At the University of British Columbia, “Educational Leadership” (EL) can be understood as transformative “activity taken at UBC and elsewhere to advance innovation in teaching and learning with impact beyond one’s classroom” (from section 4.04 of the UBC-Faculty Association Collective Agreement).
My EL-work at UBC involves curriculum reform and renewal, designing experiential learning opportunities, supporting student learning communities, pedagogical innovation in History, and scholarship of teaching and learning (see also my publications page).
Current Teaching at UBC
For students interested in HIST 362: The Islamic Golden Age (formerly HIST 353: The Abbasids), please see this page.
For students interested in HIST 101: Global History Before 1500 CE, check out the Faculty of Arts’s Ways of Knowing Spotlight with student testimonials.
Information on new course, HIST 300: Vikings: Then & Now, forthcoming.
Public-Facing Work & Community Involvement
Summer 2023. Save Ancient Studies Alliance (SASA). Creator and Leader of international reading group, “Reading the Abbasid Past: History and Islamic Heritage.”
Spring 2023. UBC Extended Learning. Course: “The Abbasids: A Living History of the Islamic World.”
Spring 2023. UBC Extended Learning. Course: “Vikings: The Untold Global History.”
2023. Invited Speaker for UBC student event: “Meet the other first years: the new profs.” Totem Park at UBC. Vancouver, BC.
2023. Invited Speaker. “Islamicate Heritage, Reassembled: Tracing Itinerant Coins into the 21st Century.” MOA Visual + Material Culture Research Seminar Series—Spring 2023. Museum of Anthropology at UBC. Vancouver, BC.
2022. Panelist on “The City as Art.” The Future of Islamic Art & Culture: Digital Festival. Hosted by Bayt al Fann. London, UK.
2022. Panelist on “You say MENA I say SWANA: What’s in an Acronym?” Vancouver MENA Film Festival. Vancouver, BC.
2022. SAPIENS Talk Back Podcast. Season 4, Episode 6: “Setting the Table: Archaeology and Resistance.” https://soundcloud.com/user-664136257/sapiens-talk-back-setting-the-table-archaeology-and-resistance?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
2021. “Networks and Assemblages for the Humanities and Social Sciences.” UC Berkeley Digital Humanities Working Group.
2020. “The Archaeology of Islamic and Scandinavian Heritage in Viking-Age Sweden.” Swedish Women’s Educational Association (SWEA) of San Francisco.
2020. “Ask an Archaeologist, Episode 10: Network Analysis and Museums-Based Research in Eastern Europe and the Arab World.” UC Berkeley Archaeological Research Facility ‘Ask an Archaeologist’ Series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COEBCDLJqUY
2019- 2021. Office of Resources for International and Area Studies (ORIAS) Speakers Bureau, UC Berkeley Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Speaker & Educator for K-12 and Community College students.
Public-Facing Writing & Pedagogical Materials
2024. Knutson, Sara Ann, Laila Shaheen, and Jason Izadi. “The Islamic Golden Age.” Bloomsbury Medieval Studies Platform. London: Bloomsbury Academic. 10.5040/9781350886834.012
2024. “Introduction to Global Medieval Heritage and Material Studies.” Bloomsbury Medieval Studies Platform. London: Bloomsbury Academic. 10.5040/9781350886858.007
2023. “Excavating the Nostalgia of Archaeology in Moon Knight.” Forum Series: Nostalgia and Medievalism around the World.” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association. http://historyjournal.ca/excavating-the-nostalgia-of-archaeology-in-moon-knight/
2023. “The ‘Abbāsids.” UBC Database of Religious History (DRH). https://religiondatabase.org/questionnaire/1903
2017. “Inside the World of First-Generation College Students.” Medium.com. Accessed 22 June 2023. https://medium.com/@sara_knutson/inside-the-world-of-first-generation-students-1187d4204ceb