going into year twelve of a daily writing practice. Loosely following The Artist’s Way “Morning pages,” I write for mindful self-care and creative expression. Some writing makes its way to TikTok and YouTube and Clubhouse. I’m on my 245th cranberry red moleskin pocket journal. I recently graduated to an A5 Muji Open-Flat Lined Notebook. My new favorite pen is a Muji gel ink cap-type ballpoint .5mm.

Courses

  • CO302: Writing in Digital Environments

    Syllabus

    In CO302: Writing in Digital environments, you will expand your skills in writing in digital environments relevant to your specific academic, professional, public, and personal contexts. We use contemporary rhetorical theory to deepen understanding of effective communication. You will create online portfolios, media-rich blog posts, and multimodal presentations using visual, aural, and alphabetic components. We explore the nuances of the rhetorical situation, audience analysis, and Rogerian argument. We practice advanced reading, note-taking, researching, writing, and revising. You will write to annotate, reflect, inquire, respond, inform, and persuade. You will write as scholars, aspiring professionals, citizens, and consumers/co-creators of culture. CO302 is a writing- and reading-intensive course, and you can expect many opportunities to read critically, engage in conversations about writing, and produce effective writing for a variety of audiences. Over the semester, you will create content for a chosen discourse community while also developing techniques for peer-review, collaboration, and revision in media-rich digital contexts.

  • CO150: College Composition

    Syllabus

    CO150 focuses on introducing you to writing, reading, research, and communicating practices that will prepare you for success as a university student, professional, and citizen. In this course, you will learn to critically read and respond to a variety of texts, to write for a variety of rhetorical situations and audiences, to dialogue about different experiences and perspectives, and to develop and apply effective writing practices.