Centering Centers

In this episode of Centering Centers, Diane Boyd shares how

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 taught or developed curriculum in 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 facilitates teaching and learning professional development opportunities for Auburn'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 our PODFest series which was recorded December 1, 2022.

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Josh Eyler, acclaimed author of How Humans Learn, delves into the pivotal role of storytelling in teaching, learning, and educational development and some of the systemic issues around grading practices tackled in his upcoming book, Scarlet Letters. He offers reflections and stories about his own developmental journey leading different CTLs and shares insights and inspiration for others engaged in educational development and institutional change.

Josh Eyler is Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning and

Mary Wright is the Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning, Executive Director of the Sheridan Center, and a Research Professor in Sociology. She is a former president of the POD Network in Higher Education. Before joining Brown, she served as Director of Assessment at the University of Michigan's CRLT. She holds degrees in sociology and higher education administration from Princeton and the University of Michigan.

Her research focuses on teaching evaluation, educational development impact, and graduate student development. She is a co-author on the ACE-POD Center for Teaching and Learning Matrix (2017), which created operational standards for Centers for Teaching and Learning, as well as Defining What Matters (2018), which established guidelines for Center for Teaching and Learning evaluation. In 2021-22, she served on the commission (co-chaired by Barbara Snyder, AAU, and Peter McPherson, APLU) that authored The Equity/Excellence Imperative: A 2030 Blueprint for Undergraduate Education at U.S. Research Universities, a report which can be accessed at: https://ueru.org/boyer2030.

Mary co-edits the International Journal for Academic Development, aiming to advance the field of academic development globally, and she has authored two books on educational development, including Centers for Teaching and Learning, the subject of our conversation in this episode

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Get Your Copy: Centers for Teaching and Learning: The New Landscape of Higher Education (2023) by Mary Wright, published through ⁠JHUPress⁠. Use promo code HCTL23 in the check-out for a discount (active through 7/7/24).

Below are CTL websites that Mary Wright identified as effectively presenting information that goes beyond offering resources for instructors or students.

(1) Centers that offer a clear and concise overview of their statement of purpose (mission, goals, vision, values, and or/ guidelines)

Coppin State University's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

(2) Centers that offer a clear picture of the norms of how they work

UCLA's Center for the Advancement of Teaching and their visualization of collaborations 

Saint Louis University's Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning

UNC Asheville's Center for Teaching and Learning

Washington & Lee's Harte Center for Teaching and Learning   

(3) Centers that document, longitudinally, how might one expect to work with them over time (e.g., their curriculum)

UCSF School of Medicine's Center for Faculty Educators*

(4) Centers that offer an understanding of their history and origin story

Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology's Center for Advancement of Teaching and Learning* 

CUNY Hostos Community College's Professor Magda Vasillov Center for Teaching and Learning

Auburn University's Biggio Center

(5) Centers that have a sense of humor about how they make visible their work 

Oklahoma City University's Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

How do we optimize our Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL's) organizational structure for maximizing impact and resources? In this episode, Chris Hakala, Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship and Professor of Psychology from Springfield College in Springfield, MA and Bonnie Mullinix, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Integration of Research Teaching and Learning at University College Cork (UCC) in Ireland and President of Jacaranda Educational Development, LLC discuss the importance of reporting lines, integrating with other campus units, space logistics, and being a persistent advocate to advance teaching and learning.

*This episode is another installment of our PODFest series which was recorded December

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In this episode, we speak with Stacy Grooters, the current President of the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network in Higher Education. Stacy shares her vision for leading POD, reflects on its history of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and discusses how educational developers can advocate for higher education.

Stacy Grooters is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Boston College and the President-Elect of the POD Network. She earned her PhD in English literature, with a concentration in Women’s Studies, from the University of Washington, where she also taught in the departments of English, American Ethnic Studies, and Women Studies. She then spent eight years at Stonehill College, a small liberal arts, Catholic college in Massachusetts, where she founded the Center for Teaching and Learning and co-directed the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. Stacy’s research focuses on the ways that commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion are practiced within the field of educational development. Her 2014 article, “Tracking POD’s Engagement with Diversity,” analyzes 35 years of POD conference sessions and journal articles to track changes in how questions of diversity have been taken up by the field. Her current project seeks to define what it means to be an “equity-minded educational developer” and identify the pathways that educational developers take towards growing an equity-minded practice.

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What is the role of a graduate student in a center for teaching and learning? Does it vary by institution or are there predictable patterns that we as educational developers can use to craft job descriptions, direct projects, and provide opportunities for growth through assessment and reflection?

This episode is hosted by Yianna Vovides from CNDLS and features an interview with Haya Jalal.

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In this episode, Holly Parker from the Center for Teaching

*This episode is another installment of our PODFest series which was recorded December 1, 2022.