Decoding Humanities for the STEM Mind

Would you like to approach an essay in English with the same confidence that you bring to a math test or science lab? Many of the most successful and promising students in school have advanced skills and confidence in STEM fields but feel less confident and less prepared to tackle the humanities, write sophisticated essays, and excel in non-STEM classes. This class is taught by an instructor at NCSSM with a PhD in English who has taught writing, theory and the humanities at the college and the graduate level for over ten years and who also excelled at math and science in high school. We will work together in this class to “decode” the humanities, pulling back the curtain on what grade school English and history teachers, college admissions readers, and even college professors value and admire, taking an analytical and algorithmic approach to unlock the often-confusing world of the humanities.

William Nessly (he/they) is an Instructor of Asian-American Studies and American Studies at the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham, NC. He grew up in the Triangle as the mixed-race child of a Japanese mother and a European American father. He taught for twelve years as a professor of English at West Chester University in the Philadelphia area, specializing in Asian American literature, transnational American studies, and postcolonial and narrative theory. Prior to his work as a professor, he also taught high school English in Japan with the JET Program and in New Orleans at LE Rabouin Magnet High School with Teach For America. He earned his PhD in English from The University of Pennsylvania, an MA in English from The University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a BA at Swarthmore College, after graduating from William G Enloe High School in Raleigh.