Sara Hart
Instructor of Religious Studies
Since joining Cal Poly Humboldt in 2008, Religious Studies Instructor Sara Hart has developed 13 unique courses, ranging from one of the largest general education classes offered at the University to the highly-regarded weekend stay at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah. Her deep interests in service learning, career curriculum, game-based, and technology enhanced pedagogy are notable and significantly enhance the experiences and opportunities she offers to students.
“I was constantly learning something I'd never learned before. The course was, so to speak, really an eye opening experience. I'd never taken a religious studies course, and I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it and gained from it,” one student says. Another notes, “Sara is a vibrant lecturer whose profound perspective helped to challenge and encourage my deeper thinking and made me a better person.”
She grounds her teaching mission in her students’ needs. The energy she devotes to retooling and refining her methods shows the care and commitment to equip students with the means “to face an impossible world with hope,” Hart says.
Her natural ability to teach and lead as well as her belief in her role as both mentor to her students and steward of our greater shared community shine through. She has also been a campus leader on hybrid and online teaching and her experimentation with game-based teaching has been a source of inspiration.