Cate Denial, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

I deeply believe in approaching teaching with trust, kindness and joy. I pick readings and plan classroom activities to give you the opportunity to think for yourself. I want you not only to absorb information but to apply it to your understanding of the past, the way you think about the present and your conception of yourself. I also believe we work best when we see each other as collaborators instead of competitors — when we work together rather than against one another. This means I will often ask you to crowdsource your understanding of the issue at hand by sharing your perspective with other class members. I will rarely tell you the “right answer,” because there are rarely single correct answers. There are often multiple answers and, more importantly, multiple questions for us to pose of the past. I can learn from you as well as you learning from me.

What advice do you have for first year students?

Approach people with trust, not suspicion. And don’t confuse being kind with being nice. Nice wants to get along no matter what and will avoid conflict or lie to make that happen. Kindness is honest, responsible and accountable, and it transforms the way we work together.

Share a bit about your education journey. What did you take away from it?

I had a number of unkind professors, especially as an undergraduate, and that affirmed for me that kindness matters. I have set out to be as unlike those professors as possible and to help others be kind too.

I research the impact of prioritizing kindness in teaching. I wrote A Pedagogy of Kindness, a book about centering kindness in all we do as educators, and I am working on an edited volume called The Kind Academy to follow up. The Kind Academy considers how we build better colleges and universities by prioritizing compassion and justice.

• “How I Met My Mother”, updated and revised, in The Nursing Clio Reader, The Nursing Clio Editorial Collective, eds., Rutgers University Press, 2025, pp. 84‑88
• “For Those Who Do Not Love the Archives”, in Rebecca Pope‑Ruark and Lee Skallerup Bassette, eds., Of Many Minds: Neurodiversity and Mental Health Among University Faculty and Staff, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2025, pp. 17‑25
• “In Every Instance of Kindness: A Grateful Response to Cupido, Draucker, Kirby and Santangelo”, Zeal: A Journal of the Liberal Arts, 3:2 (2025): 204‑207
• “Why I’m Saying No to Generative A.I.”, The Important Work, March 6, 2025, https://theimportantwork.substack.com/p/why-im-saying-no-to-generative-ai
• A Pedagogy of Kindness, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2024 (Finalist, Indie Awards, Education)
• “Wrestling with A.I.”, in Beth Buyserie and Travis Thurston, eds., Teaching and Generative AI: Pedagogical Possibilities and Productive Tensions, OER Pressbook, April 2024; paperback: Utah State University Press, https://uen.pressbooks.pub/teachingandgenerativeai/
• Foreword, Designing for Care, Hybrid Pedagogy Inc., 2022, https://pressbooks.pub/designingforcare/
• “After the Great Pivot Should Come the Great Pause”, with Elizabeth Lehfeldt and Clarissa Sorensen‑Unruh, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 25, 2022, https://www.chronicle.com/article/after-the-great-pivot-should-come-the-great-pause
• “Everyone in Higher Ed Deserves Better Than They’re Getting Right Now”, EdSurge, Dec. 2, 2021, https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-12-02-everyone-in-higher-ed-deserves-better-than-we-re-getting-right-now
• “Time to Get Serious: Training Graduate Students in Teaching”, Teaching History: A Journal of Methods, 46:1 (2021): 29
• “Feminism, Pedagogy and a Pandemic”, Journal of Women’s History, 33:1 (Spring 2021): 134‑139
• “To Tweet or Not To Tweet”, Panorama, Feb. 24, 2021, http://thepanorama.shear.org/2021/02/24/to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet
• “Beginning Again: Online Pedagogy Sent My Teaching Back to Square One”, Eidolon, July 27, 2020, https://eidolon.pub/beginning-again-b61220704c43
• “The Complexities of Certainty”, Guest Post, Just Visiting, Inside Higher Ed, April 26, 2020, https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/guest-post-complexities-certainty
• “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, in Jesse Stommel, Chris Friend and Sean Michael Morris, Critical Digital Pedagogy: A Collection, Hybrid Pedagogy Inc., 2020, pp. 212‑218
• “Ethics and the Practice of History”, in Ron Iphofen, ed., Handbook of Research Ethics and Scientific Integrity, Springer Nature, 2020
• “Mother of all the living: Motherhood, Religion and Political Culture at the Ojibwe Village of Fond du Lac, 1835‑1839”, Early American Studies, 17:4 (Fall 2019): 443‑473
• “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, Hybrid Pedagogy, Aug. 15, 2019, https://hybridpedagogy.org/pedagogy-of-kindness/
• “How I Met My Mother: The Tale of an Unexpected Pregnancy”, Nursing Clio, June 5, 2019, https://nursingclio.org/2019/06/05/how-i-met-my-mother-the-story-of-an-unexpected-pregnancy/
• “The Privilege of Despair”, Nursing Clio, Oct. 8, 2018, https://nursingclio.org/2018/10/08/the-privilege-of-despair/
• “The Subjective Self: Teaching Student Historians to Ask ‘Who Am I?’”, Syllabus, 5:2 (2016), http://www.syllabusjournal.org/syllabus/article/view/186
• Making Marriage: Husbands, Wives and the American State in Dakota and Ojibwe Country, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2013
• “Atoms, Honeycombs and Fabric Scraps: Rethinking Timelines in the Undergraduate Classroom”, The History Teacher, 46:3 (May 2013): 415‑434
• “Pelagie Farribault’s Island: Property, Kinship and the Contested Meaning of Marriage in Dakota Country”, Minnesota History, 62:2 (Summer 2010): 48‑59

• Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award, American Historical Association, 2018
• Exceptional Achievement Award, Knox College, 2025

• Keynote speaker on kindness and teaching, Ann Arundell Community College, Texas Tech, 2026
• Panelist, “The Case Against Using GenAI in Education: Meeting the Moment with Care and Courage”, AAC&U Conference on Learning and Student Success, Tucson, Ariz., April 17, 2026
• Panelist, “Faculty, Care and Leadership in the Contemporary University”, AAC&U Conference on Learning and Student Success, Tucson, Ariz., April 17, 2026
• Keynote speaker on kindness and teaching, Aims Community College, Central New Mexico Community College/University of New Mexico, CUNY‑Kingsborough, Flagler College, Indiana University‑Bloomington, Marian University, Notre Dame, Quinnipiac University, St. Catherine’s University, University of Dubuque, Ventura College, Wayne State, Wright State University, 2025
• Workshop kickoff, “Departmental Kindness”, Pre‑Conference Workshop for Chairs from Small Colleges, American Historical Association Annual Meeting, New York, Jan. 4, 2025 (virtual)
• Keynote speaker on kindness and teaching, Brock University, Daytona State University, Gettysburg College, Oakton College, Rutgers University‑New Brunswick, Southern Illinois University‑Edwardsville, St. Olaf College, University College Cork (Ireland), University of Colorado‑Colorado Springs, University of Minnesota‑Rochester, University of Virginia, University of Washington, Virginia Tech, 2024
• Workshop leader on kindness, teaching and GenAI, Iona College, Rutgers University‑New Brunswick, St. Olaf College, University of California‑Irvine, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, 2024
• Plenary panelist, “Teaching American and Digital Revolutions”, American Revolutions in the Digital Age Conference, Institute for Thomas Paine Studies, Iona College, New Rochelle, N.Y., Sept. 28, 2024
• Co‑presenter, “Care in the Academy”, AAC&U Conference on General Education, Pedagogy and Assessment, Providence, R.I., April 12, 2024
• Workshop leader, “A Pedagogy of Kindness in Action”, AAC&U Conference on General Education, Pedagogy and Assessment, Providence, R.I., April 11, 2024
• Keynote speaker on kindness and teaching, American University, Georgia State University, Grinnell College, Hollins University, Queens University, University of Mississippi, University of Tennessee‑Chattanooga, University of Texas Permian Basin, Western Kentucky University, 2023
• Workshop leader on kindness and trauma‑informed teaching, American University, Binghamton University, Grinnell College, University of Tennessee‑Chattanooga, University of Wisconsin‑Milwaukee, 2023
• Plenary speaker, “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, AAC&U General Education, Pedagogy and Assessment Conference, New Orleans, Feb. 10, 2023

