Centering Centers

Kelly Ferris Lester, Associate Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning, received her BFA in Theatre and Dance from the University of Memphis, her MFA in Choreography and Performance from The College at Brockport (SUNY), and her Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Lester is a Professor of Dance. Prior to her role as Associate Vice Provost, Lester was the inaugural director of the Center for Faculty Development. Lester is featured throughout the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) courses demonstrating evidence-based teaching practices, and she regularly presents in the realm of educational development on her work in leadership development, application of the creative process to the classroom, and building community, belonging, and mattering in the classroom.

Here's the link to Lester’s piece "Empathy Migrations" that she referenced in our conversation.

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In the second of our new To Improve the Academy (TIA) partnership episodes on Centering Centers, Associate Editor, Liz Norrell (Associate Director of Instructional Support at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi), Marina Smitherman (Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Dalton State College in Northwest Georgia and Editor in Chief of TIA) and Megan Robertson (Educational Developer at Simon Friesen University in British Columbia, Canada, and Associate Editor with TIA), speak about the forthcoming call for assistant editors to join the team – a brand new role they hope will expand pathways into journal editorship and lower the bar for those who may not be sure they want to make a multi-year commitment. They also discuss the joys and challenges of the role and dig into specific topics like fixing the peer review system, developmental editing, and supporting authors to bring out their best.

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Chris Hakala talks with Dr. Leslie Alvarez about her move from psychology to educational development. Dr. Alvarez recounts her work with marginalized students and its impact on her path to faculty development, highlighting the role of equity in teaching. She discusses building a faculty development program and her transition to a director role amid the pandemic. Dr. Alvarez's experience underscores the importance of teaching centers in promoting inclusive education and meeting academic challenges.

Transcript & AI Generated Episode Summary

Today’s episode features Jovan Groen (Western University), Carolyn Ives (Thompson Rivers University), and Veronica (Roni) Bamber (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh), who talk about their recentTo Improve the Academyarticle, “Evidencing the value of educational development: Charting a course on the waves and winds of change,” which they wrote with coauthors Carolyn Hoessler (Thompson Rivers University), Corinne Laverty (Queen’s University), and Klodiana Kolomitro (Queen’s University). This international group traces its roots back to a Canadian group of educational developers. They wanted to keep working and writing together, and eventually invited in Roni Bamber from Scotland. Their piece provides a RUFDATA-inspired framework for evidencing the value of centers for teaching and learning.

This is the first episode of our new partnership between the journal and Centering Centers. We hope to pull back the curtain on the journal for our listeners, especially about our authors' research and experiences publishing in our journal. We look forward to bringing you monthly conversations with our authors, reviewers, editorial team, and board members.

Visit us at TIA:https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/tia/

And the article we discusstodayat:https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/tia/article/id/1715/

Today’s episode was hosted by Liz Norell, associate director of instructional support at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at the University of Mississippi. Liz is also an associate editor ofTo Improve the Academy, along with associate editor Megan Robertson (Simon Fraser University) and editor Marina Smitherman (Dalton State College).

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Chris Hakala and JT Torres talk about operating a center with very limited human resources. JT is a center of one, and in that role, he is working to build relationships, create educational development opportunities and support facultyand student teachingand learning. He does this by developing relationships. In the episode we discuss how JTisable to be so successful in an environment that is different than many in the higher ed world.

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In this episode, Liz Norell shares her educational developer journey and discusses plans for the forthcoming partnership between Centering Centers, a POD Network podcast, and To Improve the Academy, its flagship peer-reviewed journal.

Dr. Liz Norell is Associate Director of Instructional Support at the University of Mississippi's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Prior to joining UM, Liz spent more than two decades in higher education as an instructor and (for a brief time early in graduate school) working as a digital communicator in a university marketing office. She spent more than a decade working as an adjunct instructor at a variety of institutions in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and in middle Tennessee before spending seven years in a tenure-track role at a Tennessee community college. During that time, she developed a strong interest in pedagogy and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She is the author of the forthcoming book from the new OU Press series edited by Jim Lang and Michelle Miller,The Present Professor. In her role at UM, she'll be working with faculty to design, execute, and publish their own SoTL projects, as well as engaging with the breadth of teaching center activities (workshops, book clubs, consultations, etc.). She divides her time between Oxford, Miss. and Monteagle, Tenn. Her partner teaches math and computer science at the University of the South (Sewanee). They have two kids, two dogs, and a very calm existence. Liz reads voraciously and loves to travel.

