Faculty Development Day Set For February 28
2/23/07
There are very few days during the academic year when the Maryville University faculty gathers as a whole. Two of those days are Convocation and Commencement but those are University-wide occasions. Next Wednesday, Maryville faculty members will come together to celebrate, analyze and reflect upon their own activities during the annual Faculty Development Day.
“This is a teaching university where we emphasize teaching and learning,” said Karen Fletcher, lecturer of information systems and chair of the University’s Faculty Development Committee. “This is a day when we can take time to focus on teaching well and thereby enhance student learning.”
The morning session will be devoted to a presentation on online learning by Dr. Cheryl Bielema, instructional development specialist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. As part of Bielema’s talk, a panel of Maryville faculty members — Nadine Ball, Ed.D., Todd Brenningmeyer, Ph.D., and Mike Kiener, Ph.D., — will highlight their innovations and successes in online learning, as well as those of their colleagues.
Following lunch, the winners of the Anna Moudy Award for Teaching Excellence and Outstanding University Adviser Award will be announced. The Anna Moudy Award, which includes a $500 cash prize, is presented annually to a faculty member who demonstrates an interrelationship between research/original work and classroom teaching which results in an exceptional learning environment.
The Faculty Development Committee chooses the award recipient. The award bears the name of the late Maryville science faculty member Dr. Anna Moudy, who died in 1997.
Also, the three nominees for the 2007 Outstanding Faculty Adviser of the Year Award will be disclosed. The award will be presented in April.
The afternoon session will be highlighted by a presentation on service learning, which will be the topic for the 2008 Faculty Development Day, and reflections on last year’s talk on taking pedagogical risks by Dr. Alison Morrison-Shetlar. “We’re trying to create some continuity from one Faculty Development Day to the next,” Fletcher said.
Maryville University, founded in 1872, is a private, coeducational institution offering approximately 50 undergraduate, seven master’s and two doctoral degree programs to 3,300 students. Ranked by U.S. News and World Report as one of America’s Best Colleges in the Midwest, Maryville University prepares its students for successful and meaningful careers by offering programs that integrate liberal arts with professional studies. Among Maryville’s most recent graduates, 94 percent are employed or attending graduate school. Approximately 15,000 alumni work and live in the St. Louis region.