nmferdin

nmferdin@arizona.edu

Office

Harvill 341B

Ferdinandt, Nicholas M

Associate Professor of Practice

Associate Professor of Practice, Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Second Language Acquisition & Teaching

Nicholas Ferdinandt completed his EdD in Educational Leadership at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, where he also completed his undergraduate degree in Russian. Dr. Ferdinandt’s MA in Slavic Languages and Literatures is from The Ohio State University.

Dr. Ferdinandt has been a teacher and tutor trainer as well as an ESL instructor in the US, Brazil, and Mexico. He created the University Track Pathway in the Center for English as a Second Language (CESL) at the University of Arizona and came to Public & Applied Humanities by way of the directorship at CESL (2017-2020). Dr. Ferdinandt has many years of experience as a leader in language education as a course and program developer, as well as a language program evaluator. Dr. Ferdinandt has a variety of interests that include language program evaluation, intercultural training, leadership for intercultural understanding, and myth and story as social construction.

Currently Teaching

PAH 150A3 – The Great Outdoors: Improving Health, Wellness, and Creativity by Living Life Outside

From physicians to neuroscientists to poets and songwriters, people around the world have long written about how even brief immersion in nature can improve the human condition. This course will explore these writings and what they have to tell us about understanding human experience and our interface with the natural world. Using applied humanities approaches and a variety of texts, our goal will be to develop real-world applications of insight, perspective, critical understanding, discernment, and creativity about the place and importance of nature in human experience. Over the course of the semester we will: (1) read and critically analyze writing by and about people who have found creative and innovative approaches to express and/or measure how immersion in nature makes humans healthier; (2) engage in reflective projects that open pathways to developing one's own creativity and imagination for personal and community applications of nature immersion; and (3) design an applied project focused on assessing how ideas for nature immersion might be implemented in real-world settings. Students will use project management and planning methods to write a project description, carry out an initial pilot version of the project, report on steps they have accomplished, and write a critical analysis of their project.

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PAH 160D2 – Living the Good Life: Humanities Perspectives on Culture and Community

This interdisciplinary course analyzes myths and cosmologies that reflect various societal approaches to the grand mysteries of life as represented in language, culture, and narratives. Beginning with an overview of myth as a moving force in life, students generate a list of grand mysteries to pursue answers that explore the past, present, and future. Select texts analyzing myth as well as works of fiction and contemporary film and television will round out the course as students work toward analyzing their own cosmology, a chosen mythology, or develop their own unique mythology for the digital age. Particular emphasis will be paid to myths and cosmologies of groups in conflict and an analysis of the clash resulting from competing perspectives.

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PAH 372 – Intercultural Competence: Culture, Identity, Adaptation, and Intercultural Relations

This course provides students with an in depth discussion of the key concepts and factors that have led to the development of the field of intercultural competence and provides students with extensive background and reading so as to take a critical perspective on intercultural competence and its future for them in a globalized world.

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PAH 391 – Preceptorship

Specialized work on an individual basis, consisting of instruction and practice in actual service in a department, program, or discipline. Teaching formats may include seminars, in-depth studies, laboratory work and patient study.

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PAH 150B5 – Hunting: Interpretations and Experiences

Hunting is fundamental to the human experience. Throughout history, humans have viewed hunting as a foodway, a lifeway, and even as a sport. This course considers the concept of hunting broadly and explores the practices of seeking and finding across human endeavor, from sacred acts of harvesting to modern recreation with ethical implications for ecological stewardship. Over the course of the semester, students will unpack their own personal meanings around the act of hunting and interpret the role different kinds of hunting play in conservation and community life. Students eventually plan their own hunt of one kind or another. This does not necessarily need to be a hunt for game, but can be a hunt for a picture of wildlife or any other hunt as defined by the student. Ultimately, hunting will be defined broadly so all students can conduct and engage with the topic in ways that make sense to them. All positions and perspectives related to hunting in all its forms and with all its associated debates and controversies are welcome for consideration.

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