Faculty and Staff Directory

Introduction

Dr. Sundermann teaches courses on modern Britain, the British Empire, world history, food history, and history methods, in person, online, and in hybrid formats. Her research ranges from world and local history to the scholarship of teaching and learning, and her teaching goal is making history educative, practical, and interesting for students from all majors.
She currently serves as Faculty Fellow for Teaching Excellence and previously served as Pandemic Student Support Coordinator and Digital Learning Mentor for the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences. Her training in teaching and course design includes an E-Learning Instructional Design and Development Certificate (Oregon State University), Arizona State University certifications in AI for Teaching and Learning, a Certificate in Media and Technology for Education (Harvard Graduate School of Education), and the Quality Matters Teaching Online Certificate.
Her teaching was recognized with a 2024 UW Distinguished Teaching Award for Teams, and she has been nominated for the UW Distinguished Teaching Award, Adviser of the Year, and Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor.

Current Research

She recently completed a teaching and learning module, "Collecting in the Colonies: Hidden Histories of British Science, 1660–1838," part of the History for the 21st Century project. The module looks at how British science between 1660 and 1838 was bound up with imperial expansion and the transatlantic slave trade. Starting with the Royal Society's founding, it argues that "Western science" developed in connection with empire and slavery, and it highlights the knowledge, skill, and labor of enslaved and free people of African descent, which made British collecting and natural history possible. It also teaches students to read sources against the grain to recover marginalized voices, and it links this history of exclusion to current efforts to decolonize scientific institutions.
Students interested in British imperial history, world history, or food history can work with her on independent research and senior capstone projects.
Module link: https://www.history21.com/owit-module/collecting-in-the-colonies-hidden-histories-in-british-science-1660-1838-new/

Scholarly Interests

Modern British and world history, especially the British Empire and global connections since 1500; food history and food studies; history of education; film and history; public history and museums; history of science and empire; AI in teaching and learning; and students as partners in course design. She is also helping develop a proposed minor in Interdisciplinary Food Studies at UW Tacoma.

Teaching

She teaches lower- and upper-division undergraduate courses in world, European, and British history, as well as history methods and the senior capstone. Her courses emphasize transparent assignment design and grading that values engagement and growth.

• T HIST 101 Introduction to History Methods
• T HIST 150 World History: Prehistory to 1500
• T HIST 151 World History II 1500 to Present
• T HIST 203 Modern Europe in Global History
• T HIST 290 A World History of Food
• T HIST 375 British Empire
• T HIST 380 History Methods Research and Writing Seminar
• T HIST 475 Twentieth-Century Britain
• T HIST 498 History Capstone
• TPOL S 497 Political Internship in State Government

Affiliations

• History for the 21st Century
• Phi Alpha Theta (History Honors Society)
• UW American Association of University Professors (AAUP)
• World History Association

Academic Service

• Faculty Fellow for Teaching Excellence, Office of Teaching Excellence
• Faculty Representative, Teaching@UW, tri-campus (2024–2026)
• Member, Provost's Tri-Campus Future of Teaching and Learning Taskforce (2022–2024)
• Member, Social Sciences Curriculum Committee (2025–2026)
• Chair, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee (2022–2024)
• Founder and Chair, Lecturer Affairs Committee (2012–2014); Member (2015–2021)
• Co-organizer, Internship and Community History Fair, Washington State Historical Society (2025)

Honors and Awards

• 2024: UW Distinguished Teaching Award for Teams (Digital Learning User Experience)
• 2015 UW Tacoma Outstanding Woman
• 2013 "Outstanding Contribution: Extraordinary Leadership and Advocacy to Advance the Conditions of Lecturers at the University of Washington: Courage in Pursuit of Excellence in Washington State Higher Education," American Association of University Professors, University of Washington chapter