Pat Steenland

Pat has taught in College Writing Programs since 1997. She currently teaches a research class focused on the Japanese American Internment and American Cultures classes that explore the history of California and ideas about the West through community partnerships with leaders from the Tribal Nations of Payahuunadü in the Eastern Sierra, also known as the Owens Valley.  In addition, Pat is one of four team members on the "First Step Discovery Project" in Berkeley's Discovery Initiative, a campus-wide project that seeks to restructure the undergraduate learning experience as a "discovery" experience, involving inquiry, collaborative and experiential learning, creative projects, and original research.  This project grew out of Pat's work with CWP faculty on the UC Berkeley-Library of Congress Pilot Project, a collaboration sponsored by the Library of Congress that introduced inquiry and primary-source research into beginning classes at Cal. 

Pat holds a Ph.D. in English literature from Brown University. Before arriving at Cal, she taught literature and writing at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Brown University, and Harvard University, among others. She was named an American Cultures Engaged Scholar in 2014 and was awarded the American Cultures Teaching Award in spring 2018.