Ellie Louson
Academic Specialist, Michigan State University
Learning Designer, Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation, MSU
History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science faculty member, Lyman Briggs College, MSU
PhD, Science and Technology Studies Graduate Program, York University
Fall 2021
I am on leave in Fall 2021
Spring 2022
LB 325B: Science and the Environment (emphasis on social sciences)
Summer 2022
Visit Authentic Maine in Summer 2022!
Bio
I split my time between MSU's new Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation and Lyman Briggs College. In the teaching center, I help MSU educators with experiential learning, interdisciplinary teaching, and how to engage students including in online/hybid courses. In LBC, I teach HPS courses about nature and the environment, as well as the intro to HPS course. My PhD is from York University's Science & Technology Studies graduate program. My STS research focuses on wildlife films and the representation of animal behavior. In my dissertation Never Before Seen: Spectacle, Staging, and Story in Wildlife Film's Blue-Chip Renaissance I researched blue-chip wildlife films of the 21st century, drawing from the history of wildlife filmmaking and of visual representation in natural history. I examine the history of staging practices or "natural history artifice" within the wildlife genre and how they affect our trust in wildlife filmmakers. A component of this research involved interviewing wildlife and environmental documentary filmmakers about their experiences, practices, impressions of their profession, and collaborations with scientists. My latest paper looked at behind-the-scenes "making-of" documentaries for wildlife films, specifically the DisneyNature film Chimpanzee (2012). I got to collaborate with a wonderful science artist Maki Naro to illustrate the paper.
My dissertation committee was made up of Katey Anderson, Joan Steigerwald, and Brenda Longfellow.
