Dr Laura Sandy PhD

Currently, my main focus is on teaching the history of slavery in North America and the Caribbean. However, I have broad teaching interests in American history, race, colonialism and comparative slaveries from ancient to modern. I therefore contribute to the teaching on a range of core undergraduate modules besides my own modules. At Masters level I teach on modules about the 18th century and revolutions and comparative slaveries. In the past and currently, I supervise PhD students working on Southern women’s history, slavery, free people of colour and the Civil War, and loyalism in New York during the American Revolution. I would welcome applications from potential doctoral students with proposals in similar areas.

I have always taken a leading role in shaping teaching and learning at the universities I have worked at. I have reformed approaches to handling plagiarism by utilizing plagiarism detection software as a teaching tool; by streamlining the process of dealing with cases, and by improving liaison between academic and administrative colleagues. I have also pioneered the embedding of ‘employability’ into the History curriculum, through such activities in seminars as role play, group work and presentations that foster self-confidence, initiative, and the ability to work with, and influence, others. As dissertation coordinator, I have revised the delivery and assessment of the unit by organizing workshops to support undergraduate research training and introducing a short formative written exercise to encourage early engagement with the course. I am committed not just to pioneering good practice but to its dissemination too and I have represented my department at institutional level on matters concerning learning and teaching strategy, misconduct procedure and practice, and during the examination period.

I am a qualified teacher (having completed the PCTHE) and also a member of the Higher Education Academy. As a member of the Teachers of American History Group, I have organised a funded symposium which included sessions on podcasting; embedding ‘employability’ in the curriculum and comparing the experience of US and UK undergraduates.