Effective Teaching Practices Program | Peer Facilitators
Cal Poly is a participant in a California State University system grant program in collaboration with the National Association of System Heads (NASH) and the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). The grant is providing multiple CSU campuses with a year-long, research-based faculty development programming in support of effective instruction. At Cal Poly, the $100,000 grant supports 90 faculty in three cohorts to participate in a year-long curriculum of effective teaching principles and practices for the 2020-21 academic year.
Cohort Facilitators
This group of facilitators bring solid teaching experienced, enhanced by participation in numerous professional development activities to enhance their teaching effectiveness (including, but not limited to, CTLT programs).
In addition, all have successfully completed an intensive workshop on inclusive teaching offered through the CTLT. It's currently called TIDE ("Teaching Inclusion, Diversity and Equity"), and the experience provided a deep dive into important models and issues that helped them deepen their understanding of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in higher education as well as in their teaching practices. This means they can provide support, resources, ideas and feedback that can help make every course redesign project stronger and more inclusive and equitable for diverse learners. Thus every course redesign project will be contributing to Cal Poly's high-priority DEI goals.
Below are brief profiles of the ETP facilitators for each cohort.
Early Career Cohort Facilitators
Dr. Stefanee Maurice
Assistant professor
Kinesiology
Stefanee holds a Ph.D. in Sport & Exercise Psychology as well as a Certificate in University Teaching and has six years full-time university teaching experience. She received the Roger Moss Teaching Award at CSUN while a graduate student. At Cal Poly, she received the Terrance Harris Mentorship Award (nominations come from a student who is a Poly Rep) and has been recognized as a Mustang Mentor three times by Cal Poly student-athletes.
Stefanee's teaching-themed professional development activities and accomplishments include: Getting a Good Launch for New(er) Faculty Learning Community, Teaching Inclusion & Diversity Everywhere (TIDE), Introduction on Online Teaching and Learning (IOTL), Flip Your Course, Creating Accessible Course Materials, Video Grading with Screencast O-Matic, Supporting At-Risk Students, Affordable Learning Solutions, Yes, you Canva!, Correcting Automatic YouTube Captions, Lecturer Community of Practice, Quality Online Learning Template (QOLT) Springboard, Equity Minded Practices for remote teaching, TLDC101x: Teaching & Learning in the Diverse Classroom (certificate program through Cornell University). She also co-facilitated a CTLT book circle ("Creating Wicked Students").
A favorite teaching-related quote: "No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment." - Carol S. Dweck
Dr. Amber Williams
Assistant professor
Psychology and Child Development
Amber received her Bachelor's degree from Rice University and her Master's and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She was also an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. She has been teaching full time since 2017 and teaches child development courses and Multicultural Psychology.
She has completed a number of teacher training opportunities, both at the University of Michigan (e.g., Preparing Future Faculty Program), and at Cal Poly. At Cal Poly she has been involved with CTLT, including the "Getting A Good Launch for New(er) Faculty" learning community and the Teaching Inclusion and Diversity Everywhere (TIDE) program. She has also facilitated teach-ins focused on Black humor and media.
Her favorite documentary related to teaching is "American Promise."
General Education Cohort Facilitators
Dr. Lauren Kolodziejski
Associate professor
Communication Studies
Lauren holds a Ph.D. in Communication Studies from the University of Washington. She has been teaching in higher education for approximately nine years. She received the Cal Poly Outstanding Advisor Award last year (AY 2019-2020). She has also received several student-selected department awards for her teaching, including the Outstanding Major Course Educator award, the Holistic Support Award, and the Role Model Award.
In addition to participation in the 2019 cohort of the Teaching Inclusion and Diversity Everywhere (TIDE) workshop, her teaching-themed professional development activities and accomplishments include: "Teaching in the Rhetorics of Health and Medicine," RHM Symposium Discussion Hub, Sept. 2020; COMS Basic Course Summer Symposium, Summer 2020; Introduction to Online Teaching and Learning, CTLT Workshop, Summer 2020; Creating Accessible Documents, CTLT Workshop, Winter 2020; CTLT Book Circles: Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria (Beverly Tatum); The Culturally Inclusive Educator (Dena R. Samuels); Sustainability in Higher Education: Stories and Strategies for Transformation," Peggy F. Bartlett and Geoffrey M. Chase.
A favorite teaching-related quote: “Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn’t matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don’t think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of minimum with other things so that society doesn’t stop you from doing it all.” She says: "I shared this Richard Feynman quote with my students at the start of this (unusual) quarter. It aptly captures how I feel about my teaching (I love what I do) but also how I approach my teaching. I want to help students discover what they want to do and see how they can achieve that. I also want to help them cultivate an intellectual curiosity that allows them to find something interesting in everything."
Dr. Erik Sapper
Assistant Professor
Chemistry and Biochemistry
Erik has a Ph.D. in Coatings and Polymeric Materials, and has been teaching at Cal Poly for four years. He enjoys applying new teaching approaches in his coursework, which reaches incoming freshman across many majors as well as graduate students in the Polymers and Coatings Science master’s program. This includes the use of team-based learning, design thinking, specifications grading, and mixed reality environments. Erik also serves as a Faculty Fellow for the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, mentoring local and student-led starts up in the chemical and materials spaces. Erik is a proud member of the 2019 cohort of TIDE (Teaching for Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity) educators at Cal Poly.
His favorite teaching-related book is "The Slow Professor: Challenging the Culture of Speed in the Academy," by Maggie Berg and Barbara K. Seeber.
Learner Centered Teaching Cohort Facilitator
Dr. Megan Lambertz-Berndt
Assistant professor
Communication Studies
Megan is an assistant professor in the Communication Studies Department. She has a Ph.D. In Communication Studies (Focus on Organizational & Intercultural Communication) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has 9 years experience teaching at 4 different universities in all types of modalities: hybrid, F2F, and online.
Her teaching-themed professional development activities and accomplishments include: the CTLT's IDEA workshop, mentoring the CTLT's TIDE program participants, participant in the CLA's Teach-in and on session leader since 2016, the Courageous Conversations about Race conference (effective teaching practices), Racial Consciousness workshop facilitator on campus, CLA online instructional coach, Title IX refresher training participant, Accessibility in the Classroom workshop participant (CTLT), Creating Accessible Course Materials workshop (CTLT), Introduction to Online Teaching and Learning workshop (CTLT), UndocuAlly workshop participant.
Her favorite teaching-related book is "Courageous Conversations about Race" by Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton.
Rigorous and Equitable Cohort Facilitator
Dr. Sandi Clement
Associate professor
Biology
Sandi teaches genetics, molecular biology, and communicating science to general audiences. She is also a member of the Teaching Faculty in the Women’s Gender, & Queer Studies Department where she teaches about gender, race, culture, science and technology. Before arriving at Cal Poly, she earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Michigan State University and was an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of California at San Diego. Her student-centered research program at Cal Poly focuses on the regulation of gene expression in human cells.
She has been an active participant with the CTLT since arriving at Cal Poly nine years ago, starting with a faculty-led learning community in 2012 on “Fostering a Culture of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity in STEM Education”. This community of faculty and staff provided the foundation for continued collaboration with campus partners around equity, inclusion, and social justice in STEM education. Participation with the CTLT TIDE Summer Institute in 2016 was critical to her understanding that continued growth in this area is a journey and not a destination, that she will always have a lot more to learn, and that we are stronger together.
A teaching-related book from which she is currently drawing strength is, “Radical Hope – a teaching manifesto” by Kevin M. Gannon.
