Lauri Mattenson

Lauri Mattenson is a Lecturer with UCLA Writing Programs. As a Mellon-EPIC fellow
(Excellence in Pedagogy and Innovative Classrooms), she works collaboratively across disciplines to create new undergraduate courses in Medical Humanities. She was awarded the 2020 Honors Division Eugen Weber Teaching Award for her work with undergraduates in “BodyMind Literacy,” an experiential Honors Collegium she created in order to promote a more mindful and embodied approach to learning. Each summer, she works with New Student and Transition Programs to represent UCLA faculty in a series of welcome speeches for incoming freshmen. As a member of the UCLA Prison Education Program, Lauri advocates for prison reform and teaches writing workshops for currently incarcerated adults in California institutions and students in juvenile halls. A year of study at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem continues to influence her interactive pedagogical style and passion for teaching. Previous publications include: The Los Angeles Times, The LA Times book collection of the “Best of LA Affairs” column, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Mother Company, The Jewish Journal, Massage Magazine, Turning Wheel: The Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism, The Daily Bruin.

Courses currently teaching or recently taught:

Honors Collegium 65W: BodyMind Literacy

Honors 50: Creating Your Roadmap

English 3D: (Composition, Rhetoric, and Language): The Social, Political, and Educational Value of Stand-Up Comedy

English 3D: Free Speech on Campus

English 3D: Essays and Epistemic Beliefs

English 3D: Service Learning and Civic Development

English 3D: Op-Eds and Underrepresented Thinkers

English 5W: (Literature, Culture, and Critical Inquiry): Narrative Nonfiction and Moral Development

English 5W: The Best American Essays? — Essais and the Art of Evaluation

English 5W: The Essay as a Site of Ethical Inquiry

English 5W: Walking Class: Aligning Freedom of Movement with Freedom of Mind

English 137: Writing for Public Speaking