Scott Walter
Scott Walter: 1957-2013
Celebrating Scott, by Greg Jay (from the memorial service)
I can’t speak about all of Scott’s life, but only something of his Milwaukee years, and specifically of his achievements as a teacher, citizen and community activist.
Scott walked into the offices of the UWM Cultures and Communities Program, where I am the Director, shortly after moving to Milwaukee. He dropped his resume on me, and when we talked about his doctoral work in American Studies at Bowling Green State University and his ideas for classes he could teach here, I sensed right away that we would become allies and friends. Not long after, Scott was invited to join our program and the Department of English, recently being promoted to the level of Senior Lecturer. Over the years he became a core faculty member for Cultures and Communities and a leading innovator in service learning, multicultural education, and social justice pedagogy.
Cultures and Communities was a fairly new program at the time Scott arrived, and we needed leadership fashioning our vision and turning it into reality through curriculum design and project execution. That’s where Scott stepped in to play an essential role. He took on creating and implementing unique sections of our core course on “Multicultural America,” including initiating many partnerships with local non-profit organizations that collaborated with him on service learning assignments for his students. These included True Skool, Neighborhood House, Walnut Way, Urban Underground, COA Youth and Family Center, and Brown Street School. Scott was particularly passionate about working with young people in Milwaukee, so often he collaborated with service-learning partners that served adolescents and teens through mentorships, tutoring, and special projects. I learned first hand of Scott’s impact on his students because, as his supervisor, I had to read his course evaluations every semester. He was regularly described as passionate, brilliant, intimidating, learned, and inspiring—and yes, let’s admit it, disorganized. Moreover, students wrote surprisingly often of the effect that Scott and his teaching had on them personally, leaving them unsettled and transformed, questioning themselves and the world, hopeful and dedicated to change. You can read in the pages of the online Guest Book for this memorial some of tributes to Scott’s inspiring work left there by his students and colleagues. They testify to the transformative power of his teaching and the life-changing experiences he provided for them through community engagement.
Here’s what one student, Vince Trippi, wrote: I suppose that the greatest lesson Scott imparted to me was that of empathy, the ability to forget yourself and place your whole psyche into someone else's position. When you can empathize with people, I believe, you love more and hate less, listen longer and speak softer, create just worlds and live in them, together. Sometimes you might get the vibe from Scott that he's a “hell is other people” kinda guy, but I believe that not-so-deep-down he was filled with an abiding love for people, for their wellbeing, and for their equality.
As those of you who knew Scott well might suspect, however, his classes were never an easy ride, and not always a comfortable one. Scott challenged his students to examine virtually every one of their preconceptions about controversial topics such as racism, sexism, homophobia, class prejudice, the exploitation of workers and the value of unions. He put his own ideas and feelings on the table, and listened while his students did the same, encouraging them to think critically, become informed, and develop their own powers of self-understanding and expression. A highlight of Scott’s classes was the final multimedia project on cultural identity. In this assignment, students reflected on the social construction of their own selfhoods, using prose and poetry, photography and video and music, exploring how their own story fit into the story of multicultural America. I attended showcases where students presented these projects, and was always impressed and moved by them. In the coming months I hope we can gather and archive some of these in a permanent online library that will illustrate Scott’s legacy and inspire other teachers to undertake similar assignments.
Scott’s courage, brilliance, and dedication were well-known and widely recognized at UWM and in the Milwaukee community. His passing leaves us bereft and shocked, saddened and heart-broken. I for one, however, will try to respond by redoubling my effort to further the causes to which Scott gave so much, and to ensure that his achievements continue to be a resource for future teachers and students and community members.
Celebrating Scott, by Greg Jay (from the memorial service)
I can’t speak about all of Scott’s life, but only something of his Milwaukee years, and specifically of his achievements as a teacher, citizen and community activist.
Scott walked into the offices of the UWM Cultures and Communities Program, where I am the Director, shortly after moving to Milwaukee. He dropped his resume on me, and when we talked about his doctoral work in American Studies at Bowling Green State University and his ideas for classes he could teach here, I sensed right away that we would become allies and friends. Not long after, Scott was invited to join our program and the Department of English, recently being promoted to the level of Senior Lecturer. Over the years he became a core faculty member for Cultures and Communities and a leading innovator in service learning, multicultural education, and social justice pedagogy.
Cultures and Communities was a fairly new program at the time Scott arrived, and we needed leadership fashioning our vision and turning it into reality through curriculum design and project execution. That’s where Scott stepped in to play an essential role. He took on creating and implementing unique sections of our core course on “Multicultural America,” including initiating many partnerships with local non-profit organizations that collaborated with him on service learning assignments for his students. These included True Skool, Neighborhood House, Walnut Way, Urban Underground, COA Youth and Family Center, and Brown Street School. Scott was particularly passionate about working with young people in Milwaukee, so often he collaborated with service-learning partners that served adolescents and teens through mentorships, tutoring, and special projects. I learned first hand of Scott’s impact on his students because, as his supervisor, I had to read his course evaluations every semester. He was regularly described as passionate, brilliant, intimidating, learned, and inspiring—and yes, let’s admit it, disorganized. Moreover, students wrote surprisingly often of the effect that Scott and his teaching had on them personally, leaving them unsettled and transformed, questioning themselves and the world, hopeful and dedicated to change. You can read in the pages of the online Guest Book for this memorial some of tributes to Scott’s inspiring work left there by his students and colleagues. They testify to the transformative power of his teaching and the life-changing experiences he provided for them through community engagement.
Here’s what one student, Vince Trippi, wrote: I suppose that the greatest lesson Scott imparted to me was that of empathy, the ability to forget yourself and place your whole psyche into someone else's position. When you can empathize with people, I believe, you love more and hate less, listen longer and speak softer, create just worlds and live in them, together. Sometimes you might get the vibe from Scott that he's a “hell is other people” kinda guy, but I believe that not-so-deep-down he was filled with an abiding love for people, for their wellbeing, and for their equality.
As those of you who knew Scott well might suspect, however, his classes were never an easy ride, and not always a comfortable one. Scott challenged his students to examine virtually every one of their preconceptions about controversial topics such as racism, sexism, homophobia, class prejudice, the exploitation of workers and the value of unions. He put his own ideas and feelings on the table, and listened while his students did the same, encouraging them to think critically, become informed, and develop their own powers of self-understanding and expression. A highlight of Scott’s classes was the final multimedia project on cultural identity. In this assignment, students reflected on the social construction of their own selfhoods, using prose and poetry, photography and video and music, exploring how their own story fit into the story of multicultural America. I attended showcases where students presented these projects, and was always impressed and moved by them. In the coming months I hope we can gather and archive some of these in a permanent online library that will illustrate Scott’s legacy and inspire other teachers to undertake similar assignments.
Scott’s courage, brilliance, and dedication were well-known and widely recognized at UWM and in the Milwaukee community. His passing leaves us bereft and shocked, saddened and heart-broken. I for one, however, will try to respond by redoubling my effort to further the causes to which Scott gave so much, and to ensure that his achievements continue to be a resource for future teachers and students and community members.
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Dissertation by Scott Walter