Dr. Zuzana Vasko
I teach in two main areas – Foundations of Academic Literacy and Arts Education, and my research focuses on how human expression, most notably writing and visual art, can enable a sense of personal meaning, self-knowledge and connections to the world around us. Broadly speaking, I am interested in engendering the expression of values – personal, cultural and ecological – in a clear, nuanced and articulate voice. This includes bringing personal narratives into learning, writing process, creative inquiry and the ethical implications of aesthetic education.
More specifically, I am interested in how narrative writing and visual art can enable deeper connections with the natural world, which in turn help bring about cultural change with regard to environmental stewardship and care. Among my current research foci is the engendering of empathy with, and understanding of, others (including other life forms) through the practice of writing. My visual art practice examines how we interact with natural ecologies close to home, with a view to drawing connections between human forms of communication and those that exist within the dynamics of nature.