By Elianna Novitch
Happy “Where Do You Work?” Wednesday, Hawkeyes! This week meet alumna Alisa Meggitt (B.A. ’92 Global Studies, B.A. ’02 Elementary Education with a social studies endorsement).
Originally from Inverness, Illinois, Meggitt has been teaching for 18 years in the Iowa City Community School District. She currently works as a seventh-grade Global Studies instructor.
Meggitt loves bringing students and the community together with substantive service-learning projects.
“I enjoy teaching Global Studies content and cherish how teaching can empower students with skills and dispositions to create the future they want to grow old in,” Meggitt says.
Before she started teaching, Meggitt worked in Washington D.C. on Environmental Policy with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the White House, and the United Nations.
“I was inspired to become a teacher after serving as a Peace Corps Environmental Education Volunteer in West Africa,” Meggitt says.
Meggitt says she had several inspirational instructors during her time at the University of Iowa College of Education who helped her get to where she is today, including Christy Wolfe, Peter Hlebowitsch, Marlene Johnson as a co-operating teacher at Hoover Elementary in Iowa City, and Jason Harshman, who has also served as a professional coach for Meggitt over the past several years.
“The passion, talent, and dedication exhibited by these education professionals substantially inspired and influenced my classroom instruction, perspectives on public education, and student-teacher relations,” Meggitt says. “I maintain contact with all of these professors and mentors to this day. I've also been fortunate to participate in many professional development opportunities offered by the College of Education, including diversity trainings, Global Education Trainings, and International Seminars.”
Meggitt was also honored with a Phyllis Yager Diversity Award in 2018 from the UI College of Education.
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