Kaustavi Sarkar has spent decades doing something rare: turning passion into profession. As an associate professor, author, and practitioner of Odissi (a centuries-old Indian classical dance form), she's built a career at the intersection of tradition and innovation. In this episode, Kaustavi shares how she navigates the tension between honoring an ancient art form and pushing it into new spaces, from the US classroom to conferences spanning pre-K students to PhD scholars. She also opens up about what it really means to serve your field, and why gratitude isn't just a feeling, it's a framework. Check out Kaustavi's publications: https://grl.pub/dance

What does a Wall Street veteran who helped build trading floors for Salomon Brothers have to teach college students about money? Everything they weren't taught but desperately need to know. Elven Riley, professor of finance at Seton Hall University's Stillman School of Business and author of Unavoidable Money Decisions, spent decades in tech and finance before landing in academia with a mission: close the gap between what universities teach and what graduates actually face. His course, drawing students from more than 50 majors, was born from a sobering moment when a former student, now managing other people's wealth, nearly went bankrupt mismanaging his own. Riley's response was "driver's ed with money", practical, judgment-free preparation for the unavoidable financial decisions that graduates face. Learn more about Unavoidable Money Decisions: https://grl.pub/Money-Decisions

Before Atwan was a chemist, an educator, a researcher, a business owner, or a community advocate, he was a kid on his grandmother's porch, making Sunday tea — unknowingly learning about solubility, heat transfer, and acid-base chemistry without a textbook in sight. That origin story shapes everything about the way he teaches today.

In this episode, Dr. Antwan Daniels — community college chemistry professor, K-12 instructional coach, and author of Pathways to Allied Health — makes a compelling case that chemistry isn't just for "smart people" or "math people." It's for all people. He shares how constructivist learning theory, built-in social-emotional support, and culturally affirming curriculum are changing outcomes for students who never saw themselves in a science classroom.

Antwan has spent his career dismantling one of education's most stubborn myths: that science is for a certain kind of person. Chemistry, he argues, is the central science. It's not a gate. It's a pathway. And there's a difference.

What does it mean to truly learn a language? For Hélène de Fays and Pello Huesa, coauthors of Gente, Lengua Y Cultura and educators at UNC Chapel Hill, it's never just about memorizing vocabulary or conjugating verbs. Language learning is about engaging with the enormous linguistic, cultural, and political diversity within Spanish-speaking communities—and understanding that language itself is identity, history, and collective effort.

In this conversation, Pello and Hélène share how they curated a textbook that centers the direct voices of Spanish speakers themselves through articles, letters, videos, songs, and recipes. They discuss the challenges of representing such vast cultural complexity, from Bad Bunny's Caribbean music to ancient Aztec influences on modern tacos. They push back against result-oriented learning that reduces language to grades, arguing instead for patience, persistence, and the deeply human work of communication.

Whether you teach world languages or simply want to understand how culture shapes learning, this episode offers a refreshing perspective: language isn't something you master—it's something you live.

Learn more about their publication at https://grl.pub/GenteLenguaCultura

In this season finale, we're taking a different approach by celebrating the educators who've partnered with Great River Learning to create their own course materials. You'll hear from faculty across disciplines—from music appreciation to forensics, horticulture to economics—who faced the same challenge: existing textbooks just weren't working for their students or their teaching style.

These are stories of frustration turned into innovation. Professors who were tired of compromise, who wanted materials that stayed current, aligned with their pedagogy, and actually resonated with today's students. Whether it was the freedom to update content in real-time, the ability to structure material their way, or creating something truly designed for their classroom rather than a national market, these educators took control of their course materials—and transformed their teaching in the process.

This is peer-to-peer inspiration from faculty who've been where you are and found a way forward.

What if the real problem isn't that students struggle with math—it's that we've taught them it's okay to give up on it?

In this episode, mathematician and educator Dr. Jeanette Mokry gets refreshingly honest about her own middle school math confusion, the pandemic's lingering impact on student preparedness, and why she's ditching traditional lectures for approaches that let students "create their own knowledge."

You'll hear why she believes assessment might be mathematics' biggest stressor (and what mastery-based grading could change), how peer-led learning transformed her college algebra course from isolated work to genuine community, and her controversial take on why we need to stop treating "I'm bad at math" like a personality trait.

If you've ever wondered how to help students see math as something they can do rather than something they have to survive, this conversation is for you.

Learn more about Mokry's publication, College Algebra: Functions and Applications, at https://grl.pub/college-algebra

What happens when a Peace Corps volunteer contracts malaria in a remote village and discovers that the traditional healer's definition of "health" completely upends everything Western medicine taught her? Medical anthropologist Dr. Diane Hardgrave takes listeners from emergency refugee camps in Somalia to sacred Hopi mesas, revealing why the youngest medical system on Earth (hint: it's ours) might be missing something crucial about healing. In this episode, she shares how a bowl of pungent tea, a sauna conversation in Ethiopia, and women secretly trading emergency wheat rations taught her that humanity's approach to health transcends biology—and why understanding this could change how we think about our own bodies.

Learn more about Dr. Hardgrave's publication, Health, Healing, & Culture: https://grl.pub/health-healing-culture

Traditional textbooks are failing students. Bombarded with information from every direction, including their 1500-page business law texts, students tune out. That is, except for Thane Messinger's digital textbook, Business Law: Navigating the turbulent realm of commerce. Messinger, a business law professor at the University of Hawaii, shares his journey from practicing law in Texas and Micronesia to becoming a textbook author. He shares insights on the deep research process that improved his own teaching and the creative challenges of restructuring legal education, and offers valuable perspectives for educators seeking to make complex subjects accessible and engaging in higher ed.