Anne Foradori Receives Pratt-Heins Award for Teaching
 Anne Foradori is this year’s recipient of the Pratt-Heins Foundation Teaching Award. The Pratt-Heins award is based upon evidence of consistent outstanding teaching. Anne Foradori joins an impressive list of faculty members who have previously won this award. Dr. Foradori has a long and exemplary record of teaching. Shortly after coming to UNK, she was recognized with a Profiles of Excellence Award, followed by the College of Fine Arts and Humanities award for faculty mentoring of undergraduate research in 2001, and then the UNK Creative Teaching Award in 2003. She developed and directed the revision of the bachelor of music – musical theater degree program, the only such degree offered in Nebraska and the surrounding area. Over the years, her students have successfully competed in a number of state, regional and national performance and research venues. She is unwavering in her devotion to her students.
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CTE Recognition Luncheon
April 24, 2008
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The Center for Teaching Excellence Recognition Luncheon for Spring 2008 was held in the Chancellor’s Dining Room on April 24th. At the luncheon, all faculty teaching and mentoring award winners for the 2007-2008 academic year were recognized, including the following:
Leland Holdt Award Don Kaufman Chemistry
Pratt Heins Award Jane Strawhecker Teacher Ed. Creative Teaching Award Theresa Wadkins Psychology
Honors Program Outstanding Teacher Lee L. Snyder Communication
Student Body Teaching Award Mark Dahlke Math
L. Jake” Jacobsen Communication
Faculty Mentoring Awards
Kate Heelan COE
Richard Miller NSS
Anne Foradori FAH
Greg Broekemier CBT
Max McFarland Graduate
Richard Miller UNK
OTICA Theresa Wadkins Psychology
The speakers for the annual recognition are former UNK OTICA winners. The speaker at the 2008 luncheon, Dr. Kenya Taylor, was the OTICA winner in 2005. In her speech, Power, Influence, and Results, Dr. Taylor spoke of her journey through undergraduate work, graduate research, and her doctoral program. Through her professors and mentors, she was driven to continue with her work. She then had the opportunity to pass her wisdom on to undergraduate and graduate students that she was able to mentor. She wanted each person at the luncheon to realize the power they hold to mentor and teach each student that passes through their classroom. The luncheon concluded with the honoring of each faculty member that had earned an award through the 2007-2008 academic year.
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Promoting Student Engagement in the Classroom
Richard L. Miller, Martin Demoret and Theresa Wadkins
Published in Teaching Psychology Around the World, Volume 2 (2008)
 The concept of student engagement has received considerable attention as a possible solution to declining academic motivation and achievement. According to Fredricks, Blumenfeld and Paris (2004) there are historical, economic, theoretical and practical reasons for the recent focus on student engagement. From the historical perspective, educational institutions can no longer assume that those admitted to their ranks are motivated to take advantage of what is offered. From an economic perspective, our global, rapidly-evolving economy requires workers who can think critically, adapt to change, and solve problems. To insure that our educational institutions are meeting these challenges, colleges and universities have been required in recent years, by a variety of governmental and educational sources, to identify whether they are providing students with the type of educational experiences students expect, as well as the opportunities to attain the occupational and personal benefits students desire (Involvement in Learning Study, 1984).
One may ask then, what may a single faculty member do to help foster engagement? The college classroom remains the focal point of the educational structure of institutions of higher learning and thus serves as the focal point for student experiences (Tinto, 1997). Given the relatively recent increases in the number of part-time students enrolled in colleges and universities, many of whom work many hours and have families, the college classroom is, for some students, the only place where engagement regularly occurs. Many engagement researchers adhere to the principle that, in order to most effectively promote engagement, faculty must embrace the principles underlying the good educational practices that emphasizing the central theme of the classroom as student learning and what learners do in contrast to instruction and what teachers do (Koljatic & Kuh, 2001).
The purpose of the current study was to assess what instructional factors play a role in increasing classroom engagement. We were particularly interested in assessing the impact of the role of faculty determined factors (e.g. class size, teaching style, responsiveness to questions) in influencing engagement. We were also interested in assessing the role of student motivation factors (e.g. intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation) in mediating engagement and whether interactions exist between faculty-determined factors and student motivation factors. We hypothesized that faculty controlled learning environment factors such as small class size and implementation of discussion-based classes would result in increased student engagement. We also hypothesized that instructor activities, such as being responsive to students’ questions and knowing the names of students in their classrooms would also be related to increased engagement. Finally, we hypothesized that intrinsically motivated students would be more engaged than extrinsically motivated students.
You can access the full publication with results of the study at:
Promoting Student Engagement
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4th Annual Conference on Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions
 The Center for Teaching Excellence is honored to co-sponsor the 4th Annual Conference on Research at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions on March 6th, 2009 at UNK. The Conference on Research at PUIs was launched in 2006 to provide a forum for faculty at liberal arts colleges and comprehensive universities to explore the challenges and opportunities in being an active scholar at a non-research intensive institution. From time and resource constraints to missions that include excellence in the classroom, these institutions provide a context for scholarship that often falls out of the mainstream spotlight. The conference will feature a sub-theme of Student Engagement. A call for papers will be issued later this month.
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Center for Teaching Excellence Resources
The following resources are available on the Center for Teaching Excellence Website. Please follow these links or access our website at: http://www.unk.edu/acad/cte/
Teaching Critical Thinking Resources
Increasing Student Engagement
Promoting Student Engagement in the Classroom
Compendium
Websites
Recommended Readings
Teaching Conferences
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CTE Faculty Stipends
As a reminder, the Center for Teaching Excellence provides stipends for faculty to attend conferences or workshops related to teaching and student learning. Preference is given to faculty who are making a presentation on teaching/learning topics. Applications should be submitted to the CTE Director. Successful applicants will be asked to deliver their conference presentation or a topic related to the conference or workshop at a CTE seminar.
Applications are available at this link.
For a list of upcoming conferences on teaching go to http://www.unk.edu/acad/cte/index.php?id=2021
or
http://www.kennesaw.edu/cetl/resources/na_conf_list.html
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Calendar of Events
October
October 1st Lunch with Senior Vice Chancellor Finnie Murray
Luncheon Presentation - RSVP Requested to teachingcenter@unk.edu
11:30 1:00 p.m.
Cedar Room – Nebraskan Student Union
Results of NCA Visit
Finnie Murray, Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Student Life
October 30th Copyright Laws for Technology Use
Luncheon Presentation – RSVP Requested to teachingcenter@unk.edu
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Cedar Room – Nebraskan Student Union
Ronald Wirtz, Ph.D., Head of User Services, University of Nebraska - Kearney
November
November 19th – Providing Access to Higher Education for All: Accommodating Faculty and Staff
Luncheon Presentation - RSVP Requested to teachingcenter@unk.edu
11:30 – 1:00 p.m.
Sandhills Room – Nebraskan Student Union
Panel of Faculty and ADA Network Representatives
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Your comments and contributions are welcome!
Please send any comments or suggestions for the newsletter to: teachingcenter@unk.edu.
If you have information that you would like presented in the newsletter or would like to write something for one of the editions,
please contact the Center for Teaching Excellence 865-8495
or by email at the Center, teachingcenter@unk.edu
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