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In this episode of Centering Centers, Diane Boyd shares how she guided faculty through the pandemic by first having them connect to their core values before diving into new teaching modalities. She explains how articulating one's values provides an internal compass when navigating challenging situations--keeping you grounded in your strengths and priorities, and she emphasizes the importance of self-care and preparation as ways to support oneself in this work.

Diane E. Boyd serves as the Associate Dean of Faculty Development and Mary Seawell Metz ‘58 Executive Director of the Faculty Development Center at Furman University in Greenville, SC. Diane leads equitable course design, organizational learning, and holistic professional development programs throughout the academic life cycle. Her recent publications include research on threshold concepts in course design and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, leveraging pandemic pedagogical insights for long-term educational equity, and increasing agency and reducing burnout via values-infused programming for mid-career colleagues.

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In this episode of Centering Centers, Co-Chair of the POD Network’s Digital Resources and Innovation committee, Yianna Vovides, engages in a transformative conversation with the POD Network's newly appointed Executive Director, Danielle Gabriel.

Danielle Gabriel's professional background encompasses program management in educational and museum settings. At the George Washington University Office of Alumni Relations, she was involved in program development and alumni engagement. She also served as the Assistant Director for Museum Grants and Stewardship at the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, where she managed institutional giving and community support.

She earned a B.A. in Art from Lafayette College and an M.A. in Museum Studies from George Washington University. Currently, Danielle is a doctoral candidate in Human Organizational Learning at George Washington University's Graduate School of Education and Human Development, focusing her research on inclusivity and the intersection of social exclusion with organizational routines.

As Executive Director, Danielle looks forward to guiding the POD Network into its next phase, collaborating with its leaders, members, and staff to enhance its impact on the educational development community and shape the future of higher education.

In Episode 53 of Centering Centers, we hear from three brand new educational developers who recently attended the POD Conference in November of 2023. Grouped in the "getting started" two day workshop, these new PODsters share their takeaways and reflections on their experience. This conversation will be of interest to those who are new to an educational development role as well as to those who lead and mentor new educational developers, as each of the three brings a unique disciplinary perspective and each is at very different places in their professional careers.

Dr. Rebecca Conley joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Saint Peter’s University in 2016, and she has been the Director of Faculty Research and Development since 2022. She earned her BA in mathematics and political science from Pace University, her MA in pure mathematics from Hunter College and her PhD in applied mathematics from Stony Brook University. She is the PI of the LEAPS S-STEM grant, which is in its third year and supports low-income, high-achieving students who are majoring in STEM.

DeElla Wiley joined the Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Auburn University in 2022 as a graduate teaching assistant and transitioned into a full-time position in 2023. She earned her BA in English in 2009, MA in English Literature in 2012, and a Master of Technical and Professional Communication degree in 2023 from Auburn University. She has taughtor developed curriculumin English and ESL in community colleges and at Auburn,and managed instructors who served under-represented minority students. In her current role at the Biggio Center, she creates and facilitatesteaching and learningprofessional development opportunities forAuburn's academic community, including facilitating the Teaching with AI course that has nearly 5,000 learners from nearly 40 institutions across the country.

In this episode, Joan Zaretti from Bryant University, Karen Hopkins from Auburn University, and Josh Luckens from Wentworth Institute of Technology discuss their experiences creating playful and play-based programs and activities aimed at engaging their campus and building community. They share strategies for cultivating a sense of belonging, purpose, and trust among students and faculty through the joy of play.

*This episode is another installment of ourPODFest serieswhich was recorded December 1, 2022.

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