Channel writing instruction through whatever students are interested in—that's the rationale behind Marty Fink’s creation of the first-year English course Queer New Media: Literature, Film, and Digital Cultures.

“Writing is this really important skill you can actually teach through the lens of whatever affects students,” says Fink, who joined Tech’s School of Literature, Media, and Communication as a Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow in the fall of 2013.

After teaching English I using the modality of comics and graphic novels in the fall, Fink, who taught gender and sexuality studies at her previous university, felt compelled to build an English class that not only engaged students using new media but also embraced those trying to find themselves as well as others like them.

“I felt I needed to make a space at Tech where students could come and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m in this room full of other students who identify as queer, transgender, or as feminists, and this class can be a space to work through those issues in my life, in my school, and in my social circles with others also interested in these issues.’”

Fink explained that because certain types of people don’t see themselves reflected in the media, the Queer New Media class is essential because it offers examples of marginalized identities as its central focus.

“There’s this norm out there we’re supposed to aspire to, but what if we don’t fit that norm? I think a lot of students can identify with that,” Fink says.

Something outside the norm—a different approach to writing instruction—was what Raksha Muthukumar was looking for when she signed up for Fink’s class,

“When I came to Tech, I wanted to explore things I’d not been exposed to,” said the first-year industrial engineering student. “I saw the topic as something I’d never sought out before. I think it was the ‘it’s different’ aspect that attracted me to it.”

She says a particularly key learning for her was grasping the importance of exploring the unfamiliar in order to gain a true understanding of and respect for it. She wishes that wisdom for all college students and recommends the class to students of varying backgrounds and disciplines.

 “Respecting people of different backgrounds is a really important thing to know; if you’re going to be an engineer, for example, functioning in the world with others, it’s critical to know how to interact respectfully with others, no matter what their background is.”