• FaCE grant with Andrea Tracy (Grinnell) and Jennifer Jacobsen (Macalester), “Sustainable Strategies for Supporting Well‑Being and Academic Engagement for Faculty and Students,” Associated Colleges of the Midwest, $22,500, 2025
• Principal Investigator, “Pedagogies, Communities and Practices of Care in the Academy after COVID‑19,” Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Knox College, $150,000, 2022
• Contributor, “Abolition for All Time,” Humanities for All Times grant, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Knox College, $1,234,000, 2022
• Contributor, Sustaining the Humanities Through the American Rescue Plan Grant, National Endowment for the Humanities, Knox College, $248,411, 2021
• Faculty Innovation Grant, Dan J. Logan Peace and Justice Studies Fund, Knox College, $4,000, 2019
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, June–July 2018, $3,000
• FaCE grant with Katherine Tegtmeyer Pak, Adrienne Falcon, Emily A. Bowman, Eric Popkin, Javier Escandell, “Sharing Expertise in Community‑Based Learning & Research Addressing Immigration,” Associated Colleges of the Midwest, $25,504, 2017
• Illinois Humanities Council grant, funding for “People and Place,” Museums, Monuments and Memory class exhibit, $1,275, 2013

• Featured guest, “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, Wholehearted Voice Pedagogy Podcast, March 18, 2026
• Featured guest, “Why Not Be Kind?”, Centering Centers Podcast, Oct. 3, 2025
• Featured guest, “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, Community of Praxis, Sept. 11, 2025
• Featured guest, “Kindness in the Academy with Catherine Denial”, Professors Talk Pedagogy, Feb. 19, 2025
• Featured guest, “Kindness on Campus: A Conversation with Cate Denial”, EdUp Provost, Dec. 13, 2024
• Featured in “With Card Games, Coloring Sessions and ‘Hang Out Times,’ Professors Rethink Office Hours”, EdSurge, Dec. 2, 2024
• Featured guest, “A Pedagogy of Kindness: Fostering it Online”, The Online Learning Podcast, Nov. 11, 2024
• Featured guest, “Why Not Be Kind? A Discussion with Catherine J. Denial”, The Academic Life Podcast, Nov. 7, 2024
• Featured guest, “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, Dead Ideas in Teaching and Learning, Columbia University CTL, Oct. 17, 2024
• Featured in “Declarations of Dependence: The Many Reasons Students Can’t, or Won’t, Work on Their Own”, Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 26, 2024
• Featured in “Teaching: What to Do When Students Don’t Have Time”, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 30, 2024
• Featured guest, “What is a Pedagogy of Kindness?”, Three Questions About Teaching and Learning Podcast, Jan. 10, 2024
• Featured guest, “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast, May 25, 2023
• Featured in “What Really Helps With Burnout? A New Project Investigates”, Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 19, 2023
• Interview, “Teaching History with the Unessay”, Teaching History, 47:1 (2022): 61‑66
• Featured in “A Simple Fix for a Better Marriage Proposal”, The Atlantic, July 6, 2022
• Featured guest, “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, Teacher of the Ear Podcast, June 10, 2022
• Featured in “Closing Out a Trying Semester”, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 12, 2022
• Featured guest, “On Kindness and Boundaries”, Agile Academic Podcast, March 29, 2022
• Featured guest, “A Pedagogy of Kindness”, Tea for Teaching Podcast, Oct. 28, 2021
• Featured in “Developing and Practicing A Pedagogy of Kindness”, Women in Higher Education, July 2021
• Featured in “Preparing to Return to the Classroom”, Chronicle of Higher Education Report: The Future of Teaching, 2021
• Featured in “The Problem With Venting About Your Students”, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 18, 2021
• Featured in “The Pandemic is Dragging on. Professors are Burning Out”, Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov. 5, 2020
• Featured guest, “An Online Pedagogy of Kindness”, Think UDL Podcast, July 21, 2020
• Featured in “Five Takeaways from my Covid‑19 Remote Teaching”, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 6, 2020
• Featured in “‘It Shouldn’t Take a Pandemic’: Coronavirus Exposes Internet Inequality”, Washington Post, March 16, 2020
• Featured in “Coronavirus Exposes Digital Disparities”, Digital Trends, March 15, 2020
• Featured guest, “Connections: Ungrading”, WXXI (NPR) Rochester, Dec. 30, 2019
• Featured in “Grading Smarter, Not Harder”, Inside Higher Ed, Jan. 4, 2019
• Featured in “How To Teach a Good First Day of Class”, Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 4, 2019
• Featured in “The Most Pressing Question of Women’s History Month: What is Feminism in 2018?”, Yahoo Lifestyle, March 8, 2018