Welcome! My name is Dr. Aaron Ottinger (he/him), and I taught my first class at Highline College in 2008. My job is to provide Highline students with the tools they need to think critically & creatively about the world and how to make it more equitable and sustainable for the future. I approach my classes through a social justice, anti-racist/anti-colonialist framework, with an emphasis on digital technology and the environment. If you're into math, technology, and the arts, but you also care about ethics and justice, then you should definitely sign up for one of my classes.

Primarily, I teach English 101, where the theme is, "Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Culture." I love teaching English 101 because it is often a student's introduction to college. Personally, I did not really enjoy my first year of college...or the second! So I strive to make this class the best introduction possible for students. I want them to learn about the world around them, how to interpret it, and how to change it for the better. I also have the privilege of getting to know students as they are walking in the door, and inevitably, they teach me a great deal as well.

In addition, I teach a research-based writing class, English 102, which focuses on "Decolonizing Research and Digital Technology." In this class, we think critically about how we research, who is affected by our research, and how we can take a community-led approach to research. For our actual research projects, we investigate how digital technology is not always a benefit to the people it is intended to serve, especially in the Global South (e.g. El Salvador, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Philippines, and elsewhere). Students who are interested in the environment & sustainability, labor & class struggle, digital technology & infrastructure, and the dark side of globalization should consider taking this class.

Beyond the classroom, I conduct my own research and writing. At present, I focus on the intersection between digital technology, social justice, and the environment. But I also research and write on the historical intersection between literature and mathematics of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Last, I have written several articles and blog posts on various aspects of teaching or pedagogy. My most recent essay, “Mapping the Global Ecodigital Divide: A Collaborative Exercise for Online Classrooms” appeared in Interdisciplinary Digital Engagement in the Arts & Humanities (2021). Other recent publications have appeared in The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Mathematics (2020), Romantic Circles Pedagogies (2020), and Romanticism and Speculative Realism (Bloomsbury, 2019). I am currently at work on a manuscript entitled, “Astral Romanticism: Poetics, Mathematics, Realism, and Subjectivities.” I earned my PhD in English literature at the University of Washington (2016).

On campus I am also co-chair of Highline College's National Poetry Month, where we celebrate writing poetry through a student poetry contest (with prizes!) and invite guest poets to campus to share their work and facilitate writing workshops for students.

Off campus, I also volunteer as an education consultant for EchoX’s DIGITIZE, a digital education program for PNW youth.

I am an ardent traveler and have been a guest in many parts of the world, including Guatemala, Cambodia, Greece, and Cuba, among others. My first trip abroad was in high school, where a group of us spent three weeks in Germany. If you're interested in studying abroad, please see me, because I am also a member of the Global Initiatives Leadership team and would love to talk to you about our opportunities on campus for students.

Last, things that bring me joy include traveling with my partner, playing with my chihuahua, making music, and cooking a big meal for friends and family!