New director of KU Center for Teaching Excellence enthusiastic to maintain momentum


LAWRENCE — Andrea Greenhoot, associate professor of psychology, has been named the next director and Gautt Teaching Scholar at the University of Kansas Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE). Greenhoot is succeeding Dan Bernstein, who is stepping down after having led CTE for 12 years. She will move into her new role as director July 13.

The Center for Teaching Excellence was established at KU in 1997 as a faculty initiative, and faculty continue to guide its programs through a board of faculty members and a group of campuswide liaisons. The Center’s primary purpose is to build community among faculty members and to help make student learning visible.

Greenhoot currently serves as acting associate director of CTE, and she has been highly involved with the center for several years, including the 2001 Best Practices Teaching Institute and a three-year course design project, funded by the Spencer and Teagle Foundations, that was part of a network of projects at 13 research universities. More recently, she established the C21 Course Redesign Consortium, a learning community connecting faculty, staff, and students across campus to share insights on course redesign and the student experience.

“KU is in the midst of immense educational change and innovation, and CTE plays a pivotal role,” Greenhoot said. “I am enthusiastic about keeping up the momentum while continuing to explore new ways to promote innovation and high-quality teaching at KU. I’m committed to continuing to position us as a national leader in this work.”

Since 2009, Greenhoot has served as a CTE Faculty Fellow, and she has designed or led numerous conversations, workshops and presentations on teaching and learning, both on campus and elsewhere. She has presented her work on teaching and learning to the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. She has been published in numerous journals.

Greenhoot is excited to build upon the national presence Bernstein and CTE have built at KU, particularly their leadership role in national consortia such as the Bay View Alliance.

“CTE has had great success promoting collaboration and intellectual exchange about teaching on campus. Now our recent collaborations beyond KU, such as our partnerships with the other research universities in the BVA, have expanded and enriched our opportunities to exchange ideas about effective teaching," she said. "This national involvement is propelling a lot of new, exciting work on teaching and learning, both at KU and at our partner institutions.”

Greenhoot earned a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and a doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She joined KU in 1999 and was named associate professor in 2006. She was recently named professor, effective fall, 2014 by Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little. She is a 2009 winner of the Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and in 2013 was named Outstanding Woman Educator at KU.

Fri, 05/23/2014

author

Gavin Young

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